Finally, I’m actually a bit proud of myself for going through with this. Taking a physical trait of mine that I don’t like which is “impossible” to change and then going ahead and modifying it is empowering in some ways. It allows me to redefine what is actually possible and expands the boundaries of control that I have over my own life. After this is done, I think that the perspective that I gain should help me exert more control over my personal satisfaction and contentment. I’m very optimistic about my life coming out the other side of lengthening but I need to get through the difficult part first.
Hey man thanks so much for doing this!
I noted that you mentioned that you've read a lot of journals on this site. I have to ask, weren't/aren't you at all worried? To me it seems like the risk of complications is like 20-30+%, which is what's personally holding me back from doing it. I'm looking forward to your next updates :D
Good luck on your journey!
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant as in based on the journals one can find on this forum, I kind of got the feeling that maybe the risk of getting serious complications is quite a lot higher than what it's being portrayed as. I guess maybe people who have had bad experiences are more likely to engange in a forum like this, since it was honestly a bit more gloomy than I had anticipated. You've likely read more journals than I have, did you not get the same feeling? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
good job man glad surgery went wellThanks, ghkid2019! Welcome back.
the legs seems swollen please ask him about that. to be honest I thought you were fat when I first saw the video Lol.All the pics I've sent the team, they say it looks normal. I feel like my swelling has gone down considerably today though, so fingers crossed.
Mscontin seems very strong. Also seems good you can do PT without pain relievers.. that's good.I usually try to take something before PT. After all, I'm still experiencing post-surgical pains, just a little bit less than the average person it seems. MS Contin is indeed very strong to me, but the nurses at the hospital actually treated the extended release pill as a "weak painkiller" as far as I could tell. (with Toradol as the strong painkiller.)
Thanks for all of the work you are putting in to make this diary, it is a brilliant read and helps tremendously.I don't currently plan to upload any pictures, as there are already plenty on here for various things related to lengthening, and I don't think there's much that can't be described with words. As for videos, I may consider uploading more if I feel like there is no way for anyone to identify me from the videos.
If you can, please upload as many progress video's/pictures as possible.
I wish you the best of luck and can't wait to read your next update!
Great Journal with tons of details. I think I’m at a similar stage in my journey and your journal has been really helpful in keeping me going through this challenging process.Thanks for the feedback! It must be at least a little relieving to read about other people in similar pain while you are in pain. :P Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss any details about lengthening.
Hey BTM - Great diary! I am following your journey and rooting for you; I’m hopeful that I will replicate your successful journey in early 2021. Stay strong 💪Welcome to the forum and thanks for your encouragement!
Please ask your physical therapist for Astym treatment or dry needling for your knee pain. Most physical therapy offices offer it included with the treatment and they usually don't charge extra for it.I know the PT in Las Vegas offers dry needling, but I saw that being on blood thinners might make it more dangerous. Not familiar with ASTYM treatment. I actually found a solution my knee pain for now, but if it gets worse later on I will definitely look into those.
Your gait looks great. Congrats on the various positive developments!Thanks! It looks okay but I feel like a walking zombie.
I did femurs with Dr D a few months ago too. Let’s me tell you, for me it was a smooth ride right up to 5cm. After that the tightness came in like a bat out of hell and you’ll need gabapentin for nerves stretch pain at the shins.Got your first post hah. Yeah, the lengthening part hasn't been too bad for me yet, I'm sure I've got a lot of struggles to look forward to. I have some extra time planned out so I can reduce lengthening speed at the end if necessary.
I got a couple more weeks and should hit 8cm. I take some days where I only do 1 or 2 sessions ERC sessions. But keep pushing. You’ll knees start to bend and hamstrings will feel like they are in contracture mode, but get to your goal so you can enjoy getting rid of the ERC machine and let the body start getting back to how it used to be.
The last 2cm is where all the fun starts and pain pills and other meds will be needed for pain management. Sleep will be hell during the last 2 cm, but don’t worry. All will be well when the ERC machine will go bye bye.
Thanks for the update. I feel ya on the discomfort after lengthening sessions. Keep up the energy and dedication!Thanks, you keep pushing too!
Hey BTM - Thanks for the detailed diary. Very helpful. You go back home and work already? Your gait on the last vid looked pretty damn good! Hope you’re doing well. Stay strongI've been working since week 3 and I just got home.
Hey BTM, I am following your diary and I can say that it is a great collaboration for this forum, especially for me that I am planning to perform LL in a few years with Dr. Debiparshad, I hope you have a good recovery and that everything will go well by the end of the process. ;)Good luck with everything. I will try and post videos when I feel like there's something interesting to show. I don't know if I'm going to improve my gait much over the next two months though tbh.
I would like to emphasize that your videos are great for us to know how your LL process is going.
Incredible diary. The details are so helpful to both prospect and current, CLL'ers. You're doing great, buddy. Keep fighting the good fight!Thanks for the support, IFS!
All the best,
IFS
Thanks for the details; very helpful and appreciated! Stay strong, bruthaGlad you find it helpful!
Great Journal entries as usual. I can’t imagine flying in my current state. I noticed the same thing with my hamstring and butterfly stretch recently. I’m right around where you were at the 1 inch mark. It hopefully won’t regress much further. Hang in there. Almost halfway done!It's good to know that someone is in the exact same stage as me - makes me feel less alone doing this! How are you doing now?
BTM - dude you’re like 1/2 way through distraction, right? How goes the battle? Stay strong, you got this.Not quite halfway yet, but I will be before the end of the year. Thanks for the encouragement!
BTM - Thanks for the update and video; I’m trying to plan for stairs which I’ll have to deal with lots during recovery. You looked like you handled them well. Did you have increased pain when navigating the stairs? How’d that compare to baseline? Also, the edibles seem to me to be a great idea to try and ameliorate the low grade constant type pain and help with sleep. Any observations about their utility? Stay strong; before you know it you’ll be thereI haven’t tried stairs until now, but I think they should be doable pretty early on in the process as long as you have the guardrail in one hand and a crutch or cane in the other hand. Edibles are okay, but I don’t think they are the magic sleep pill that some other lengtheners have called them. I do think it’s at least as effective as Norco for helping me with sleep though. I plan to try CBD without THC when I get a chance to see if CBD by itself can help with sleep.
Hey BTM, great entry as usual. Glad to see you making steady progress towards your goal. I’ve tried reduced lengthening on occasion and they seem to help tremendously in terms of letting the soft tissues catch up and not feel as tight. Curious to see if you observe and feel the same during the 5 days of reduced lengthening.Hey Froggy, slowing down these five days has definitely helped with soft tissue tightness. I think that it greatly reduced the pain in my left shin and the inside of my left thigh. I’m afraid that as soon as I go back to 1mm/day all the early nerve pain signs will return though. I guess we’ll find out soon!
