Exercising (and gaining muscle) with Lyme disease
The following is my story of using SARMS, peptides (or peptide rather) and herbal androgens to exercise, put on muscle and maintain it, all with Lyme disease!
My history of exercise and Lyme
Those of you who’ve read My Story you’ll know I have a history of chronic illness stemming from EBV (glandular fever), mercury toxicity and a more recent diagnosis of Lyme disease.
I’ve made a lot of progress in many areas (digestion, brain function, pain reduction and energy) yet exercise has been something I’ve really struggled with, as do a lot of others with a similar health history. This has waxed and waned over the years and when I’m feeling good I get right back into the exercise with excitement! Many times this has led me to cross that line where my body can’t handle the stress of exercise and I’m set back usually at least a couple of months due to extreme fatigue.
More recently
Before starting this experiment, I was able to do 20 minutes of resistance training twice per week on top of multiple walks per day.
I had been hearing about SARMs (Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators) from people I know as well as from people I follow and I was really intrigued and guided to learn more. After doing some research and becoming aware of the pros and cons of RAD140 and MK677 (not a true SARM technically) I decided to go ahead and experiment.
My intention with using the SARMs was to get up to a decent level of fitness such that when the cycle was over I’d be able to continue exercising. Spoiler alert, it worked!
What did I take?
The big question, what exactly did I use, for how long and how much.
SARMs
RAD-140
MK-677
Supplements
Herbs
This is all in addition to my regular health practices
Weeks 1 and 2
BPC-157
1 capsule every other day
To upregulate Growth hormone receptors to prepare me for the MK-677
RAD140
10mg daily
Has testosterone-like properties and binds to the androgen receptors, mostly in muscle tissue and bone.
Pine pollen and Deer Antler tincture
When needed (intuitive dosing)
To support my Jing reserves, assist with training recovery and to feel like a Beast (legit)
Weeks 3 and 4
RAD140
15mg daily (5 mg increase)
MK 677
15 mg daily
MK 677 is a growth hormone secretagogue, leading to the pituitary gland secreting more growth hormone than it otherwise would. It achieves this via Ghrelin receptor and makes you hungry AF.
Pine pollen and Deer Antler tincture
When needed (intuitive dosing)
Weeks 5 and 6
RAD140
15mg daily
MK 677
20 mg daily (5 mg increase)
Pine pollen and Deer Antler tincture
When needed (intuitive dosing)
Eucommia Bark
To be honest, this was largely because it was getting close to expiry. Also for the tendon and joint benefits.
Weeks 7 and 8
MK 677
20 mg daily
Pine pollen and Deer Antler tincture
When needed (intuitive dosing)
Post cycle therapy
To restore my endogenous testosterone production after the RAD-140
Tongkat Ali, Shilajit, Ashwagandha & Fenugreek
Weeks 9 & 10
BPC-157
1 capsule every other day
Upregulate Growth hormone receptors that may have been desensitized/downregulated from MK-677
Post cycle therapy
Tongkat Ali, Shilajit, Ashwagandha & Fenugreek
The results?
As I said above, it worked!
I could train 5-6 days a week for 20-40 minutes, had minimal DOMS apart from leg workouts and a really high sex drive. I dropped some body fat and put on some muscle, putting on about 3kg overall. My appetite was through the roof from the MK-677, higher than my digestive capacity actually and this will be something I need to address in the future before commencing another cycle. I found that I needed to take the nightly dose of MK677 right before bed or else the ensuing hunger would keep me awake.
After being off the SARMs I have been able to maintain a resistance training schedule of 3 times per week for 30-40 minutes per session. This has kept up for about 4 months now. I did lose some of the weight from the SARMs and there was some parasitic infections going on that contributed to that. Now (Jan 2021), I’ve weighed the most I have in almost 10 years, even higher than my weight on SARMs.
I also had some significant personal issues going on at the time and had a week of mold exposure that really set me back and I still managed to make progress despite all of this.
There is some talk that SARMs wouldn’t downregulate endogenous testosterone production and some saying it would. Theoretically, it would make sense to me that it would, as the RAD-140 binds to the androgen receptor, leading to an increase in free testosterone and therefore down regulation via the hypothalamic-pituitary axis negative feedback loop. Beyond the theoretical side, I feel it led to some suppression for me (TMI incoming), mainly due to a slight shrinkage of my testes. Thankfully, my few weeks on Tongkat Ali, Shilajit, Fenugreek and Ashwagandha rectified this and my testes were even plumper than before (now that’s a nice mental visual for you I’d imagine ;) ).
Final thoughts
I am in no way condoning the use of SARMS or any of the other products mentioned, it is my belief that each person is responsible for making their own health decisions and to bear the successes and consequences of these decisions. However, I had a very positive response to this and achieved my desired outcome! For those of us with Lyme and other chronic illnesses, we all have to assess where we are at healthwise before starting a protocol like this, this is not a one size fits all approach. I feel I have quite a good awareness of my body and would have stopped or altered the protocol if at any stage my body asked me to.