I quit drinking

[mash rookie]

At least for awhile. For health reasons. I am suffering a serious muscular neurological disease of unknown origin. I see a specialist on Friday.
For two years I have unexplained weight loss. 30-40lbs. Okay for awhile but this last year I have lost a lot of muscle and weigh less than I have my entire adult life of 57 years.
I am suffering severe muscle atrophy in my arms. I can not lift my right arm to eat or brush my teeth. My left arm is getting bad too. I have worked out most of my adult life. 10 years ago I had 18” guns and could bench press 320lbs. My arms now are 13”-14" with saggy skin like an old woman. My shoulder surgery a couple of months ago for TOS, Thoracic Outlet syndrome did not help.
I have always been honest about my drinking with my primary care DR. She has kept an eye on my blood, liver etc. and everything has always been okay.
She has suggested the possibility of Alcohol Myopathy. It could be one of many different diseases or toxic poisonings though.

I decided that I had the control to remove the possibility of Alcohol Myopathy. As much as I love a good glass of UJ, I dont want to use the use of my arms. That was an easy decision. I can not do my job and blow glass. My guys do the work at my direction. This breaks my heart not being able to do something I love.

My last drink was last Thursday. No cravings No Withdrawals. Feeling great. I will admit that my drinking had increased since I have been hanging out with you guys. Being able to enjoy as much as I liked without waking up with a hangover allowed me to drink more than previously. Nothing will make you swear off drinking faster than a bad hangover. I have not had one in 2-3 years.

Working from home, typically I started drinking about 5PM to wind down and would drink for 3-4 hours every day through the dinner hour. 3-4 drinks. (200ml?) Rarely drunk when going to bed. Sometimes I drank as much as 300-400 ml if we had a dinner party or guests. I know guys that drink much more. Many that drink less. Good cuts made it easy to enjoy good booze.

A curse? Maybe not. I will update you guys after seeing the specialty neurologist on Friday. Cheers! W/Water, At least for awhile.
A season of change.

Scott

[Jimbo]

Thats terrible MR, best of luck getting your health (and guns) back. Sending best wishes that its resolved quickly, whatever it is.

[blind drunk]

Definitely terrible, wishing you all the best with the diagnosis and the recovery.

[hidalgo]

MR, I sincerely wish you the best. My wife had similar odd issues develop a few years back. It was a very frustrating and scary experience.

My advice, be a strong advocate for yourself. Read voraciously and do not give up. Last piece of advice, enjoy today.

[Usge]

MR...hang in there buddy. Wish you the best and hope it turns out to be something temporary that clears itself up. My liver enzyme spiked a while back out of nowhere...and wouldn't go down. I had gained a bit of weight, was drinking, and I was on statins...anyone of which could have contributed. Sonogram said I had fatty liver. So, I quit everything. It never went down to normal. Finally, a year later, I read something about aspertame (artificial sweetener they put in almost everything "Diet") and realized that my issues started about the same time I started trying to loose some of the weight and switched to diet colas, etc. I switched to water, and flavored seltzer...and my enzyme finally has returned to normal. I went back on statins (my chol is real bad) but a different one thats not so hard on the liver. I now enjoy my daily wine, etc..again and haven't had any problems.

I sure hope things turn out for you. Might take a while to get it diagnosed properly. ALWAYS go for a 2nd or 3rd opinion.

[WIski]

Good luck MR,

Asymptomatic alcoholic myopathy. Asymptomatic forms of both acute and chronic alcoholic myopathy occur. A transient elevation in creatine kinase compatible with acute muscle injury accompanies high-grade drinking in a substantial percentage (20% to 50%) of alcoholic individuals (Nygren 1966; Velez-Garcia et al 1966; Myerson and Lafair 1970; Hallgren et al 1980), the majority of whom do not have overt muscle symptoms. Similarly, histologic features of type II muscle fiber atrophy compatible with chronic alcoholic myopathy were found in approximately 60% of individuals who had consumed an average of 190 g of alcohol daily for an average of 11 years (Martin et al 1985). Most of these patients had few if any overt muscle symptoms.

