AndyJ's Body Enhancement Thread

Monday, workout "A". Everything was fine, except Zottman curls with the same weight I used last week hurt my elbows this week. I noted it in my log, and will see if it happens next week.

Doing Workout C today. That is squats, deadlifts, and upper-body stuff with dumbbells and the cable machine. Good thing I built some "stuff happens" slack into my latest program.

After reading a few articles about people who had trouble squatting due to the conformation of their hip joints, I wondered if that might be part of my problem with squats. Trying the "sumo" method with legs spread widely, I can go down and up much more smoothly, and my heels stay on the ground instead of me going up on my toes. The sumo squat is also *much* more stable than the usual narrow stance, but I might as well keep lifting in the cage.

According to the articles, some people have deeper hip joint sockets than others, which limits their range of movement compared to those with "more flexible" hips. Well, I don’t have to conform to any lifting association rules, so it doesn’t matter how I get the bar up and down.

Workout "A" again. I added some weight to a few things that were getting too easy.

Had the third visit with the nephrology clinic this afternoon. Saw the doc’s PA again, who was insistent that I accept a prescription for something - anything - "to help my kidneys", even though I hadn’t seen them for four months and they had no lab work in the intervening time. They’re razor-focused on the creatinine and CRP numbers without considering they’re symptoms, not causes.

The PA said the urologist had never responded to their request for copies of the ultrasound and cystoscopy imaging, so I drove to that office on the way home and asked them to do that. Considering they’re the ones who sent me to the nephrologist, I’m guessing it’s just a paperwork fuster-cluck.

The Lisinopril prescription the nephrologist called in turned out to be 5mg, once a day. I was taking 40mg split as four 10mg doses when I was taking it for high blood pressure last year.

A quick web search didn’t show any particular usefulness for dealing with high creatinine or CRP numbers, but I found Lisinopril to be mostly harmless even at 40mg. I’ll take it and see what happens.

The nephrologist apparently expects fast results - they scheduled me for another set of labs in two weeks. It took longer than that for it to have a noticeable effect on my blood pressure.

If it does knock the numbers down, it might be worth it just to keep different docs from fixating on them.

[sigh]

Is your creatinine high or is this just for hypertension? I missed the posts talking about it.

I mention it because if you are taking creatine as a supplement for your training or for neurocognitive protection then it can artificially elevate your serum creatinine, as can having more muscle mass than average.

Creatinine is just a stand in molecule representing how efficiently the kidneys filter the blood because it is easy to measure and in and of itself isn’t dangerous. I’ve had to reassure a few doctors that as a relatively muscular guy for my weight and as someone who supplements creatine that my mildly elevated but decades-long stable creatinine levels are not about my kidney function.

BP was running in the 175/90 range until I pegged a perfect 200/100 at the doctor’s office a couple of years ago. He put me on Lisinopril. I followed mem’s carnivore path and lost over a hundred pounds, plus I started a serious exercise program. I stopped taking Lisinopril last November, when my BP would run 90/55 so I stopped taking it.

I was averaging two UTIs a year for the last few years; my doc referred me to a urologist, who panicked at the creatinine and CRP numbers on my labs. He didn’t want to hear about how keto diets affect those numbers and referred me to a nephrologist, who also didn’t want to hear about dietary effects. I had to go back to SAD for two weeks and have my primary doc re-test to show him how that worked; the numbers dropped back to the "normal" range. Neither the urologist nor nephrologist want to do that; all they know is what they learned in medical school, and they’re apparently unwilling to recognize anything that might have become known later. They’re scientific medical professionals, diagnosing by the numbers, which are always correct.

Got a call from the nephrology clinic at 0730. Most doctors’ offices seem to like to call very early. No problem, I’m usually awake and doing my morning PE work by 0500-ish.

Blood labs "abnormal", as expected. Signs of a slight UTI in the urine sample. Did I want an antibiotic? Yes, thank you.

It was a chain of UTIs that sent me from my main doc to the urologist to the nephrologist; I haven’t had once since last fall, but they’re painful and it can take days to see the doc.

The doc said that it wasn’t unusual for bacteria to "colonize" the bladder or a kidney, and just sort of ride along at a sub-clinical level for years until something sets them off and they turn into a noticeable infection. We talked about another course of antibiotics, but we agreed that since I was asymptomatic, we’d rather save them for real need. My doc and I are on the same wavelength about indescriminate use of antibiotics. Unfortunately, the nephrologist is a pill-pusher. But I took the prescription, which will go into my med box for when I need it.

I need to call the nephrology clinic back and have them send copies of the labs, and tell me where and what time they want me to come to the other clinic for the next blood draw. I didn’t look at the card they gave me, which I assumed was for that. All I know is the city, which is a lot closer than the main office. But the card is for a follow-up visit in September.

