Side-effects?

For the past week or so,  I've been getting more head/neck aches and feeling queasy sometimes.

Don't know whether it's to do with the increased dose, or just life (alcohol etc).

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I felt too unwell last weekend to do HIIT,  twice,  but back on it yesterday. HIIT is really punishing; I still feel knackered 6 hours later. I did ride about thirty miles last Saturday though.

My exercising may be disrupted over the next few weeks due to building work in the house.

HIIT 2

Did HIIT again today.

It was very,  very hard. I'd read that some people threw up after a session, but couldn't understand that at all after my first session.  Today,  I was definitely in the neighbourhood.

My warm-down regime is to stay on the bike pedalling gently  until I feel strong enough to dismount,  then lie down for a bit.

High Intensity Interval Training

I started doing HIIT seriously today.

5 reps of 60 seconds very high effort on the bike followed by 90 seconds rest.

I aim to do this 3 times a week.

Endocrine visit

Saw my endocrine specialist today.

My IGF1 has gone up from about 75 pre-treatment to 150 now. I think I was told that normal for me would be from about 90 to 200.
I tld my doctor that I felt about 80% strong and 80% endurance compared to before and he raised my dosage from 0.3mg/day to 0.4mg/day.

Take another IGF1 reading in a couple of months.

10 weeks

I was disillusioned after my last visit to the physio.  He hurt me (that's standard for physio) and I'm not a fan of pain; also he didn't seem to listen to what I wanted, namely endurance. So I'm not going back.

I have been filing strength and endurance work on my own and it's definitely improving. Strength seems to coming on better than endurance.

Last week they took bloods to check whether my Somatropin dose is right (give me more!). I'll find out next week.

 In the past few days I did -
26 hard miles up some long steep hills.
Day off
35 easy miles
Day off
55 moderate miles.

I'm very happy with that.
But now I'm totally knackered.

Measurements -  no real change.

Another visit to the physio

Saw the physio again today.
Got an exercise program.
Basically -
Very hard intervals of 30 seconds,  rest one minute. Repeat maybe 10 times, 3 days a week, for strength.
As much exercise as I can manage on the other days with HR above 125bpm for cardiovascular.
For me both of these will be cycling,  possibly on a turbo trainer.

I'm feeling stronger,  but endurance only seems to have improved a little.

4 weeks in

I've been exercising regularly,  eating reasonably healthily,  but drinking to much as usual.

I measured myself again -  waist,  chest and thighs -  and weighed myself.  (I also took photos -  you are again spared -  but they are barely distinguishable from the earlier ones.) Within the errors of measurement and daily fluctuations I'd expect,  there was no difference.
Waist identical,  chest 3mm smaller,  R thigh 3mm smaller,  L Thigh 2mm bigger.

I'm feeling significantly stronger in the legs,  but endurance hasn't improved much. Overall somewhat disappointed so far, since I was hoping to be near to my idea of fitness within about 2 months of starting.

But bear in mind that I'm taking only a small dose of Somatropin,  intended to stimulate enough IGF1 to compensate for my deficiency.

Physiotherapy

I went to a highly recommended sports physio yesterday, for exercise and diet advice.

He wants me to do interval training on two days a week, and longer but easier rides on other days. Plus walk for 30 minutes a day. I hate walking.

As well as that he has me doing some weird self-massage around the back of my head and near my navel.  And I need to practice breathing lower down. The head massage is painful. Let's see how it goes.

Tired legs

Another visit from the nurse today to make sure  that I know how to change drug cartridges. (I was wrong about 5 doses per cartridge -  it's more like 17.)  That meant that I injected later than usual and set off on my bike almost immediately after.
I don't think that that timing is relevant,  but after a mile of gentle climbing,  I went up about 150 yds at 14% and it just burned my thighs out.  I had nothing left in my legs. I cycled on for a while but couldn't really keep going for long.
I think it's just that my legs aren't ready yet for 14%. Maybe in a week or two.

Off day/day off

I've been feeling a little under the weather yesterday evening and today. I don't think it's to do with the Somatropin.
Anyway,  today I just did 4 miles with a short steep slope in the middle.  I felt very hot when I got home.

Second week

I've been trying to concentrate on effort rather than distance now that I'm feeling a little stronger (which I am!). I've been doing slightly shorter rides, 7 or 8 miles, but with as much climbing as I can fit in. Around here that's fairly easy to do.  Hills like a mile at 5% or half a mile at 7%. This is something I couldn't have contemplated previously. Also I've started trying to use slightly higher gears than I would normally choose,  to force my big muscles to work harder.

I've notice two other changes -  I seem to be running slightly hotter than usual and I haven't been getting pins and needles in my left wrist after a number of miles as I often used to.

First week

Sunday 13 miles,  a little faster because I felt stronger.  Very tired afterwards.

Monday afternoon did 11.5 miles, including a few gentle hills.  Tried to use slightly higher gear to develop muscles. Felt strong and not knackered afterwards. Is it different in the afternoon compared to the morning?

Tuesday 11.5 miles. Felt OK but not great.

Wednesday had a protein breakfast for a change instead of cereal etc. 11 miles but felt somewhat tired.

Thursday I played table-tennis for an hour.  Very vigorously. Felt tired but OK afterwards. 

Overall I think I feel a little fitter and stronger,  but time will tell. 

Ring, ring, ring

My mother rang last night to see how much muscle I'd put on in the last three days…

Measurements

I measured myself.

Waist 104.5cm

Thigh 51.5cm

Chest 106.5cm

I weigh 87.7kg and I'm 1.79m tall.

I figure I should probably weigh about 80kg, but I've been somewhat overweight for a number of years. Recent changes to my diet have seen my weight drop by 2 or 3 kg. Hoping to continue that trend, while still building muscle.

I also took some photos (which I will spare you) for comparison purposes later. 

Here's a photo of the device though. The green handle with dose-setter,  the drug cartridge and the Apollo capsule at the end which contains a disposable needle.  

Second day

I did the deed before breakfast.  It literally took 2 minutes from start to finish.

About 10am I went out for a ride.  I was tired after 5 or 6 flattish miles and retraced my route home for a total of 11 miles. That's not terrible, but no improvement on last week. But I know that I do have stronger and weaker days anyway.

I need to keep it up for a few weeks and see if there's improvement,  so I intend to ride most days.

First dose

I hate needles,  but I need to inject daily.

I use a device called SurePal which helpfully hides the needle,  but have to change needles for each injection.

The device is like a thick pen and holds the drug cartridge.  Each cartridge has 5 doses (for me) and the whole has to be stored in the fridge.

A very helpful nurse (thanks Lucy!) came to instruct me. Once I'd practiced on a lump of sponge I was allowed to inject myself.  I barely felt it and there was almost no bleeding despite the blood thinners I take.

No noticeable side-effects. So far, so good.

Background

I'm a 62 year old male,  generally fit.  I normally cycle daily - an average of about 10 miles per day every day when I'm well. When I cycle-tour I average 55 miles a day for two or three weeks with about 35lbs of luggage.

After pituitary surgery in summer 2015, I struggled to get back to my normal fitness levels. I was eventually diagnosed with a shortage of IGF-1 and prescribed Somatropin.