MarkusWolf’s BodyBlog

Last night I was watching the NHL playoffs and fell asleep in front of the TV. Not something I want to make a habit of because now I’ll probably be tired all day. Poor sleep is not conducive to a healthy body, and that’s especially true for a person with MS.  Anyway, I woke up at 3 am and an infomercial was on about a supplement called Extenze that’s supposed to make a man’s penis bigger. I couldn’t believe it.  I thought maybe I was still asleep and having a bizarre dream, like that time years ago when I woke up to an infomercial with a hilarious Asian man talking about his Sobokowa buckwheat pillow. But no, this too was a real infomercial with guys doing testimonials about how consuming this pill chock full of hormone mimicking chemicals made their winkies bigger so they could satisfy their girlfriends.  OMFG!  First, it seems to me that this thing just wouldn’t work. But if it did, what must it be doing to the rest of the man’s body? My guess is a grapefruit-sized prostate and ass cancer would be likely outcomes. Maybe some man-boob action? I just don’t see how this would be a worthwhile trade-off. Since it’s a supplement, it’s not FDA tested, so there’s really no telling what the negative outcomes might be. What’s even more absurd is that the same people who gulp this shit down without a second thought often insist on buying  organic fruit and vegetables because they are afraid of the chemicals. Once again, an example of men thinking with the wrong head.

A two mile run. 100 Hindu Squats.  And swung an 8 lb splitting maul for 30 minutes, splitting some really gnarly burr oak firewood.  I got a month’s worth of wood for the fireplace too!  Some martial arts guys swing a sledge hammer against a tire to strengthen their forearms and abs for the stresses of hitting something/someone really hard.  I can definitely feel it. It really is a good "toughguy" workout.  Funny thing is, my dad who is pushing 70 can still split more wood than me.  He’s been doing it for many years and is tough tough tough.

So last night I was at martial arts practice. Feeling strong, showing the youngsters half my age how an old man like me could still teach them a thing or two.  But after an hour and a half, my right eye started to go. Everything got pixelated and I got the stabbing pain in my temple that tells me the optic nerve is shorting out.  This has happened before. It will happen again.  So I had to stop and sit down. After I cooled off a bit, the vision came back.  From superman to something less.  Ah the human condition.

Yes, its ****ing depressing to find out I’ve got a chronic disease that will limit me for the rest of my life.  Makes me question everything.  Worse is that my neurologist says the physical damage of the brain synapses actually causes depression in 85% of MS cases.  Which probably explains my battle with long, extended bouts of oppressive gloom.  The Doc prescribed the SSRI drug Lexapro for me.  A month on it and it seems to help a bit. My weight room workouts even seem to go better, as I can bang out more reps before muscular failure sets in.  Apparently the extra seratonin helps my shot-to-hell nerves fire the muscles better?  Anyway, it’s an unexpected side benefit. I’m guessing this would not occur for someone who does not have MS.  So before you rush out to find some Lexapro on the black market, also remember there are downside side effects.  Antidepressants tend to kill the sex drive.  So I also take Viagra now to attain what Robin Williams calls the Frankencock. Hooray! Works better than when I was a teenager. Just give me a half hour for the drug to kick in, darling.  Quickies are a thing of the past. I guess I can live with it.

My neurologist says diet is not a a major factor in MS. But I’ m not so sure.  Some evidence shows there could be nutritional and food allergy component with milk protein and arginine. A lack of sunlight and vitamin D could be a factor, http://lansbury.bwh.harvard.edu/multiple_sclerosis.htm. And NOX tends to serve as a catalyst for nerve damage, apparently. So that rules out a lot of bodybuilding supplements. I’m OK with that.  Fish oil has good and bad associated with it.  The DHA in fish oil is supposed to help, but other components of fish actually degrade the nerves.  Yin Yang fish, I guess.  I’ve ordered some DHA supplements from www.martek.com to try and get around this fishy problem. Also, I’m cutting fat out of my diet as much as possible. Dietary fat may interfere with the myelin around the nerves. So the upside is I can lose weight and help my nerves maybe.  The downside is that the injections of Betaseron I give myself to modulate my immune system have to go into subcutaneous fat, otherwise they hurt and bleed like a sonofabitch. It’s like a really big bee string with a venom injection that lasts 10 seconds. It stays sore for a week and a half. My arms are too lean to inject into at all, and my legs only have a couple of spots that work. The Betaseron nurse even went so far as to say that I should NOT lose any more fat.  Otherwise I might not be able to inject into my stomach and glutes, which currently have enough fat to keep the pain and bleeding to a minimum.  I think losing fat, though, has a lot of health benefits, so it will be worth it. This link has an interesting take on it. www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/meme/memelist.html?m%3D16. If I succeed in leaning out, I might be able to switch to an IV drug.

MS makes me extremely heat sensitive.  So the intense workouts I love have to be cut short.  If I push too hard too long, my vision starts to go and my legs go out from under me. It’s weird, because until that point, I have perfect vision and I’m still strong as a bull.  I am experimenting with a phase-change cooling vest from www.50degree.com.  Apparently this thing works for the troops in Iraq and firefighters who have to work in extreme heat.  I’m worried it makes me look like a dork. And it gets in the way during my martial arts practice.  I can’t use it during grappling practice. But it seems to help during short runs and striking work on the heavy bag and speed bag. It’s also good for pickup basketball. But the homies still look at me like I’m a freak.  I get maybe an extra 15 minutes of running the court though, so it’s probably worth it.

MS Diagnosis
In July, I went temporarily blind in my right eye.  Turned out it was one of the various symptoms of multiple sclerosis. I’ve had strange nerve sensations in my legs and feet for years and no doctor was ever able to figure it out. But now I know it was the MS. It’s an autoimmune disorder. MRI scans of my brain and spine now show were my immune system has eaten away at the myelin that’s supposed to insulate my nerves. The nerves get enflamed and damaged. In rare cases, this can cripple and kill. But most people are just irritated and inconvenienced. The less aggressive version of MS would appear to be what I’ve got. Yipee. To prevent further progression, now I have to inject myself with an immune system modulating interferon drug every other day. I get blood drawn to see if the drug is destroying my liver (So far not). And occasionally, I get a an anti-inflammatory steroid IV to combat flare-ups. All these needle stabs and I’m still totally needle phobic. (Wussy boy). Maybe I need to see a hypnotherapist. Apparently MS is something I inherited from my mother, because she’s been living with MS and virtually the same symptoms I’ve got since her 40s.  Though her problems are now a bit worse, she still seems to live a normal life most of the time. MS is poorly understood by the medical profession. But there are always promises of new drugs "just around the corner" that could be better treatments or even a cure. So far, everything that seems to work really well, like Tysabri, also causes a deadly brain infection in some people. Damn.  www.nationalmssociety.org

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