Great diary BTM, but it would be really nice to get a concise summary post on your progress for your next entry. No offense--your entries are just a LOT to read to find the substantive info!What you consider to be substantive information right now will likely change once you start the LL process. The things you listed are going to vary a lot from patient to patient and doctor to doctor. You should be listening to your doctor’s advice for what to do regarding these and not some random person on the internet.
For example, where are you at on:
-Pain meds--what are you still taking?
-Mobility: how far can you go with the cane? Can you do any meaningful distance unassisted?
-Stretching routine: how often?
-How tight?
Thanks for the update, BTM. Good to hear the lengthening adjustment is helping with the pain side effects. February will be here before you know it!Yeah, all I can do is take it one day at a time!
LoL I feel the same "Captain American treatment" while I was doing lengthening .He probably lengthened 20cm in a minute! Definitely worth it even at 10/10 pain the whole time :P
Stay strong man, it's a very tough journey but will be worth it in the end. I'll be praying that you reach your goal. Thanks a lot for actually explaining your situation rather than just vanishing which would've left us all wondering what happened. I'm sure it's tough documenting every step of the process on this forum along with balancing everything else going on in life. Especially since your journal is very detailed. If you do decide to come back you can always provide quick updates instead of long detailed posts since I'm sure they can take a lot of time and effort. Quick updates would still be very helpful. Good luck on the rest of this journey and work as well!Thanks for the support. I'm feeling a lot better now and will resume updating my journal.
BTM - Thanks for the note. Many who have chosen this path have described the roller coaster of ups and downs. It will all be worth it in the end. It’s a marathon and this is just another hill. Take a break; climb that next hill but don’t forget to come back and tell us all you conquered that hill after you’ve done it. Stay strong my brotha; I and others are rooting for you!! And will continue to do so...I passed the last hill and I'm back!
Really appreciate the journaling you’ve done. I can totally relate to how you’re feeling. I’m dealing with nerve issues as well, and it’s really draining both physically and mentally. I hope you’ll be able to hit your goal and have a good recovery, BTM. Stay strong.Hi Froggy, how are you doing now? Has your nerve pain gotten more manageable?
one of the better diaries. i wish leg lengthening would not take so much fkin time coz it fks u over careerwiseI agree that it takes a ridiculous amount of time, especially now that I'm going at 0.5 mm/day. At least during COVID I'm working from home every day and there is no impact on my career.
BTM, I know the nerve pains and slowing down are hitting you hard, but I want you to know that time flys. Just look how fast 2020 went by, even with covid. The extra days added will be ok, don’t worry too much about a secure deadline. Just take it nice and easy and you’ll soon look back and be talking about how you’ve been through it and you don’t regret it.Thanks for the tips! The only opioid I take is Norco, and I average only 3-4 a week for PT/gym, so it shouldn't be affecting my mood. Gabapentin has been working, but I'm starting to build a tolerance to it. Fortunately, my nerve pain has mostly subsided so I don't really need it right now. The thought of lengthening for two more months is the toughest part right now, but I suppose it'll soon pass.
Now I I would ask Dr D for gabapentin, it really does remove the shooting nerve pains. Numbness may be there, but that will resolve as well. Just give it time. Also, If you are taking the Valium or Oxy, I remember that at times it made me feel depressed at times and every little thing like the constant dull pains or uncomfort drove me nuts and I would get all sad.
Get the gabapentin, you’ll be happy to rid those nerve pains. I like your long detailed reads, it’s nice and enjoyable to see how it’s going.
BTM would you mind giving some specifics on how Dr. D approached your nerve issue? I don't think there are a lot of diaries on the board where nerve problems force a stop/slow down. Was there some threshold at which he said "Ok, now it's time to stop/slow down?" For example, did it start off as intermittent/brief nerve pain episodes that he thought were OK to push through, and then it reached the stopping point only later--i.e., once the pain become more frequent/consistent?
Thanks!
Yeah, numbness in the shins is fairly normal and doesn't force a slowdown. Shooting or burning pains would. Stopping is for when the pain is consistent and not controllable with stretching, medications, etc. I think it's really a case by case basis and you'd have to consider pain tolerance, callus growth, etc.
Also, I've been having more nerve issues and will probably update my journal around this weekend or so.
There is numbness in the shins even for lengthening the femurs? I guess it is the peroneal nerve irritation causing this?
I believe the perineal nerve is just part of the sciatic nerve. The entire sciatic nerve gets stretched and causes nerve issues in the lower leg.
Gait looks goodYep, pain tolerance threshold increased through LL.
"Sadly, this type of pain is nothing for an LL vet and I just ignored it. "
Good luck fam it's almost over
This is some fine work of Kevin Debiparshad.I can't complain too much.
Thanks for the update, BTM! Way to hang in there through all the nerve stuff...appreciate the info since I’m planning on starting my journey - now fubar’d by the whole stryde mess. Good luck finishing that nail! Stay strongYeah, it really sucks that Stryde is off the market when you wanted to do your surgery :(
Thanks for the update, BTM! Almost there. Would be curious to hear about how your new height feels and whether anyone has noticed; sounds like these last days of your journey have been a LOT better than before - glad to hear it!
I haven't seen anyone that knows me very well from before, so I haven't gotten any reactions yet. I'll definitely write about any reactions I get in the future. I didn't tell anyone about it and I have a decent number of good friends that I haven't seen in almost a year, so I'm sure I'll get some interesting reactions. Like I said, I'm trying to get more muscular as well, so I can play it off as having worked out a lot during the pandemic.
As for my personal perspective, I can definitely feel the new height and I really started feeling it after 5cm. It's mostly in the small things from day to day at home, like in the kitchen I'll feel a lot taller because all the appliances seem lower than what I'm used to. All the cabinets, tables, counters, shelves, and even my bed feel much lower than they used to. The only person I've been able to compare my height to is Dr. D and I went from shorter than him to taller than him, so I can definitely imagine how drastic the difference will be when I see my friends.
Well done mate, almost at the finish line!
Interesting take on comparing your height to Dr D haha. How tall would you say he is?
I also had some crazy dreams, but I don’t remember the exact details of any, except for one of the dreams which was literally of people arguing on the LL forum about whether sxx during the distraction phase was safe.
wow you reached the summit :)Thanks, RD! It's okay for having just finished 8cm, but there's still a lot of work to do.
Many congratulations! your gait looks great!
;D ;D funnyTY! I believe it will definitely get better, but I'm hoping that the recovery process is on the faster side.
Congrats man it is only up from here and will get better
Congratulations! Wish you the best during the consolidation phase!Thanks, SNC! After personally going through a rough distraction phase I am more in awe with your fast distraction and fast recovery!
Congrats BTM! I have very much enjoyed following your journey. Hope to hear about the consolidation phase as you have time. It must be such a relief to get the distraction phase done ✅ ; good job! Thanks for all the deets along the way - very interesting and helpful to me for hopefully following in your footsteps once stryde is backThanks, L8GrowthSpurt! I think waiting for Stryde is definitely worth it. I can't imagine how terrible it would be to not be able to walk independently for up to half a year.
Great diary ;D ;DThanks!