190 g would be about 8 oz

Treatment for Alcoholic Myopathy

If the root of alcoholic myopathy is ethanol consumption and malnutrition, obviously abstinence from alcohol and proper nutrition are the best place to start. Alcoholic myopathy generally begins to reverse once the individual achieves complete abstinence from alcohol. So if you are a experiencing chronic myopathy, it is important to know the recovery typically takes many weeks or several months.

As the recovery time frame varies, proactive steps such as nutritional interventions may help to accelerate the recovery process. Physical therapy and acupuncture are sometimes utilized as well to target the effects of chronic myopathy.

If it's Etho definatly can heal......... Best wishs....

[Rastus]

Good sir,
I have always paid heed to your well thought out comments and advise here.
And i will do my part to help consume and spirits that were intended for you,
thus hopefully making it easier for you to abstain in the season in which you must.

take care and good luck.

regards

Rastus

[Coyote]

Just to toss out a thought,
Back in 08' I had a neck fusion done,
due to the right arm symptoms you are describing.

Fixed problems I had been packing for 25 years.

Last spring the left arm started the same thing
Crap! here we go again!

Discovered a pinched nerve in my neck.
Damnable bucking horses anyhow

Just a thought to have checked, I would not have
suspected a pinched nerve if I had not had the fusion
done 4 years earlier.

Something about the neck bone connected to all that other stuff.

Coyote

[wv_cooker]

At 59 years old I was stopped in my tracks with a health issue and told to never do any type of work again. I wouldn't wish that on no one. I sincerely hope you get your health issues resolved as I know how it feels to have to stop what you love. I was lucky enough to replace everything else with this hobby. I wish you well!

[Bushman]

Just stopped in to visit MR this morning. We chatted and and had a good time. I again toured his amazing shop and got to see for the first time his 100 gallon still he plans to sell commercially. He has lost 40 lbs and I think looks good so I took a picture to share.

[heartcut]

Hate to hear about your problems, Scott. Hope everything gets back to normal. Knew a welder that started having wasting problems with his non-stick hand and it turned out to be a pinched nerve from working in the same position for years- a chiropractor fixed it- kinda along the same lines as Coyote was describing but not as bad.

[Angel_Kefka]

Sorry to hear about your problem, hope you can get it figured out and taken care of.

[Bonjimmi]

Sorry to hear that MR.... My thoughts are with you for a fast recovery.

[LWTCS]

Dang Scott I hope your Doc can get this taken care of..
Keep well.

[HolyBear]

Scott, please be sure to come back to this thread and tell us what's going on when you find out. Don't just leave us hanging man. I know your thinking "season of change" about alot of things, but you've got alot of friends here (yes, even MR P whither you think so or not )... I've noticed threw life that sometimes you can be more honest with folks that you don't really even know. Well, you don't "really" know most here, but your still among friends...

BTW, I've gone all threw your website. Beautiful work man, I had no idea. Since then I've started searching additional resources on line to see what it would take to get into it. From what I've gathered so far, it would take some substantial change to get into it. I'm thinking I might find a class to attend to try it out first.

Anywayz, I go to see the heart doctor Friday myself so it looks like we may both be in for some news...

[Navy vet]

Hey Scott,

I'll be thinking of ya. Having just got a first hand tast of suddenly not being able to do the things you want to. It's frustrating as hell at times but hang in there. one step at a time..

N.V

Ps. Thanks again for the packed column advice...

[Richard7]

Been reading your post for a long time & sure there is more to come. Even if you don't drink or distill you have a world of knowledge that I will always respect. The best of luck to you in your recovery and hope that you get to the bottom of what is wrong. Praying for ya man.

[Stainless dude]

Good luck MR, think positive..

[Tater]

Hoping for the best.

[goose eye]

Now is the time to start livein dam sure ain't a time
to start diein.

So im tole

[F6Hawk]

Best wishes on a speedy recovery, MR. It sucks having to quit, I know, but your long-term health is way more important, of course. Keep us posted!

[thecroweater]

Jeez MR that's not good, hope it all gets sorted soon Best of luck with it all

[Rivver]

Hey MR, have they ruled out Poly mayalgae? (sp) My mom ended up with that a few years back with similar symptoms. It's treatable with steriods, but she didn't have the weight lose, she was very small to begin with.

