Live data from Hacker News

Why can't we just give steroids to people with muscular dystrophy?

trevorklee.com

11–20 of 128 posts

Re: Why can't we just give steroids to people with muscular dystrophy?

#12

I don't really understand. Clearly the muscles work to some extent, so isn't making more a lot better than doing nothing? > It’d be like if you had a construction project, and you found out that all of the wooden beams you were receiving from a supplier were rotten. Would you order more beams from that same supplier to fix the problem? If my other option is shrugging and doing nothing and being sad as the house falls…

The beam analogy doesn't work because the rotted wood can provide some support. But the author states that the muscle just dies due a defect. So it's more akin to having tires that develop bubbles in the first 50 miles. Giving you more tires isn't going to help because that means you will spend more time changing them out over and over again.

Re: Why can't we just give steroids to people with muscular dystrophy?

#13

I don't really understand. Clearly the muscles work to some extent, so isn't making more a lot better than doing nothing? > It’d be like if you had a construction project, and you found out that all of the wooden beams you were receiving from a supplier were rotten. Would you order more beams from that same supplier to fix the problem? If my other option is shrugging and doing nothing and being sad as the house falls…

I don't think I understand it very well, but one reason focusing on the analogy doesn't help is that muscle has a lot higher ongoing maintenance cost than a beam.

Re: Why can't we just give steroids to people with muscular dystrophy?

#14
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or hgh

Both are good. I think HGH is the more interesting compound for soft tissue injuries (ligaments and such). I do BJJ and I will for sure use both to recover any major injury I get after having researched it and seen how pro BJJ folks do it with really good results. E: I should add both compounds can have severe side effects. Testosterone cycles can destroy your natural test production and HGH can have undesirable side…

Look into BPC-157.

Re: Why can't we just give steroids to people with muscular dystrophy?

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both are good. I think HGH is the more interesting compound for soft tissue injuries (ligaments and such). I do BJJ and I will for sure use both to recover any major injury I get after having researched it and seen how pro BJJ folks do it with really good results. E: I should add both compounds can have severe side effects. Testosterone cycles can destroy your natural test production and HGH can have undesirable side…

Ya. And it's probably worth pointing out that in the context of a recovery (say after a cast) that taking steriods and/or HGH will still require physical rehab, with even more doctor supervision. While it would probably lower the median time to "full recovery", it would probably also have significantly worse worst case outcomes, and still require significant work from the patient. Edit: Oh and specifically for steroi…

Yeah, it is no panacea for sure. For me, I have been lifting for years, doing BJJ for years. Ran for almost two decades. I consider myself in pretty good shape for a random dude on the street. It all takes work. Especially with Rehab you really have to put in the rehab work to direct the healing and if you went with pharmaceuticals like we are discussing that becomes extra important. But I think at low, therapeutic dosage it is all really safe. On a 3 month cycle during injury recovery you are unlikely to grow muscle quickly enough to do any real damage either.

Re: Why can't we just give steroids to people with muscular dystrophy?

#17
post #2

A different question. As someone who had to recover from Achilles tear and had to rebuild an atrophied calf muscle. Why don’t we just give anabolic steroids to people if their muscles atrophied after wearing a cast?

Because your muscles, even in an atrophied state, will build back faster than the Achilles tear can heal (close) to 100%. Steroids don't make connective tissue grow faster/better/stronger.

not only that, but I remember reading while looking up stuff after an ACL tear that steroids would actually be counterproductive, in that the faster than expected growth of muscle would put more strain on the healing connective tissue and possibly cause reinjury.

Re: Why can't we just give steroids to people with muscular dystrophy?

#18
post #9
post #2

A different question. As someone who had to recover from Achilles tear and had to rebuild an atrophied calf muscle. Why don’t we just give anabolic steroids to people if their muscles atrophied after wearing a cast?

In men, there are complications with your body’s natural testosterone production. If you inject test (the most basic anabolic steroid) then in order to maintain a sort of homeostasis, your body will lower its natural test production. The same goes for any other anabolic steroid, as they are all test derivatives. As a result, when you end your cycle, your body needs to restart its natural test production. There can be…

>As a result, when you end your cycle, your body needs to restart its natural test production. There can be a delay while this happens and it leads to unpleasant, though temporary, side effects, like weight gain and a loss of sexual appetite.

Why not just slowly taper it off?

Re: Why can't we just give steroids to people with muscular dystrophy?

#19

Why are steroids even a controlled drug? If a man wants to use them and knows the risks he should be able to. Same with any drug I guess.

We’ll, for one it’d ruin sports. If it’s legal and up to the athlete to decide — then in order to remain competitive all athletes would need to take steroids. You’d basically be telling athletes that they’d need to subject their bodies to the side effects of steroids if they wanted to remain competitive in their sport. That seems like an unfair obligation to place on athletes.
Post reply on HN