Congrats BTM and wishing you a fast recovery :)Thanks, readyprecisestryde!
congrats belowthemean! this is a great diary
sucks you got covid. glad you recover. free covid vaccine XDHopefully smooth sailing all the way to the end!
cant wait for the recovery now that theres no more walls to stop you
cheers
Thanks for the update! Sounds to me like the COVID is making it hard to feel great about progress over the past week - bad luck; stay limber and I’m sure this is going to be much improved soon...stay strongI'm definitely able to work out more now, so hopefully my recovery will accelerate.
Congratulations! I hope your recovery is going well from COVIDThanks, RD. Even during the time I had COVID I think my legs loosed up a decent amount. The consolidation phase definitely feels better than distraction phase overall!
BTM, just got a chance to review your updates. I am sorry you got covid. From your notes, I don't think you would have any permanent impact cause of covid. But to be safe, can you ask your primary doctor to arrange for some tests (on lungs, kidney, liver, etc.) for your general health?Hey SNC, I haven't even considered the possibility of organ damage. I haven't really gotten sick recently so I haven't had a PCP since mine retired in 2015. I'm going to the hospital for X-rays in a week or two, so I'll see if I can schedule some tests for that time.
Awesome man..
walk looks good and with time will be better! good recovery belowthemean
no worries about daily updates :) this is plenty
cheers
Awesome diary man. Looking forward to week 4!
Bravo on the dedication - both on your recovery and the diary. Very helpful and appreciated . Btw, you look way taller! Nice job!Thanks, guys!
What’s up BTM!! Lengthening to 8cm ain’t no joke huh??? I remember once I hit 6cm, I was like “holy sh*t!!”....and then from there to about 7.9cm for me the tightness was crazy as hell man.I feel like I'm probably recovering at a similar rate to you and I'm a few steps behind you. I was definitely a bit overoptimistic about my recovery after reading SNC's journal, but it's coming along. I've been stretching my hip flexors like crazy and trying to work out my TFL and glutes, but I just can't seem to get rid of the hip sway!
Don’t worry about your range of motion, eventually it all comes back. Sometimes one leg is better than the other. But slowly but surely it all comes back. My left leg is like nothing even happened. My right leg hamstring is perfect, I just have a few degrees to improve on the quads, but it’s not affecting my walk or anything. Main ordeal at the moment for me is rebuilding the muscle mass and strength in my glutes, hips and quads.
And yes, going down stairs is a fun adventure but that has really improved for me. But I do remember the first few weeks of consolidation... I was holding on railing for dear life going downstairs!!! Lol
Hey BTM, how are you doing brother?Recovering slowly. I'll try to post an update this weekend!
great flexibility btmIt's getting better
good luck sir
Not gonna lie, when I saw your previous video after you got covid I got super depressed. But you bounced back fast. Seriously man, holy crap. If I didn’t know you had LL I would’ve guessed you hit your leg or did something silly. That’s awesome progress.It's still detectable lol, but I guess still improving.
I bet you’re gonna be undetectable in less than a month. Keep it up tallman
Thanks for the update BTM. Your walk doesn't look bad at all. I'm sure focusing on correcting it would help get back your normal gait.Easier said than done. Even if it looks normal it doesn't feel normal. If I have to actively try and maintain a good gait, then I won't recover to the point where I can forget about LL.
Hello BTM!Yeah, I'm a bit impatient. Now that I'm a few months into consolidation I just want to be recovered already.
I have read your entire journal and I think you are doing a great job.
After watching this last video, I think that if you keep walking long distances and stretching your muscles every day, you will soon achieve that your walking is completely normal.
I also had surgery with Stryde, I increased 8 cm like you and I am in the second week of consolidation, but my walk is much worse than yours, I can assure you😉
Keep working hard and I'm sure that very soon you will regain your physical form and your correct way of walking💪
Hey man, you are doing great....!I'll update soon. Waiting for X-ray results before I post.
I'm sure in no time you will be running around like nothing had happened.....
Please keep updating , very glad to hear abt your progress....
Would be grateful if you could post more video updates....
Keep going!!
Best wishes!
Recovery
Overall, I still have a long road ahead of me. My shins are still very numb; sometimes I feel like there’s some improvement but other days it’s just as bad as before. My gait still wobbles at the hip, and I have way less stamina than I did before surgery. I can walk maybe a mile or two before my legs are fatigued, and at that point my gait is absolutely terrible to the point I'm embarrassed to be walking in public. Walking for a while not only makes my legs tired, but my back hurts as well, so I probably still have some flexibility issues to address. Also, after a long walk or doing any leg exercises it takes at least a day to fully recover, during which my gait is bad the whole time.
I have had quite a few ups and downs this month in terms of my recovery. I know I’ve definitely improved a little, but I’m still struggling with walking normally. I certainly hope it will eventually get better, but if I walk like this for the rest of my life then I would have paid a ton of money to cripple myself. I have had a lot of negative thoughts about my legs lately. I think the worst part right now isn’t even my gait, but rather how my legs feel while I walk. Even when I walk toward a mirror and can see that my gait is almost normal, the process of walking doesn’t feel normal to me. I feel like I still have to put in a lot of effort to walk with a good gait so walking isn't natural to me. My legs still often feel very stiff and it actually hurts my bones sometimes when I walk, especially when I walk right after getting up from a sitting position or put a little more weight on one leg than usual. I am definitely getting stronger, but overall recovery has been very gradual for me, with no sudden transition from “bad” to “good”.
If you ask me how I feel regarding the surgery right now, I definitely have mixed thoughts. While I appreciate being taller, I can't utilize my new height in any meaningful way because I'm still a cripple. My legs also don't feel good/normal yet, so I think about my gait, my walk, and my legs all the time. If I'm outside I also think about how others might perceive me. At least when I was short, while walking around in public I was invisible. Now I feel like everyone is looking at me and judging my crippled walk. Now that summer is here, everything is opened up again, and everyone is outside enjoying life, I can definitely say that my sense of urgency and the need to return to normal is much more than before. I can't say that I recommend getting the surgery at this point as the recovery period is just too long.
Surgery +7 Months, Start of Consolidation +3 Months
Another month has passed; here is my update:
Physical Therapy
I did my last few PT sessions a few weeks ago. Although I haven’t fully recovered, it was definitely about time to stop since the benefit was getting pretty small. Surprisingly, they haven’t asked me to settle the bill yet, but I’ll make a separate post on all my LL expenditures once I know what the final amount was.
Reactions
Since my last journal entry, I have seen quite a few of my friends for the first time since surgery. I saw them at a formal event, so I was dressed up which helped hide my swinging hips a bit.
Friend 1: This is the only person I’ve mentioned LL to, and that was many years ago. He is 5’7” so when he saw me it was super obvious to him that I was taller. He actually looks kind of short to me now. The first thing he asked was whether I got surgery or if I was wearing giant lifts, to which I awkwardly responded the latter even though I was clearly not. Since then, he hasn't mention it again so I guess he must have accepted it. It looks like people don’t ever forget about LL once they know that the surgery exists. Therefore, don't tell anyone you know that you want LL or that LL even exists if you plan to get it and keep it a secret.