[rad14701]

Good luck to you, Mash Rookie... Do whatever it takes to get your health figured out... I'm just now getting back to my stable weight after losing 40+ pounds, that I didn't have to spare, before being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes back in 2010... Just picked up blood work orders for my upcoming checkup and was told I need to start thinking about PSA and colonoscopy because, as the nurse practitioner pointed out, I am in my 50's... Geez, when did that happen...???

My new girlfriend is determined to get me healthy and keep me that way... And one of the key points she intends to address is cutting out all of the artificial sweeteners I have just gotten adjusted to using because they are worse for me than the sugar I am trying to avoid... And, because I'm like putty in her hands, I'm more than willing to conform and oblige... And all I have asked in return is for her to cut down on or stop smoking and start measuring her drinks so she can make it past two or three without being ready to pack it in for the night...

Good luck to you and keep us posted on how things are going for you...

[mash rookie]

Thanks for your kind words and concern guys. I am not dying on you. Not yet anyway.
Bushman I filled that shirt when my daughter bought it for me 18 months ago. It would not have fit 3 or 4 years ago. Good to see you my friend.

Coyote it may have something to do with my neck. My recent surgery was to remove pressure on nerves in my neck that travel to my shoulder and arm. It didn't help. Throw in the weight loss and it is starting to look like a bigger picture. My primary care Doc has done all the standard blood work without finding anything and has referred me to the neurologist. I dont think anything has been ruled out.

Wacabii, it is a season of change for me. Breaking up with my girlfriend of six years, firing my shop guy and loosing my top glass blowers to attrition. Change is part of life. This likely will be an interesting year for me. My goals for 2013 were just to improve my health. There will be business changes too.

As mentioned, if this is chronic alcohol myopothy, I can recover with abstinence and good diet. There are worse neurological diseases that are not curable.
I already have a pretty good diet. I have not had a soda pop in 15 years, dont eat junk food, fast food, sweets or beef. I try to eat lean protein and not much starch carbs. Alcohol, Really good alcohol was my main vise.

I read last night acupuncture may help too. Funny, I have a friend that is an acupuncturist. Good looking, single woman that has always had a soft spot for me. Hmm..... needles..

Rad, I figured some good girl got a hold of you! If you lost weight hopefully your type 2 can be managed with diet. Good luck! The gal I just broke up with was an ER Nurse. Although beautiful with a nice figure, ( and F-ing Crazy) I was more in to diet and exercise. A few years ago she pushed me to insist my HMO do a colonoscopy. I likely saved my life. They removed 2 dozen pre cancerous polyps. Dont be afraid of that one. You wont even know what happened.

For now I plan no fermentation or distilling for awhile. Either way, I will make more UJ at some point for family and special friends.
I will likely hang out around here while I am getting my act together. Drinking or not. Spring will be a good time to ride my bike, read some books work on my boat and chase a few girls.

When it is time to reload another girlfriend all bets are off. With any luck I wont have time for you knuckleheads.

I will let everyone know what I learn. Thanks again guys!
Scott

[ThrownOlive]

Good luck MR! I hope you can at least put a name to all this sometime soon. Let us know if there's anything we can do to help.

[carnica]

Perhaps you might be interested in acquiring one of these (or build a better one yourself):

http://www.billiecoffee.com/roaster0.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I bought one directly from them in Taiwan and use a propane gas burner. It is almost as fascinating as distilling, and I never knew that coffee could taste so good.

[mash rookie]

I saw the neurologist this morning. I was concerned that he would jump to conclusions quickly. He was thorough and concerned. Very concerned.
The examination lasted over an hour. When I told him I quit drinking just in case it was alcohol myopothy he didn't seem to jump to that conclusion but did say that if it is only that, at least that is recoverable from.

He stated this is definitely not Thoracic outlet syndrome. Which means the surgery I had a few weeks ago and will be paying for many months from now was bullshit. Thats becoming pretty obvious to everyone.

He ordered new blood tests, an MRI on my neck, EMG electrical nerve tests and an X ray on my right shoulder to start with. He has more tests planned after those. He gave me a good feeling that he will be aggressive in determining what is wrong.

I will let you guys know when I know something. Chin is up.

[jholmz]

good luck mash wish you the best

[HookLine]

Real sorry to hear this, MR.

Hope it turns out okay for you.