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New Hope For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) Patients!
A CLINICAL TRIAL OF GrowthMed GROWTH HORMONE SECRETAGOGUE IN PERSONS WITH CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME
Salvato, P., Thompson, C., Bayou City Medical Center Hospital, Houston,Texas, U.S.A.
Objective: To determine if a growth hormone secretagogue called GrowthMed(Growth Hormone) was safe and efficacious in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).
Methods: Body cell mass measured by BIA (BCM), natural killer number (NK#),and Insulin growth factor-1 (IgF-1) levels were evaluated in 200 CFS patients. These measures were assessed at study initiation and every month for three months. Subjective measures of symptoms, cognitive function, activities of daily living and sleep disturbance were also assessed monthly for three months.
Results:
Objective
BCM: 126 (63%) of the patients had increase in BCM of 1 lb or more; 103(82%) lost weight due to decrease in fat body mass; 23 (18%) gained from5-11 lbs.;
IgF-1: 118 (59%) patients had increase in their IgF-1 level of 20% or more
NK#: 129 (65%) had increase of their NK# of 30% or more;
Subjective
Sleep: 158 (79%) had marked improvement in their sleep;
Cognitive: 156 (78%) had marked improvement in cognitive function;
Muscle Pain: 104 (52%) had improvement in muscle pain;
Fatigue: 135 (68%) had improvement in fatigue;
Side effects:
56 (28%) had transient muscle and joint pain during initiation of therapy;
61 (31%) of the patients had mild edema;
Conclusion:
An oral secretagogue, GrowthMed, has been found to be a safe and efficacious therapy, capable of improving many of the clinical signs and symptoms associated with the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Clinically, the efficacy of GrowthMed has been verified through IgF-1 measurements and patient assessment, as well as improvement in immune function and body cell mass. It is of interest to note that even in patients who did not raise IgF-1 levels,significant improvement in sleep and cognition were still noted. This product deserves further study in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)?
Experts define the condition as unexplained chronic fatigue if no identifiable medical or psychological problems account for fatigue that has lasted more than six months, sometimes lasting several years.
CFS is diagnosed in people meeting the following criteria: Four or more of the following symptoms must have been present for longer than six months:
short-term memory loss or a severe inability to concentrate that affects work, school, or other normal activities sore throat swollen lymph nodes in the neck or armpits muscle pain without redness or swelling in a number of joints intense or changing patterns of headaches unrefreshing sleep after any exertion, weariness that lasts for more than a day. The fatigue must be severe. The fatigue must be a new (not lifelong) condition with a definite time of onset.
Fatigue is only the beginning. Many people with CFS have flu like symptoms, such as sore throat, painful lymph nodes and aching muscles. Others have problems concentrating and bouts of confusion and forgetfulness. Muscular pains, flu-like symptoms, and mood changes are also common -- and overlap with the signs and symptoms of fibromyalgia. The signs and symptoms of CFS vary from person to person and in severity. Specific symptoms may "come and go."
What causes chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)?
No one knows for sure.
Links with several different viral infections have been suggested but have not proven through medical research. Current research does show some evidence of abnormalities of the immune (infection-fighting) system -- hence the name chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome -- and of the nervous system.
Who Gets Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?
According to a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic fatigue syndrome is a serious public health concern affecting about three in every 1000 Americans. This disorder occurs in both sexes and all racial and ethnic groups, but is most common in Caucasian women.
Some studies indicate that women with gynecologic problems such as irregular menstrual cycles may face an even higher risk than others. There appears to be no difference in severity in symptoms between men and women who already have CFS.
Chronic fatigue is most often experienced by patients 20 to 50 years old. Chronic fatigue syndrome is also more often reported in people who are well educated. Such people, however, are more likely to seek medical help, be aware of chronic fatigue syndrome as a specific disorder, and have health insurance.
The study has indicated that the problem is more widespread and that the disease is under-diagnosed in lower-income and some ethnic groups. One study of nurses found that those who were exposed to poor working conditions and threats of accidents faced a higher risk for CFS symptoms,indicating that people in very stressful jobs may be at risk.
Is there a cure for CFS?
There is no known cure for CFS. Your doctor will likely explore a wide range of therapies with you to find the course of treatment that works best to relieve your symptoms.
Since no specific treatment plan for CFS has been developed, several ideas and approaches have to be tried before the patient notes any type of improvement. The physician and the patient should be open to such options and keep in perspective that any anticipated improvement may occur only in small periods.
GrowthMed Clinical Abstracts
"GROWTH HORMONE SECRETAGOGUE THERAPY PROVIDES EFFECTIVE RELIEF OF MOST SYMPTOMS RELATED TO CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME IN A PROSPECTIVE PATIENT CENTERED OUTCOME STUDY." ~ Paul R. Cheney, Holly Keever
OBJECTIVE:
Recent studies have linked low growth hormone levels as evidenced by lowIGF-1 levels to a subset of patients who meet criteria for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)(1). Therapy with growth hormone given daily for nine months showed significant improvement in over all symtomatology. Given the potential concerns for growth hormone use as well as cost, we undertook a study using plant derived, bioactive polypeptides with demonstrated ability to raise IGF-1levels as a treatment modality in a prospective, patient centered outcome study on CFS.
METHOD:
Fourteen patients who met the criteria for CFS were treated once a day for five days out of seven using a specially configured secretagogue with seven bioactive polypeptides known to increase IGF-1 levels in human subjects. Patient outcomes were assessed using a physician assigned score of global response as well as patient defined outcomes using a clinical questionnaire validated against the MOS SF-36 short form. The patients were treated for ninety days and IGF-1 levels were drawn at baseline and at sixty days.
RESULT:
A majority of patients (8 of 14) or 57% reported a beneficial response which ranged from fair to excellent as judged by both physician and patient scoring systems with an average drop of 35% (range 21% to 59%) in patient symptoms scored as measured by a self-report multiple symptom questionnaire. The symptoms which were the most responsive to this therapy were fatigued and muscle pain, but the symptom improvement was notably broad based. Three out of eight responders termed their response excellent. Examination of the excellent responders demonstrated that they had significant deviation in their IGF-1 levels compared to the group as a whole, both higher than and lower than the other eleven patients. Most interesting was evidence that the bioactive polypeptide caused a "normalization" of IGF-1, lowering it in
cases in which it was elevated and raising it in cases in which it was low, especially in those who responded best to it. In this regard, secretagogue therapy appears to be "adaptogenic" and therefore may be a superior therapy from a safety stand point compared with exogenous growth hormone.
CONCLUSION:
Patients treated with bioactive polypeptides which act as growth hormone secretagogues was shown to significantly improve a majority of CFS patients as assessed by both physician and patient derived outcomes studies. The direction and degree of IGF-1 response appears to be independent of clinical response and there is evidence to suggest that the response is adapting capable of raising or lowering IGF-1 levels with clinical improvement in either case.