Friends 2 & 3: These two guys I met at the same time. They are 5’11” and 6’0”. I feel like I’m almost as tall as them now, but I don’t think they noticed that I grew, because I’m still shorter than them. It has been a good two years since I saw either of them, so they probably don’t remember exactly how tall I was. One of them said I seemed a lot skinnier though.
Friend 4: This guy is about 5’8.5”, so I went from clearly shorter than him to clearly taller than him. I hadn’t seen him for over a year and I usually wore lifts when I hung out with this circle of friends so I don’t think he noticed my height increase. He didn’t say anything about it, which was a little surprising to me. He also said that I looked a little skinnier than before.
Family: I postponed seeing my parents as long as I could, but I finally had to see them recently. My mom is definitely too short to notice; I couldn’t even tell that she was shorter relative to me than before. My dad is just the right height to notice and he mentioned that I was limping as well, but he hasn’t outright asked me if I got taller. He is almost old enough to start shrinking, so maybe I can use that excuse if he brings it up. My sister is taller than my mom, but shorter than my starting height. Surprisingly, I don’t think she noticed at all that I had gotten taller, but I definitely felt like she was relatively shorter than before.
Consolidation
I got updated X-rays at the end of the month. I can definitely tell that my bones have consolidated a bit more compared to the last X-ray, but they are still far from fully consolidated. Dr. D told me to get another X-ray in about two months, but based on my current rate of consolidation he wasn't even sure if I'd be consolidated enough to run by then. At this rate it could really be a full year before I can think about playing any sports!
Recovery
Overall, I still have a long road ahead of me. My shins are still very numb; sometimes I feel like there’s some improvement but other days it’s just as bad as before. My gait still wobbles at the hip, and I have way less stamina than I did before surgery. I can walk maybe a mile or two before my legs are fatigued, and at that point my gait is absolutely terrible to the point I'm embarrassed to be walking in public. Walking for a while not only makes my legs tired, but my back hurts as well, so I probably still have some flexibility issues to address. Also, after a long walk or doing any leg exercises it takes at least a day to fully recover, during which my gait is bad the whole time.
I have had quite a few ups and downs this month in terms of my recovery. I know I’ve definitely improved a little, but I’m still struggling with walking normally. I certainly hope it will eventually get better, but if I walk like this for the rest of my life then I would have paid a ton of money to cripple myself. I have had a lot of negative thoughts about my legs lately. I think the worst part right now isn’t even my gait, but rather how my legs feel while I walk. Even when I walk toward a mirror and can see that my gait is almost normal, the process of walking doesn’t feel normal to me. I feel like I still have to put in a lot of effort to walk with a good gait so walking isn't natural to me. My legs still often feel very stiff and it actually hurts my bones sometimes when I walk, especially when I walk right after getting up from a sitting position or put a little more weight on one leg than usual. I am definitely getting stronger, but overall recovery has been very gradual for me, with no sudden transition from “bad” to “good”.
If you ask me how I feel regarding the surgery right now, I definitely have mixed thoughts. While I appreciate being taller, I can't utilize my new height in any meaningful way because I'm still a cripple. My legs also don't feel good/normal yet, so I think about my gait, my walk, and my legs all the time. If I'm outside I also think about how others might perceive me. At least when I was short, while walking around in public I was invisible. Now I feel like everyone is looking at me and judging my crippled walk. Now that summer is here, everything is opened up again, and everyone is outside enjoying life, I can definitely say that my sense of urgency and the need to return to normal is much more than before. I can't say that I recommend getting the surgery at this point as the recovery period is just too long.
Clothing
So I originally thought I’d go from 30 to 32 inseam pants, but what I found out is that 30 inseam pants fit me perfectly after LL. I think that means my legs were just hella short before. I think in the past when I was wearing size 30 jeans I thought that they fit me, but now I realize that they must have been compressed a ton around my ankles. Now I feel like I finally know how pants are actually designed to fit, especially jeans. I will say that I look much better in clothes than before. I definitely enjoy looking at my body shape in the mirror more than before and it's a confidence booster. It's currently the only positive thing I have to say about the surgery.
Video
I was originally going to record a video for this entry, but my right knee started hurting out of nowhere about two days ago, especially when I put weight on it. It has been a few weeks since this last happened; I thought I had already gotten past this knee issue, but I guess not. I'm sure you don't want to see me walking with a limp on top of hip sway, so I will record a video when my knee feels better. I do think I have made some small improvements since last month, especially on flexibility so I can try a few new things on video. Let me know if there’s anything you guys want to see.
Fantastic progress. I think there's actually no reason to be depressed. Gaits usually persist until you take glute strength training seriously. Many of the nerves and muscles in those areas shrunk due to inactivity during lengthening. There're a ton of great glute exercises on the internet that will vanquish your gait in a month.I think either my gait has been getting better or I'm caring less about it. I've been out socializing a lot recently and no one has commented on it lately.
Yeah man at 7 months you might still have a bit of limping but recovery starts really speeding up right after that up until 1 year mark or so. then you'll most likely face what I call the 1 year-post op hell.Thanks, Movie. I already have pain in my femurs, especially above the knees and when I bear additional weight with the nail (standing on one leg, etc). If I have even more pain at the 1 year mark I don't know if I'll be able to walk :'(
Hey brotherI'm feeling a bit better now, but still struggling a lot going down stairs. My legs literally shake with unsteadiness if I don't hold the handrails, especially if they're already fatigued. It's also difficult balancing extra workouts on the legs and having functional legs normally. If I work out my legs too hard, then the following few days I won't even be able to walk normal. Fortunately, I'm still working from home so on my days of rest I don't have to walk in public with bad gait. I hope your nerve pain, vascular issues, and dependence on painkillers will all go away soon!
I am in second week of consolidation
The thoughts you have about your legs and pain and recovery is exactly same as I feel
Some days my left leg the nerves go crazy. Doc says to push and walk and climb stairs when I do that I get shivers next day and takes me 2 days to recover.
Some times nails in hands and feet get blue and doc says it’s vascular system adjusting to new height
Bone pain still persists and some days is very hard
Like you mentioned I wouldn’t recommend this surgery yet and I am unable to fully utilise new height.
