Human Growth Hormone Helps Slow Down and Reverse the Process of Cachexia

Cachexia is a wasting condition that may have terrible repercussions if not detected and treated early in its development. Cachexia is a deadly cocktail of involuntary rapid weight loss, muscle atrophy, fatigue, weakness and significant loss of appetite. Not quite a "permanent" medical condition, Cachexia is rather a very prominent sign of various underlying disorders that the person may be undergoing. Some known causes of this wasting condition includes: AIDS, cancer, tuberculosis, and a host of autoimmune disorders - one of which is severe rheumatoid arthritis. If not treated in its earliest stage, Cachexia will inevitably lead to a state of immobility, anemia and multiple organ failure due to malnutrition. This is often exhibited with patients who undergo full body wasting, wherein skeletal muscles are made useless resulting in muscle atrophy. Patients with severe conditions finally succumb to death.

Often, doctors detect this wasting condition in the end-stage of cancer; in which case, it is classified as cancer Cachexia. It is also prevalent in AIDS patients, especially those who do not have access to the AIDS triple therapy treatment. It can also be seen in other types of medical conditions like COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.

Fasting, to the point of being skeletal looking should not be mistaken as Cachexia. Fasting or excessive dieting is voluntary, with the person involved knowingly controls his calorie intake. This condition can easily be reversed or stopped by eating again. Cachexia, though, is involuntary. It is a classic sign of terminal illness, of which reversal or the outright stoppage of the condition cannot be solved by merely regaining the consumption of a balanced diet.

Many medical practitioners are now setting their sights unto non-conventional means to help slow down (and ultimately, reverse) the process of Cachexia. Although the primary concern would have to be the treatment of the actual underlying disease or medical condition, any aid to ease the suffering of the disease-stricken patient and aid in the said patient's recovery is more than welcomed. Human growth hormone treatment offers a way of building up or re-building muscles and bones. It is particularly helpful in the development of skeletal muscles: the one type of muscle group that Cachexia actually destroys.

Although human growth hormone treatment is not considered as the end-all medication for Cachexia, it offers patients the time and needed energy to regain a foothold on their strength by slowing down the wasting process. By re-introducing a healthy supply of growth hormones in the system, skeletal muscles are healed, rebuilt and strengthened, making mobility possible.

Also, this hormonal treatment helps burn more calories in the food intake by making the body speed up glucose utilization. In healthy bodies, the process of burning glucose in the body results to fat loss and added energy. Although severely afflicted patients usually have little body fat to start with, they can still benefit from the added energy that the hormonal treatment may give.