And inability to regain muscle mass: I've had Acromegaly for 14 years that we know of and over that length of time, my muscles have steadily become weaker and weaker to the point where it sometimes even hurts just lifting my arms to type messages. Some days are worse than others- Some days I can go out and shovel 3 feet of snow from the driveway (But I will suffer for it about 2 days later where I become exhausted, thinking gets muddled, breathing even becomes labored (I have asthma as well) and I get shaky and weak) Other days, I'll try to shovel and right away I get all shaky and weak. My question is this: I've seen somewhere here on the forums a thread about this muscle 'atrophy' (Someone mentioned the clinical name for it but I can't remember) If anyone can point me in the right direction for this I would appreciate it. I've been telling my doctors for years now that something just wasn't right with my muscles, but I couldn't explain it in a way that they knew what it might be or so that they would know what to test for. I also have Crohn's disease (I mention this because Crohn's is known as a 'wasting disease' and can mimick symptoms of other diseases such as Acromegaly- causing general fatigue, and the Docs would just look at me, shrug their shoulders, and attribute the muscle weakness to the Crohn's and lack of proper nutrition due to the disease) I've been saying right along that there was 'something else going on' but the Docs were at a loss of what to look for. Now, we know I have Acromegaly, but still, when I mention the muscle weakness, they don't really know what to test for specifically. They run the usual hormone tests & don't come up with anything really. The cortisol levels are alright- so they say, and so it 'can't be that' acording to them (Although I've only had the general cortisol tests done- the blood test in the morning- that's it) I'm on prednisone right now (Due to just having had the pituitary operation a week ago) and the muscle weakness has subsided somewhat, but I still get bad 'Crash days' where I'm shaky and weak. I've mentioned to the Docs in the past that before, when I've gone on prednisone (For my Crohn's disease) that, whatever the prednisone 'over-rided, made my muscles more normal and I was able to do more and feel much better. But, they just shrug, tell me my cortisol levels are fine, and don't know what's going on. I really would like to get to the bottom of this, but am at a loss as to what to ask them to check for. This has really lessened the quality of my life to the point where I had to go on dissability- I was always a very active and hard worker- working jobs like logging, carpentry, farming etc- and I could work all day and into the night every night. Now, I can't even type sometimes without my arms hurting. Something isn't right, and I need to know what it is. I'm only 40 Yrs. old and this is much too young to be feeling like I'm a sickly 90 years old strength wise. Any suggestions as to what kind of muscle conditions I might be experiencing would be greatly appreciated. Thanks |