Yes looking in mirror is awesome and when people say u r taller but over all when other symptoms exist it’s not best feeling internally
I truly think this is a one year recoevry process. I’m glad you don’t have any blood flow issues
I hve been asked to continue taking aspirin and heparin injections of I travel. I have lost half of my hair due to this as side effect
I am hoping all this normalises in a years time
So let’s hang in there and see how we perform as human body
All good my friend - at 7 months post op you are right around where I was - I was still deep in recovery mode but had a more optimistic outlook because I measured progress in small increments rather than a big bang overnight result.Yeah, I think I was too optimistic going into this thinking that I'd be somewhat normal by the 6 month mark. I think a lot of peoples' videos after the 6 month mark look pretty good, but videos can't show how the legs feel internally. Even if someone looks like they have decent gait and a solid stride, they are probably still feeling some level of struggle in their legs while they walk. Some days are worse than others, but overall it does feel like I'm slowly improving over time. It still takes me days to recover after a tough leg workout, so I think that's part of why I am recovering so slowly. I'm super impatient with recovering right now, but my body can only tolerate so much. I've been doing a ton of upper body workouts as well, so it still feels like I'm making "progress" on something even if my legs aren't.
One of the most dissapointing things from LL marketing materials is this notion that we are "fully recovered" and can return to full contact sports at 6 months post op - this is not the case for the large majority of LLers. At 6 to 9 months, at best our gait is normalized, but for a short period of time, at which point fatigue sets in. The key is that our muscle atrophy is still recovering, and our quads, hips, and glutes are still relatively weak. At this stage if you focus on working out your glutes and hips, I think you can reaccelerate recovery, and revisit how you feel about yourself and this surgery at the 9 month mark.
The journey is far from over, but there is much more upside to look forward to with work and dedication.
Hey BTM - Thanks for the update and candid assessment. Very helpful for someone like me who is also planning on taking the plunge soon. The process undoubtedly seems like a marathon - one full of highs and lows, which is good for me and others to recognize. In terms of the height increase, I would bet that more persons noticed, but probably just didn’t say anything. Your impressions are certainly better than my guess though for sure . Hang in there. I’m sure that given all of your hard work and dedication, you will be much better soon. Stay strong and thanks again for the unvarnished update!I've been out a lot in the last few weeks and so far very few people have said anything directly about it. I just don't think most people's brains would 1) realize that it's possible to gain height as an adult and 2) their friend actually went through with a major surgery in the months since they last met. Therefore, most people would just think that they remembered your old height wrong. After all, memories are most certainly fallible! I think the only person who knew was the person who I told that I was planning to do it a long time ago. I had only brought it up once over seven years ago, and that was enough for him to remember. Otherwise, who would jump to such a silly conclusion ;)
wow you look great with your new height but really your wingsparn is 169? because with 177 height are 8 difference :/I usually don't entertain proportions questions because proportions don't matter in real life, but if I didn't state in this journal that my wingspan was 169cm, would you have even noticed from my videos? Now if I told you that I measured it wrong and that it was actually 173cm would you be able to tell from looking? The point is, height is just a number, but it can be easily compared between two people. Wingspan is not something that you compare with others very frequently, and people aren't going to notice a negative ape index unless you have dwarfism or something.
i for example i am 166 with wingsparn 170.5 and i want 176.5 with 2 surgeries
See my post here on proportions: http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=5498
Based on peer reviewed research, having a short wingspan relative to height is not noticeable even at 3 standard deviations below the mean. That means even if your ape index is worse than 99.7% of other people, it won't have an impact on your overall appearance. If you are obsessed with wingspan then you should not get LL, because what you need is a psychiatrist who can fix your compulsion regarding proportions and body dysmorphia issues. Also, it seems like you're new here since you only have 1 post and want to get two surgeries. Over time I'm sure you'll learn what's realistic and what actually matters.
Hi BTM,Hey SNC, always nice to see you post! I should just stop replying to anything regarding proportions because it really doesn't matter and other people don't notice. For most short men, it's far better to be taller than to have perfect proportions.
Good to hear from you.
I had watched your videos. Your leg and wingspan proportions look very normal and you look great.
I have not read that peer reviewed research you were referring here, but I agree its summary you put here.
Awesome read! Just made an account for this - I read every word of your journal and have been rooting for you!Thanks for the encouragement and I'm glad my journal has been informative for you.
New to considering LL at 5'7 and it was great to get such a detailed perspective on what can happen. :D
We are literally the same height and have the same wingspan... I have just started reading your diary and becoming very emotionally attached. I sincerecly wish you the best of luck and a speedy recovery. I also hope soon, one day atleast before my mid 20's to be able to go through this painful and gruesome experience to finally put atleast some of my height related mental problems at ease...If you're very young then try not to think about it too much. Enjoy life the best that you can and make the most of yourself (career-wise). You can always come back and do this later if you still feel unsatisfied.
Thanks again for providing us with such a detailed diary.
Item | Cost |
Virtual Consultation | $200 |
In Person Consultation | $400 |
Deposit | $15K |
Remainder to Doctor | $54K |
Hospital Deposit | $9K |
Hospital Radiology+Lab Bills | $100 |
Item | Count | Out of Pocket Cost |
Pre-op Blood Work (Lab) | 1 visit | $40 |
Physical Therapy | 60 visits | $3850* |
Pharmacy | 4 mo supply | $1850^ |
X-Rays | 4 visits | $850 |
Item | Cost |
Vegas Airbnb (1 month) | $1500 |
Home Health Aide* | $450 |
Bone Supplements | $40/month |
Waterproof Bath Pillow^ | $40 |
Rubber Ring Cushion^ | $20 |
Massage Gun | $80 |
Walking Cane | $20 |
Grabber Tool | $10 |
10 ft Cell Phone Cable | $10 |
So far looks nearly identical to my expense list with Dr D, except a 5000 discount for precise 2.2 and my insurance covers PT. To anyone looking for Dr D, this is exactly what you’ll spend.
Surgery Month +15, Consolidation Month +11
Hey everyone, I’ve been back on the forum for a little while and noticed it’s a lot less active here than it was back when Stryde was in its heyday so I thought I’d make a post. For some reason some of the forum functions don’t work for me anymore (links, videos, etc.) and some of the long posts are trimmed at the end so I’ll keep this post to text. As usual, I’ll cover what is most relevant to me at this stage in my recovery and I’ll answer any questions you might have. I feel like I have actually made quite a bit of progress lately, and just a few weeks ago I would have had a more pessimistic outlook on my recovery, but I'm feeling pretty good right now.
Walking: I would say that I’m pretty close to 100%. Sometimes if I’m not paying attention to my legs, my walk can deteriorate a bit, but I correct that as soon as I notice it. I definitely haven’t seen anything lately that would indicate that others were thinking that I had a weird walk. I can walk for pretty much any distance comfortably (though I haven’t tried more than 8km) and I’ve gone on quite a few hikes including some steep and muddy trails.
Running: Since I was cleared to run, I have had a ton of struggles trying to run due to pain in my femurs when my feet hit the ground. Recently I randomly tried running again and surprisingly didn’t have any pain. There was nothing that I did differently; I guess I must have suddenly just reached another level of recovery. I tested out my abilities and was able to “sprint” at 8.5mph on the treadmill briefly without any pain, so I plan to practice more going forward. I need to record a video of myself running though, because it feels weird when I run and I’m not very stable, so I need to see how bad my running gait is before I go run in public lol.
