Ian's Health Updates: Thaw - Final Step

Ian's Health Updates: Thaw - Final Step: "Just came out of Ian's room. His temp is at 35, the goal is to reach 36.1 by 1:30. From there he needs to get to 36.8 by 5:30 and then we ar..."

1960

Hormone Therapy for Men

Testosterone replacement therapy can help older men deficient in the hormone reduce their risks of heart disease, diabetes, and death, according to new research presented during ENDO 08, the annual meeting of The Endocrine Society.''The goal of testosterone treatment is to keep the levels within normal range," says Farid Saad, director of scientific affairs for Bayer Schering Pharma in Berlin. Saad presented two of the studies at the meeting, held in San Francisco. Bayer Schering Pharma makes several testosterone products.

Low levels of testosterone are common with age, Saad says, occurring in about 18% of 70-year-olds. Low levels of testosterone, he says, are associated with the metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of risk factors such as abnormal cholesterol and high blood pressure that boost risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes as well as other risks to health. In the studies, Saad and his colleagues found that testosterone replacement therapy reduced the metabolic syndrome risk factors and did so in a similar way in all the age ranges studied.

Testosterone Replacement Therapy and Heart Disease Risks

In the first study, Saad's team looked at 95 men, aged 34 to 69, with low levels of testosterone.
All had metabolic syndrome. Those who have this diagnosis must have three of five risk factors: increased waist circumference, low "good" cholesterol or HDL, high triglycerides, elevated blood pressure, and elevated blood sugar. "We treated them for at least a year," he tells WebMD. Every three months, they measured cholesterol, waist circumference, and other parameters. The testosterone replacement was given as a long-acting injection, every three months. The same product is not yet available in the U.S., Saad says, although other types are.

Testosterone Replacement Therapy: Test Results

"We saw a consistent improvement of the parameters of metabolic syndrome," Saad says. The men were not given a special diet or exercise program. The supplemental testosterone reduced total cholesterol, "bad" LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and body mass index while improving "good" HDL cholesterol. The men lost their pot bellies, Saad says. "What we see after 12 months is a reduction in two or three trouser sizes, three or four inches off the waist. We see a reduction by one-fourth to one-third of their total cholesterol."
No adverse effects were reported, he says. While hormone replacement therapy for women has been found to be associated with increased risks of heart disease and other problems, Saad doesn't foresee that will be the case with testosterone replacement. "There are fundamental differences between hormone replacement in women and testosterone treatment in men," he tells WebMD.

Testosterone Replacement Therapy: No Age Effects?

In a second study, Saad divided the same 95 men into three groups, based on age: less than 57, 57 to 63, and older than 63. They found the older men and the younger men had similar improvement in their risk factors.

"There are some precautions with testosterone supplementation," Saad tells WebMD. "We need to monitor the prostate."
"It is well known that with prostate cancer, the cancer is usually dependent on testosterone. Prostate cancer is a slow-growing tumor." Cancer of the gland must be ruled out before starting supplements, he says. He also advises routine prostate checkups while on treatment.
A test to monitor red blood cell formation, called a hematocrit, is needed, too. "Testosterone increases red blood cells," he says. In excess, it can theoretically boost heart attack or stroke risk.

Testosterone and Death Risk

Low testosterone levels are associated with an increased risk of death, according to Robin Haring, a researcher from the Institute for Community Medicine at Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University in Griefswald, Germany, who presented the finding at the meeting. He evaluated data on nearly 2,000 men, aged 20 to 79, who participated in the Study of Health in Pomerania, following them for seven years until August 2007. He noted testosterone levels, age, weight, smoking habits, and physical activity. The drugmaker Novo Nordisk partly funded the study. During the follow-up, 226 men died. "Men with low testosterone have a more than twofold higher risk of death during the follow-up period," he says. They were more likely to die of cardiovascular disease and cancer, but not of other causes.

Testosterone Replacement Therapy: Long-Term Effects Unknown

Another researcher, Jane F. Reckelhoff, PhD, professor of physiology and biophysics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, offers a caveat about supplemental testosterone: "We don't know what the long-terms effects are. The safety studies have not been done and they need to be done."
She reviewed the studies for WebMD and has published on a review about testosterone supplements for the American Journal of Physiology Renal Physiology. Her chief concerns: "Testosterone [in excess] can increase blood pressure and compromise kidney function." But an advocate of testosterone replacement therapy, Martin Miner, MD, co-director of the Men's Health Center at the Miriam Hospital of Brown University in Providence, R.I., says the studies show that restoring testosterone when it is low improves metabolic syndrome factors and could help prevent type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risks.
He agrees close monitoring of men on testosterone is needed. "Checking hematocrit, PSA (prostate-specific antigen), and lower urinary tract symptoms in men is vital to the management of testosterone replacement therapy," he says.