Lighter barbell work is going quite well. The crunchiness in my knees and back is almost gone. I added some weight to the squats and some of the dumbbell work. The overhead press is coming along well; the popping and pain is minimal, though I still have trouble rotating the bar back when overhead. I’ve been putting the bar in high J-hooks, gripping it with both hands, and leaning into it so stretch the shoulder, which feels more tight than bone-spurry at the moment.

The back board for the bed works extremely well. I hate the damned thing. It’s painful enough I get the shakes after ten or fifteen minutes. Hopefully I can get acclimated to it fairly soon. I do most of my hanging laying on my back, with an overhead pulley and weights. Being able to multitask is always good.

I’ve been experimenting with extending pumping time. I normally pump for half an hour at 5" Hg; no edema. I’ve tried 45 minutes - my timer has 15, 30, and 60 minute presets - but I get "moderate" edema. The last few sessions I’ve run for 15 minutes, then paused for five to ten minutes between the next two sessions. I get a small amount of edema. Later today I’ll decrease the vacuum from 5" to 4" and see how that affects things.

30 minutes at 6"Hg: no edema. Went back to 5" because I pump my balls separately, and they don’t like 6". Adjusting the craptastic needle valve (plastic, and sticky) is a tedious hassle involving multiple attempts to set the vacuum, so I said to hell with it and went back to 5".

30 minutes at 5"Hg: no edema
30 minutes at 5"Hg: thermostatic heating pad at 110F: slight edema
30 minutes at 5" Hg: heating pad only for first 15 minutes: no edema

45 minutes at 5"Hg: edema
45 minutes at 5"Hg: as three 15-minute sessions, 10 min. apart: slight edema
45 minutes at 5"Hg: as above, heating pad first 15-minute session: slight edema

45 minutes at 4"Hg: as three 15-minute sessions, 10 min. apart: very slight edema

30 minutes at 4"Hg: thermostatic heating pad at 110F whole session: no edema

If I pump to edema while cold, it’s primarily between the circimcusion scar and sulcus, soft, and goes away in an hour or two. If I do it with the heating pad, it’s spread out along the shaft, and stays firm most of the day.

110F is the most I can take before wimping out from discomfort. Bumping it to 112F not only hurts, it leaves my feeling burned for the rest of the day. Since it’s a heating pad and not ultrasound, that’s surface temperature only.

I went to a 2x9" tube a couple of months ago, down from the 2-1/8" I was using, because my girth is over 6" and I don’t want any more. I’m using a Spectra S2 breast pump as a vacuum source, with a bleeder valve and a vacuum gauge. I started with an older S2, which worked on 20 minute cycles, and wouldn’t ever pull more than 4"Hg. The new one runs for 30 minute cycles, and will pull 17"Hg with the bleeder closed. In between, I used a Tetra aquarium pump, which finally wore out.

With the bleeder valve the pulsing of the S2 runs up and down between 3 and 5"Hg. When I say ‘5"’ I’m referring to the peak vacuum, not the average. So I’m actually pulling less average vacuum with the S2 than the Tetra. My logs don’t show any effective difference between intermittent and continuous vacuum, but the intermittent feels better. Downside: the Tetra pump was small, and the S2 is the size of a pumpkin and fugly.

Heh. The heavier pumping schedule with heat, plus the resumption of light hanging took me past my previous maximum size, that I lost during the waiting for a vacuum blister to heal earlier this year. I kept trying to rush it, and what should have healed in two or three days took almost two weeks, because sometimes I’m a dumbass.

This morning I measured 8-1/8 x 6-1/4. *Finally*.

Non-cemented, of course, and I’ll lose it next time I get a vacuum blister and take time off for it to heal. But at least I’m breaking new ground instead of re-covering old work.

I need to find a heating pad that will work with the hanger. The one I use with the tube is way too big to be practical with the hanger.

Awesome, Andy. That’s massive by anyone’s standard. Next stop monster-ville!

Brother! That’s quite a kielbasa!

Thanks, guys! I still have a long way to go before it’s cemented, though.

I never set any goals; I was just going for whatever I could get. I didn’t expect this kind of success.

I tried for a fourth 15-minute heated pump rep this morning. Got moderate edema. No problem, just checking the limits. Might need a longer rest interval or to drop time or vacuum a bit.

I also get small amounts of edema when vacuum hanging for more than an hour at a time. Not in the glans; back at the usual circumcision scar area, which not only isn’t in the vacuum cap, but is directly squished by the sleeve. It is minor and goes away in ten or fifteen minutes, so I haven’t been concerned by it.

I ordered a USB-powered wrist wrap. It has preset temperatures starting at 104F, which is what I have the thermostat on the big pad set to. Hopefully it will work and be less awkward than the setup I’m using now, plus I should be able to use it while hanging. My glans and shaft get cold when hanging. It doesn’t seem to be a problem, but I suspect it’s not helping gains.