Weight Lifting: I’m actually in great shape right now even though I go to the gym infrequently due to a very clean diet. I've been working out my upper body completely normally for months and my strength is close to my past peak. Unfortunately, my lower body is still lacking a lot. Even though running doesn’t cause me pain anymore, squats still hurt. I can go through the motions pretty well, even with about 100 pounds on my shoulders, but my legs hurt so I’ve been taking it very lightly. I also haven’t been doing deadlifts because they hurt my legs as well and I end up using my back to compensate, which is dangerous. I don’t know how good my recovery is going to be here, but I will continue to take it slow. My knees weren't great even before surgery, so that doesn't help either.
Cardio: I’m not sure if it’s because I caught COVID last year or if it’s from LL recovery, but my cardio level is absolutely horrible. I can only run at a jogger's pace for a minute or two before my heart rate gets very high. I can’t even jog for a mile (1600m) right now, so that 9:00 mile goal I set over a year ago is nowhere near achievement. I think the closest I’ve gotten is a timed attempt on 800m and that took well over 6 minutes, and I had to slow down to a walking pace multiple times. (I could run a mile in under 5:30 before surgery). I still think I will eventually improve here, especially once my nails are out, but I really don’t know how long it will take at this point.
Sports: Surprisingly, I’ve been able to play sports that don’t require running quite well. For example, I can still shred down a black diamond in the Rockies. I haven’t tried skiing yet, but I imagine my level would still be just as good as before. I’ve also surfed a couple of times on the Pacific coast and it wasn't bad at all. I can swim both at the surface and with fins underwater no problem. For some reason my cardio issues aren’t as bad outside of running, so I can last for a while with other activities and I just need to rest a little bit more than before. Once I get more practice running and my running gait is normal, I’m definitely looking forward to playing other sports where I might need to run around and use agility.
Nerve Issues: For those who followed my journal, I had multiple bouts of nerve pain during lengthening and at the end of lengthening both my shins were completely numb. I would say that they have recovered slowly over time (with my shin nerves tingling and hurting a bit as they grew less numb), but out of nowhere a few weeks ago they suddenly jumped to about an 85% recovery. I’m pulling that number out of nowhere, but I have almost full sensation back in my shins. The biggest change was that I could finally feel the inside of my pants brushing against my shins normally like they used to. Now the only weird thing about my shins is that if I push hard on them I’ll notice that my skin is still a bit less sensitive to pain than before LL. I anticipate a 100% recovery here.
Physique:
My quadriceps are completely back and as just as thick as they used to be. From the front I look and feel like a beast in the mirror so I’m very happy with my body. However, on the other side my butt is still lacking a lot. It’s bigger than it was right after I finished lengthening, but nowhere near its former glory. I’ve started focusing on butt exercises in the gym. I think it will improve my stability in running and sports as well. Given how little I’ve focused on my butt in the gym, I think I can still get it back at some point if I work it out harder.
Dating: I’m dating a heightist and I don’t know how I feel about it. She is not even that tall, maybe a bit over 160cm. Due to this height stuff I’ve subtly prodded her to see how she feels about short guys and oh man it’s bad. One time she explicitly said that I wasn’t tall, but an “acceptable” height. I guess that's reasonable, but then because she didn’t think I would be offended if she insulted short guys, she went on a detailed tirade about how much she abhorred short guys, which was very offensive to me, but I didn’t want her to suspect anything so I had to keep a blank face. I can tell 100% that she would not be dating me at my original height. If she wasn’t hot as hell I would have dumped her already. I might break up with her soon anyway; I actually didn’t have a ton of chances to date after recovering from LL since I found her pretty quickly and I still want to play the field a bit with my new height. At my current height it’s noticeably easier to date both online and offline.
Social Aspects: A few people that I knew before surgery that I’ve seen a bunch of times have started questioning if I grew. I just continue to gaslight them and deny it and they don’t press much further. Otherwise, the pandemic was the perfect cover for me, and for most people (coworkers, distant friends, etc.) I didn’t see them for over two years so they didn’t have much to say when they saw me for the first time. Otherwise, my new height has no impact on my daily life. I don’t feel like I’m taller anymore and I feel like this is the height I have always been. Also, at some point I even realized that I stopped mentally comparing my height to other people out in public, like I used to right after I finished lengthening. I guess even subconsciously I don’t have anything to prove anymore.
Nail Removal: I’m currently researching nail removal options. Mentally I’m not in a huge rush to take them out since I don't think they're hindering me, but my X-rays look very solid and I don’t want to run into any Stryde lysis issues. I may have a chance to take a long break from work later this year, so I’m planning ahead to get them taken out around then. I will try to put together an update after I recover from nail removal.
Scars: Unfortunately my scars still haven’t faded. The scars near my knees are very dark and obvious and the rest are light, but still noticeable. Once I get the nails removed, I plan to get all the scars removed by laser as soon as I can. For now, the scars are a PITA because I can’t easily wear shorts around people that I don’t want to know about my scars, which is pretty much everyone I knew before surgery. I guess I shouldn't have just trusted everyone who said the scars would fade on their own.
Final Thoughts: Now that nail removal is in my sights, a big part of me is very excited to finally be done with this whole thing. It was an interesting experience for sure, and I don't regret it one bit. It gave me some serious introspection into my own brain, and in a way it feels like I took an epic adventure into what's possible with the human body. I can still happily report that I have absolutely no intention of doing my tibias. I think my current height is great, and even though many would not consider me "tall" I no longer feel that my height is limiting me in any way. I don't care about the numbers anymore and I don't care what others say about my height. Although I still have some physical limitations in my recovery, I've been able to do most of the activities that I love and go to the places that I enjoy. Overall, I have a pretty positive outlook on life right now, and it feels like LL both helped me unlock my potential and better helped me appreciate all the things that I already had.
Surgery Month +15, Consolidation Month +11Amazing post !
Hey everyone, I’ve been back on the forum for a little while and noticed it’s a lot less active here than it was back when Stryde was in its heyday so I thought I’d make a post. For some reason some of the forum functions don’t work for me anymore (links, videos, etc.) and some of the long posts are trimmed at the end so I’ll keep this post to text. As usual, I’ll cover what is most relevant to me at this stage in my recovery and I’ll answer any questions you might have. I feel like I have actually made quite a bit of progress lately, and just a few weeks ago I would have had a more pessimistic outlook on my recovery, but I'm feeling pretty good right now.
Walking: I would say that I’m pretty close to 100%. Sometimes if I’m not paying attention to my legs, my walk can deteriorate a bit, but I correct that as soon as I notice it. I definitely haven’t seen anything lately that would indicate that others were thinking that I had a weird walk. I can walk for pretty much any distance comfortably (though I haven’t tried more than 8km) and I’ve gone on quite a few hikes including some steep and muddy trails.
