Hello everyone. Looking for some help here. I have been on GH from a very well known sponsor here for about 8 months. Recently I have been having extreme lower back pain in the morning (almost locking me up completely) when waking up after pinning 2-3IU at night time. The pain lasts for about an hour and then goes away completely once I get moving around. It has become so painful I decided to get a checkup and bloodwork done and see what was going on.
It turns out my RF (rheumatoid factor) numbers are sky high. Numbers should be below 14 and my number was a 57!
Does anyone have any input they can share here? I am pretty positive its from the GH as the pain is very minimal when i take an off day. I have been doing every other day 2-3IU right before bed.
Looking forward to some responses. Thank you!
I did some PubMed trawling on your issue, which sounds like axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). I have concluded that there's no way hGH caused your RF to be elevated, but hGH and the resultant elevation in systemic IGF-1 - with activity at osteocytes in the spine - can worsen your back pain symptoms and should be paused for now. Discuss with your rheumatologist. Take some NSAIDs, and a COX-2 inhibitor (e.g. Celebrex) if you can, for the pain in the meantime. It's a good thing actually that the artificial boost to your osteocytes led you to get a diagnosis and that you can just stop the hGH rather than waiting years potentially asymptomatic and have the inflammation attack your cells unbeknownst to you.
Somatotropin (rhGH, herein. GH) - what you've been using - can cause fusing of the vertebrae in rheumatic diseases in which inflammation is associated with skeletal pathology through osteoproliferation (e.g. differentiation of osteoclasts, etc.) via downstream growth factors. [Walsh NC, Crotti TN, Goldring SR, Gravallese EM. Rheumatic diseases: the effects of inflammation on bone. Immunol Rev. 2005 Dec;208:228-51. doi: 10.1111/j.0105-2896.2005.00338.x. PMID: 16313352.]
Elevated GH has been observed in patients with degenerative joint diseases. [Partsch G, Schwarzer C, Dunky A, Mayer F, Gschnait F, Neumüller J, Eberl R. Wachstumshormonbestimmung im Plasma bei Arthritis psoriatica, Psoriasis vulgaris und seronegativen Spondarthritiden [Determination of growth hormone in plasma of psoriatic arthritis, psoriasis vulgaris and seronegative spondylarthritis]. Z Rheumatol. 1985 Nov-Dec;44(6):267-9. German. PMID: 2869626.]
The role of hormonal and growth factors (as opposed to inflammation) in bone proliferation is an active area of investigation in the research of rheumatic diseases with skeletal pathology. [Pacheco-Tena C, González-Chávez SA, Quiñonez-Flores C, Burgos-Vargas R. Bone Proliferation in Ankylosing Tarsitis Might Involve Mechanical Stress, and Hormonal and Growth Factors. J Rheumatol. 2015 Nov;42(11):2210. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.150475. PMID: 26523039.]
Somatostatin - which blocks GH - has been shown to be an effective treatment in reducing pain and symptoms of autoimmune arthritis. [Matucci-Cerinic M, Pignone A, Lotti T, Partsch G, Livi R, Cagnoni M. Gold salts and somatostatin: a new combined analgesic treatment for psoriatic arthritis. Drugs Exp Clin Res. 1992;18(2):53-61. PMID: 1353720.]
