Testosterone Replacement and Post-Polio Syndrome; Is Post-Polio Syndrome Life-Threatening

Question: I am a male age 60 who contracted polio at age six months and Guillain-Barré syndrome at age 40. I was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome at age 55. Four weeks ago I had testosterone pellets implanted when I found out I had a major testosterone deficiency. What happened four weeks later, as reported to my naturopathic doctor who prescribed it, was simply amazing. My legs, hips, hands, arms, chest and stomach muscles are beginning to look like they did as a younger man when I was body building. My balance is 100% changed. I avoided hugging people because it knocked me off balance. I normally could not step off a curb due to weakness in my good leg. Now I just do it! I am walking upright instead of hunched over for fear of falling. I feel “solid” again. I have zero fatigue. My joint pain, other than the left knee, is gone. My right ankle is a bit sore in the morning, and it takes a step or two to warm it up. Of course, that is because I am walking around now. I’ve lost weight, and more importantly, lost inches off my waist. I am able to sleep 6-7 hours without medication. My mind is clearing; my enthusiasm is off the charts. I own and run several corporations and had pretty much given up on the future of any normal activity. I don’t have to fake optimism. I felt compelled to write to you and describe the results in hope that you may pass them along. I have no logical answer other than the testosterone replacement. I have been confounded, and somewhat discouraged, by the lack of response from my mail to physicians and researchers around the world that explained how my post-polio syndrome symptoms have disappeared since I had the testosterone pellets implanted. While my results may be too good to be true, they are true nonetheless. Can you explain the lack of response? MR. HALSETH

Answer: Your story nicely illustrates how post-polio symptoms can be confused with other diseases. Given the dramatic reversal of your muscle atrophy, and the complete resolution of other
symptoms within one month of treatment with testosterone, I have no doubt the primary diagnosis was low testosterone, not post-polio syndrome. In answer to your second question about the lack of response from doctors and researchers, it is likely a result of professional skepticism. One person’s story of dramatic improvement attributed to a “treatment” does not prove that the “treatment” was the cause of the improvement, as opposed to another unknown coincidental cause, or even a placebo effect. Only a well designed study can prove this, and all doctors and researchers are literally trained to be skeptical about claims of improvement. Therefore, they are rarely impressed by or responsive to undocumented miracle stories.

Post-Polio Health (Vol. 25, No. 2, Spring 2009)