Note:  Above taken from an article from Web MD, but not really news for me. HRT changed my life

Chris

Old People Lifting

Westwood

Is it still reasonable to expect to be bodybuilding over 40? How about over 50 or 60? Absolutely! Bodybuilding at any age is an activity that can prove to be very beneficial. It helps to create a healthier “older” person and it improves the condition of the heart, muscles, libido, and can just prove to be a good means of prolonging life and looking younger.
Another advantage to bodybuilding over 40 and 50 is that it helps you to look as much as ten years younger and thus contributes to feelings of well being as well as improving confidence levels. I can attest to this personally. Ya, know at about 47 one of my kids asked me to put on a shirt while I was cutting the lawn during one nice Saturday afternoon. I asked why and they said that I was growing boobs and my stomach was hanging!! In all honesty though, I don’t think it was that bad, but admittedly, it wasn’t where I wanted to be in my life. That was my “commitment day” to better health and physic.
The one thing about working about and getting in shape and especially body-building is to make sure you’re in good health. As at any age and fitness levels, it is still smart and wise to get professional advice before proceeding with a fitness and bodybuilding routine.
There is nothing to suggest that senior bodybuilding is in any way different to what a younger person may do. It is just a matter of adjusting certain routines and being more careful. One possible exception to this is when you add supplements of any kind. From anabolic steroids, pro-hormones or vitamins and proteins. With all these, you have to monitor closely because of cholesterol issues, blood affects and on your cardiovascular system. When you’re older, you just have to watch more closely
Also, ensuring a proper warm up is important. I’m guilty of not always doing this. Twenty years ago, you may have gotten away with jumping right into a set of weight lifting exercises with just the slightest of warm ups. Not only is this inadvisable at any age it can be quite dangerous in later life. Shit breaks easier when you get up in age. When you hit fifty plus, a proper warm up is essential to increase blood circulation to the muscles and improve oxygen absorption. A good 10 to 20 minutes of moderate cardio activity is recommended prior to your weight lifting routine. Do I practice this all time? No, I don’t, but I’m making a New Year resolution to do just this. Ten minutes of some type of stretch or cardio workout before I hit the weights.
I often make the big mistake of doing to many exercises’. I see it with others in the gym also, so Im not alone. Machine to machine to weights to other weights exercising the same muscle group. Again, you may get away with it when you’re younger, but injury is almost a for sure if you continue doing it when your lifting on those “heavy days” Back off a bit, stay focused on the single muscle group your working that day, but don’t overdo it. It’s OK, to push yourself on occasion or even a couple of days a week if done wisely. For me I cover almost all my single muscle groups on three exercises breaking them up each week. Three exercises for biceps, three for triceps ect.. The next week, I do other exercises for each of those but on different machines or mix of weights. I’m convinced you can get caught up in a routine and plateau and not see much gains doing the same thing week after week. Use your time and energy wisely by working out major muscle groups at a high intensity over a shorter time scale also. Your muscles will benefit exactly the same and you’ll save yourself from unnecessary, depleting, multiple exercises.
“How often should I exercise” is a question I see on many forums on the internet and especially the ones where somebody is a bit over weight and not in great shape or after 50. Well, it’s like this. I’m in the gym 6 days a week as a rule because I want to. Am I busting my ass every day? Of course not. I try and get to the gym more out of getting in the habit and creating a routine for myself so when I can’t go, I feel like a part of my day is missing. Get to the gym when you can and if your bodybuilding and a goal of more than just losing weight, the gym had better start looking like home to you. People should be nodding their heads at the door when you walk in and on the floor. Im not saying the gym should be your social outlet or a place to be popular. But you need to get to the gym in my opinion as often as you can with one “prime time” that’s yours everyday or at least three days a week. Now, with all that said you need recovery period so you can grow and just not tax your muscles like you were in your 20’s. When you begin a strength training program you might just be able to work out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, providing your body can fully recover with just one day off. But as you get stronger and start lifting heavier weights, you will need more time to recover. This doesn’t mean you can’t go to the gym and do a mild routine 3 days a week. You can. You recover when you sleep. Thus, get lots of it the harder your working. That’s when your HGH levels peak, if you have any at 50 or over. That’s a whole other subject though. Depending on what your goals are though, you set the standard for you. There are no rules that are hard and fast except you have to work hard, eat right and watch your health. The hard truth here is that cannot achieve your optimum muscle growth by just working out with the same frequency as you get your hair cut. It aint gonna happen. If you minimally work in the gym, you will get minimal growth. This is especially true for seniors. When your older you have to work harder.
This kind of leads into another issue. Have you ever seen two people who were both 60 years old but one of them looks 70 and the other looks 45? Age can’t be measured by the calendar alone. There are several well established “bio markers of aging” that are used to give more accuracy to the assessment of physical age. Guess what? The amount of muscle your body contains is one of the principle bio markers of aging. The more muscle you have, the younger you are. Another bio marker of aging is bone density. Guess what the number one method is of increasing bone density? Heavy, weight bearing exercise!
Those of us over fifty years of age can greatly slow down (and in many cases reverse) aging processes by performing rational, efficient strength training that increases muscle mass and bone density and do even more with the addition of anabolic steroids. Though one must proceed with caution on this. It’s a serious endeavor and you MUST BE EDUCATED on the subject. The really great news is that you don’t have to accept that your body will deteriorate and waste away with age. You must adapt to the aging process in your habits and your body will follow. We can’t stop the cloak, but we can slow down the process. I’ll tell you that it has changed my outlook on ageing and my whole life. One thing is for sure is that it takes a commitment and its one that few can do or do. You can see it for yourself walking down the street. You can be a 1 % er in the older generation by keeping fit and getting into bodybuilding. Once you commit, your will be glad you did. If you’re doing it now, don’t stop. Because I don’t want to see your fat outta shape ass on the street when you can do something about it. Dig?