Running: Since I was cleared to run, I have had a ton of struggles trying to run due to pain in my femurs when my feet hit the ground. Recently I randomly tried running again and surprisingly didn’t have any pain. There was nothing that I did differently; I guess I must have suddenly just reached another level of recovery. I tested out my abilities and was able to “sprint” at 8.5mph on the treadmill briefly without any pain, so I plan to practice more going forward. I need to record a video of myself running though, because it feels weird when I run and I’m not very stable, so I need to see how bad my running gait is before I go run in public lol.
Weight Lifting: I’m actually in great shape right now even though I go to the gym infrequently due to a very clean diet. I've been working out my upper body completely normally for months and my strength is close to my past peak. Unfortunately, my lower body is still lacking a lot. Even though running doesn’t cause me pain anymore, squats still hurt. I can go through the motions pretty well, even with about 100 pounds on my shoulders, but my legs hurt so I’ve been taking it very lightly. I also haven’t been doing deadlifts because they hurt my legs as well and I end up using my back to compensate, which is dangerous. I don’t know how good my recovery is going to be here, but I will continue to take it slow. My knees weren't great even before surgery, so that doesn't help either.
Cardio: I’m not sure if it’s because I caught COVID last year or if it’s from LL recovery, but my cardio level is absolutely horrible. I can only run at a jogger's pace for a minute or two before my heart rate gets very high. I can’t even jog for a mile (1600m) right now, so that 9:00 mile goal I set over a year ago is nowhere near achievement. I think the closest I’ve gotten is a timed attempt on 800m and that took well over 6 minutes, and I had to slow down to a walking pace multiple times. (I could run a mile in under 5:30 before surgery). I still think I will eventually improve here, especially once my nails are out, but I really don’t know how long it will take at this point.
Sports: Surprisingly, I’ve been able to play sports that don’t require running quite well. For example, I can still shred down a black diamond in the Rockies. I haven’t tried skiing yet, but I imagine my level would still be just as good as before. I’ve also surfed a couple of times on the Pacific coast and it wasn't bad at all. I can swim both at the surface and with fins underwater no problem. For some reason my cardio issues aren’t as bad outside of running, so I can last for a while with other activities and I just need to rest a little bit more than before. Once I get more practice running and my running gait is normal, I’m definitely looking forward to playing other sports where I might need to run around and use agility.
Nerve Issues: For those who followed my journal, I had multiple bouts of nerve pain during lengthening and at the end of lengthening both my shins were completely numb. I would say that they have recovered slowly over time (with my shin nerves tingling and hurting a bit as they grew less numb), but out of nowhere a few weeks ago they suddenly jumped to about an 85% recovery. I’m pulling that number out of nowhere, but I have almost full sensation back in my shins. The biggest change was that I could finally feel the inside of my pants brushing against my shins normally like they used to. Now the only weird thing about my shins is that if I push hard on them I’ll notice that my skin is still a bit less sensitive to pain than before LL. I anticipate a 100% recovery here.
Physique:
My quadriceps are completely back and as just as thick as they used to be. From the front I look and feel like a beast in the mirror so I’m very happy with my body. However, on the other side my butt is still lacking a lot. It’s bigger than it was right after I finished lengthening, but nowhere near its former glory. I’ve started focusing on butt exercises in the gym. I think it will improve my stability in running and sports as well. Given how little I’ve focused on my butt in the gym, I think I can still get it back at some point if I work it out harder.
Dating: I’m dating a heightist and I don’t know how I feel about it. She is not even that tall, maybe a bit over 160cm. Due to this height stuff I’ve subtly prodded her to see how she feels about short guys and oh man it’s bad. One time she explicitly said that I wasn’t tall, but an “acceptable” height. I guess that's reasonable, but then because she didn’t think I would be offended if she insulted short guys, she went on a detailed tirade about how much she abhorred short guys, which was very offensive to me, but I didn’t want her to suspect anything so I had to keep a blank face. I can tell 100% that she would not be dating me at my original height. If she wasn’t hot as hell I would have dumped her already. I might break up with her soon anyway; I actually didn’t have a ton of chances to date after recovering from LL since I found her pretty quickly and I still want to play the field a bit with my new height. At my current height it’s noticeably easier to date both online and offline.
Social Aspects: A few people that I knew before surgery that I’ve seen a bunch of times have started questioning if I grew. I just continue to gaslight them and deny it and they don’t press much further. Otherwise, the pandemic was the perfect cover for me, and for most people (coworkers, distant friends, etc.) I didn’t see them for over two years so they didn’t have much to say when they saw me for the first time. Otherwise, my new height has no impact on my daily life. I don’t feel like I’m taller anymore and I feel like this is the height I have always been. Also, at some point I even realized that I stopped mentally comparing my height to other people out in public, like I used to right after I finished lengthening. I guess even subconsciously I don’t have anything to prove anymore.
Nail Removal: I’m currently researching nail removal options. Mentally I’m not in a huge rush to take them out since I don't think they're hindering me, but my X-rays look very solid and I don’t want to run into any Stryde lysis issues. I may have a chance to take a long break from work later this year, so I’m planning ahead to get them taken out around then. I will try to put together an update after I recover from nail removal.
Scars: Unfortunately my scars still haven’t faded. The scars near my knees are very dark and obvious and the rest are light, but still noticeable. Once I get the nails removed, I plan to get all the scars removed by laser as soon as I can. For now, the scars are a PITA because I can’t easily wear shorts around people that I don’t want to know about my scars, which is pretty much everyone I knew before surgery. I guess I shouldn't have just trusted everyone who said the scars would fade on their own.
Final Thoughts: Now that nail removal is in my sights, a big part of me is very excited to finally be done with this whole thing. It was an interesting experience for sure, and I don't regret it one bit. It gave me some serious introspection into my own brain, and in a way it feels like I took an epic adventure into what's possible with the human body. I can still happily report that I have absolutely no intention of doing my tibias. I think my current height is great, and even though many would not consider me "tall" I no longer feel that my height is limiting me in any way. I don't care about the numbers anymore and I don't care what others say about my height. Although I still have some physical limitations in my recovery, I've been able to do most of the activities that I love and go to the places that I enjoy. Overall, I have a pretty positive outlook on life right now, and it feels like LL both helped me unlock my potential and better helped me appreciate all the things that I already had.
Thank you for sharing it. Doing LL is a big challenge in life, probably the most challenging task right?The distraction phase of LL was the most physically challenging thing I've done in my life, but not the most intellectually challenging.
Cheers for the update. Glad to hear things are going well generally. What do you think of your proportions now? Also, how hard has it been to squat with your new biomechanics? This is one of my biggest concerns.As I mentioned in the past, I think doing the full 8cm made my femurs a little long compared to my tibias, but it's not an issue imo. No one aside from you yourself will notice these things. I've never had anyone comment about my tibia:femur ratio. Regarding leg length, one girl even said I had short legs.. can you imagine what she would have thought of my proportions before surgery?::) As for squatting, the new biomechanics are much worse for squatting. If I squat like I used to, then I would fall over backwards. Nowadays I lean forward a bit to squat and I can go all the way down, but like I said I still have a bit of femur pain when using weights and my knees were never very good, so not sure how well I can recover there. Only time will tell.
