NO ONE GETS OUTTA HERE ALIVE

By Peter Vuono

Many thanks to Dave Walbourne for encouraging
me to write this.


     Back in 1975 I trained at the Bob Backus Olympic Health Club in Pembroke, Ma. I had many fond memories there. We were all strength athletes(bodybuilders, powerlifters, Olympic lifters and weight throwers) and we were pretty much addicted to achieving physical excellence in one way or another. I had a bodybuilding friend there(Barry) who once said,"If I only had a head, I'd do neck exercises". That's pretty much how we all felt. None of us either knew or cared that according to most biologists, men lose 1% of their total testosterone every year after the age of 30!!! As I aged, this proved to be true. In 1983, when I was 34, I weighed 178 and deadlifted 567.5 at a powerlifting contest in Nashua . In the late 90's I took a hiatus and when I came back in 2004 I deadlifted 500 and again in  2007 and 08 when I was 54 and 55 respectively. Fast forward to 2018. After deadlifting  425 the previous year I only did 400 at age 65 on a 12" platform. This was a world record in the International All-Round Weightlifting Assoc. but I was still distraught and depressed! The biologists were right; 30 years later I had only 70% of my strength left. Much of it was maintained by Clomid.
   Clomid is not a steroid but a fertility drug that I first heard about in the Underground Steroid Handbook in 1980. It causes the pituitary to excrete gonadotropins(Leutinizing hormone) which, in turn go to the cells of Leydig to create endogenous testosterone. Each year, since I was 50, I've had my total and free"T". tested along with my prostate specific antigen which is an enzyme excreted by the prostate. If levels of this enzyme increase, it can be indicative of prostate cancer.
   As my testosterone increased due to the Clomid(700ng/dl on a scale of 300-1100) so too, did my PSA which raised a red flag. You see, testosterone, because of an enzyme in the blood known as 5-alpha reductase, can convert testosterone to a hormone called dyhydrotestosterone which is most plentiful in the PROSTATE! How Ironic that the more I increased testosterone that my PSA score would come closer and closer to cancer. It's nature's and God's way that we are only allowed so much health and so much time.
   My endocrinologist immediately cut my Clomid intake and my last PSA test went from 3.55 to 3.53 in about 6 weeks. Currently, I am taking two all natural agents(Saw Palmetto and Lycopene) to further decrease the amount of DHT. So the reader may wonder why I'm writing this. First and foremost, it's a warning to all men starting at 50 to GET THAT PSA TESTED! Secondly, it's a message to my strength athlete comrades and perhaps a reaffirmation to myself.
  We all want to prolong our health and stay strong forever. It's just NOT  going to happen. We have to find  solace in that God has a plan that our lives here are just  an interim between the now and the hereafter. My faith teaches that there is such a place and I pray that there is because no one gets outta here alive.