WW

Female soldiers of the world

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Female soldiers of the world

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Christmas Story

Originally established in 1874 as a lumbering town that was latter burned to the ground because of an outbreak of cholera and smallpox.  The town was eight and one-half miles northwest on the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw rail line and not far from Grayling Michigan. Remnants still exist as brick foundations from homes and stores that shot out from the broken ground in the tall White Pine forests where the town was located. The railroad tracks still go through the old town, but are covered in ferns and ash trees now.  Pere Cheney and especially the cemetery have an especially unique designation here in Michigan as one of the most haunted places in state, if not the Midwest. (Note: I did not know this back in 1972).  But I have a story about a visit Id made to the town one Christmas day while up north celebrating our own Christmas back on my families property not far away.
Christmas day was winding down at our place and I decided to take in an evening hunt near Pere Cheny. There never seemed to be many locals or others hunting near the town even during the regular hunting season, which I found odd because of the plentiful Whitetail population in around the area. I would frequently hunt on holidays after all the fanfare and dinners and opening of presents. Thanksgiving was always a hunting day for me after everybody ate also. They would all be sitting around and I would go hunt until I couldn’t see in the woods anymore.  Anyway, Christmas day ended as all others have in the past and it just seemed appropriate for me to get in a hunt before nightfall.
With my muzzloader in my hands I wandered off into the woods near off the snowmobile trail, which was just groomed a couple of days prior. I had to walk in a good ¼ mile to get to the land that surrounds the cemetery making sure to stay away from the headstones and old fence that used to be there but know was lying on the ground and covered. But it was barbed wire, so I made sure not to get close. I hunkered against a tree and leaned against it. The air was cold and I could see my breath as it came out and kinda just hung there in front of me and slowly drifted away.  No wind that evening. In the distance I heard a dog bark and what sounded like kids playing and yelling.  It seemed far away though.
In the distance between the pines I seen a flicker of light and thought I had heard something. I decided to move closer to the sound. I spotted a doe about 50 yards away and decided not to take a shot this time. I was looking for a rack now because I already had my freezer full and it was Christmas and I really didn’t care if I shot anything this evening. As I walked closer to the sound the light seemed to show more through the trees. The sun was still out but just barely. It was getting dark in the pines though but I could still see. I didn’t however want to wander off to far from the road less I can’t find my way back. I’ve been lost in the woods before and I had no intention of doing it again. Anyway, I spotted what looked like a small tree with ice sickles hanging from it and the last part of sun was glimmering off them as it set in the west.  Ahh, I said, the wonders of the woods. I stared at the tree and realized it was in the cemetery itself. I had wandered in further than I had thought.
The bark of the dog was again in my ears but it was close, very close. The sounds of the laughing stopped that I had heard earlier. There is an old concrete building in the cemetery which still stood at the time. I’ve been told that’s where they kept the bodies of those who died in the winter until spring when they could be properly buried after the ground thawed. The building was partially obstructing my view so I moved. Once I seen the tree with the ice on it, all became quiet and I could no longer see my breath when I exhaled. My heart pounded for a couple of minutes and then my breath became clear again. This is the weird part of all of this. As I approached the tree I noticed that the snow at the base of the tree was all flattened out. All around it like there had been a bunch of kids running around it and there dog prints in the snow that lead to the edge of the pine forest.
Nobody could have gotten back in there while I was there and nobody could have exited the grounds unless they went back through the Pere Marquette forest which is about 3,000 acres where Pere Cheney sits. My stomach got sick and it was getting dark and it was very quiet now. No rustling of squirrels, birds or anything. I don’t know to this day what if anything I had interrupted back there.  I ran back to my truck and threw my gear in it and just sat there for moment trying to regain my composure so I could drive.
As scared as I was I didn’t mention a thing to anybody. What did I just miss back there? Who was there around that tree and why did they leave when I approached and worse yet, where did they go into the woods like that? Ill never know but after a few years I’ve come to terms that maybe Christmas is still celebrated back in Pere Cheney.

All the children that died back then, the little headstones not telling their story and only showing death and sorrow maybe Christmas is still as special now to them as it was back then. No gifts like our children expect now, maybe it was just a nice turkey dinner back then and some handmade sweaters and gloves for the kids. I can’t explain the tree, the dog barking and the matted snow around the tree that seemed to light up from the remaining sun that hung on that afternoon. Maybe there was a purpose that I seen that tree. Maybe I was suppose to see the tree as a reminder of what Christmas was and still should be. Maybe, this year, Ill go back with my kids and tell the story.