Paul Byrd: $25K of HGH from '02-'05

[brettac1]

Personally my gut reaction is that it doesn't add up, but from what I can read, the facts do add up.

 

Reading that story from the Daily News, it seems like his pituitary issue could have been caused by abuse of HGH. I think (and only my opinion) that possibly he developed this issue before he stopped ordering HGH - and he won't say when he developed the issue calling it a "time-sensitive issue" because this is the case. I guess I just think there's dirt on him. I personally don't care much about guys using the stuff, but I find it mildly amusing (or more than mildly) that a guy who is considered a great character guy and "old school" did it and got caught. I think he's trying to use his reputation for those things to weasel out of it to a degree.

[biedergb]

Personally my gut reaction is that it doesn't add up, but from what I can read, the facts do add up.

 

Reading that story from the Daily News, it seems like his pituitary issue could have been caused by abuse of HGH.

I don't think that HGH use can cause permanent deficiency (or other pituitary disorders).

[brettac1]

I guess I was just taking this piece from that article:

 

That statement implied that he developed the tumor after the period of HGH use described in the Chronicle story. Extensive HGH use can cause the pituitary gland to stop producing it, just as steroid users find their bodies stop producing their own testosterone.

[biedergb]

"Extensive HGH use can cause the pituitary gland to stop producing it, just as steroid users find their bodies stop producing their own testosterone."

 

Yeah, in theory, I'm a physician, not an endocrinologist though, and I am aware of the short term deficiency (in essence a normal response to excessive use), but I'm not aware of it causing pituitary tumors or permanent deficiency.

 

Again, I'm with most folks in that my gut says something fishy went on, but his statements (so far) can be in the context of a plausible excuse.