Great post! Your recovery sounds very impressive. Thanks for sharing!I've known about LL since at least 2014, but didn't get it done until many years later. I spent a lot of time thinking about it over the years and at one point even decided not to do it. The main issues for me were the medical costs, finding help for the period that I would be crippled, and figuring out how to take an extended break from my career. The lost opportunity cost of not working for an extended period of time was even higher for me than the cost of surgery itself so I never seriously considered it. Then in 2020 the pandemic forced everyone to work from home and I returned to the forum to discover that the rumored weight-bearing nail from a few years ago had actually been released. Now all my problems had been resolved. With Stryde, I wouldn't need someone to take care of me the whole time I was lengthening, I could just work from home while lengthening due to COVID, and I had some extra cash on hand with a crazy market in 2020. It was pretty much the perfect storm so I quickly decided to pull the trigger and scheduled my surgery.
Question BelowTheMean...I am also an early 30s guy, same exact starting height as you.
If you were in the situation now with STRYDE off the market for the time being, do you think you would have waited another year or two for STRYDE's successor to release, or would you have gone with Precise to just get it over with? I am trying to decide this myself. Being early 30s, the longer we wait the longer we are without the additional height....But the recovery with Stryde seems better...
Hi BTM, I'm been lurking on here for awhile and had to login just to saw thank you for your diary.
It's on of the best on here in my opinion, even our age/starting height/ goals, reasons, etc.
I understand that eventually you want to fade away from this and move on with your life, but it's been such a source of knowledge and comfort that I'd kinda wish you stayed around. I'd really appreciate a monthly video update on your walk, or even a video update every 6 months just so we can see how the results play out over the long run. Does it get better, does it get worse, etc.?
I also saw that you mentioned thinking about scar revision surgery and am wondering if you can show us what the scars look like, both close up and zoom out (so that we can see the locations they are on the leg), so that I can understand how discreet (or not) after getting the surgery with Stryde.
Once again, thank you for all your updates and responses. Really appreciate it.
Hi BTM,
No worries, I understand. Thanks for replying anyways.
Now that your walk is normal, at least to external appearances, how does it function?
You previously mentioned you can run normally (even sprint?) but how long are you able to keep going? Would you be able to run, say, continuously for an hour (assuming that this was possible pre-surgery)?
What about long-distance walking, like hiking? I'm a big hiker and really into long-distance walking. I like to travel and my preferred method of exploring my destination is on foot. I've been trying to do that with insoles and realized my capacity for walking normally with insoles is only about half an hour before my feet starts to kill me. Is walking/hiking for hours a possibility for you at the moment?
In any case, thanks again for your response. Really appreciate it.
Got it. Thanks for the response!
Really glad to hear about retaining your hiking ability. Likewise for skiing & snowboarding.
My height neurosis is pretty strong and sometimes it leads to me opting out of social events where I have to take off my shoes/insoles. Sometimes I walk around and just feel because everyone around me seem tall and therefore, life felt like it'll always be better for other people. I hide it pretty well though and people would generally I'm cheerful & outgoing, but I wish I can live a life where I'm not thinking about my height inferiority every single damn day. I think that's why your diary really struck a chord with me when you mentioned it was something you don't think about anymore.
Do you feel completely normal with regards to the rest of society now (height-wise)? I think you mentioned that you were, but I guess now a tibia surgery is completely out of the question for you? I'm saving up for femur + tibia, so I was thinking of doing 5+6 to stay in what's considered generally safe limits, but now from reading your diary I'm thinking if 8cm will cure your neurosis then maybe that's what I should try too.
Anyways, thank you for your constant response. Please don't feel obliged to respond if you're busy. I still wish you come update here from time to time though so we can know how it goes long-term with regards to recovering complete functionality. Hope your cardio eventually recovers to pre-surgery level!
I think my height neurosis was mostly tied to dating. I am very shallow/picky and only date hot girls, which is a lot harder as a short guy, even if all my other attributes are excellent. I was just really tired of girls calling me short all the time, even ones who I hooked up with. As for the other aspects of neurosis, other people being taller than me in a group setting was only a slight issue to me and I did spent a lot of time thinking about height as well, but I don't think those alone would've gotten me to do LL.
As for fixing height neurosis, the total number of centimeters lengthened is not that important. You're not going to notice the difference of 1-2cm in height. Going through the surgery and being a cripple for a few months makes you realize that health is a lot more important than height. The perspective of being taller also helps a bit, and I started feeling different when I reached the 5-6cm mark. Speaking of which, I'm not sure where you heard of 5+6cm as "safe limits". The safe limit is 0cm (not doing the surgery at all) because once you break your bones and start lengthening them, your body is going through a lot of trauma no matter how much you lengthen. You have a metal nail inside you and you'll have to do another surgery to get it out. You also have all the scars associated with the surgery. If you do two segments, then double all that surgical trauma on your body.
With any legitimate surgeon, you can set your goal in one segment to 8cm, but they're going to tell you to stop if your body can't handle it. Most people on here managed to get 7-8cm in their femurs, but it's always going to be on a case-by-case basis. There's a reason that most of the Stryde journals on this forum are femurs-only. The number of people who come back for a second round of this is quite tiny, and many who did just one round leave this place because they go back to living normal lives.
Personally there is no way I'll ever do another LL surgery. Before my first surgery I would have considered it, but now there's nothing to consider. First, it took over a year to feel completely normal again, and I still need to get the nails out and then get my scars surgically removed. All of that will take at least another year, after which I can finally put all of this behind me. Second, my arms are too short to support another two inches of height. Thirdly, among my peer group I'm not short anymore and that's enough for me as I don't need to tower over anyone. Finally, I could blow that money doing almost anything and I would consider it a better deal than trading another two years of my life for two more inches of height.
Awesome BTM..I have almost decided not to do this surgery but I am really jealous as well as happy that you were able to complete it successfully..My dating life is below average but I think I have decided to make peace with that..I know that hot girls usually do not like guys 5ft 7 and under ( I am 5 ft 6 btw) and I will have to make peace with that.. The primary reason why I am not doing LL is because it will disrupt my professional/entrepreneurial journey which I value far more than height..It is what it is..Enjoy your new height :)
BelowTheMeanSpeedDialer's alt..? Why are you worried about this? Have you never traveled before? Maybe try doing a regular vacation abroad before you do international CLL. I just put my stuff in the hospital room after checking in and before surgery, and then after surgery they wheeled me into that same room. How would I lose my stuff?
You went to Spain alone and checked into the hospital. they must have asked your for your passport as identity proof during check-in. So before you were knocked out did you leave your phone wallet passport at the hospital for them to keep it safely for you while you lost consiousness?
what would you do if they had lost your items upon your awakening?
I actually find it weird that so few noticed such a great increase. 8cm is a lot (atleast, I think it is). And you went from somewhat shortish to a hair above average. Maybe people notice but don't say anything as the vast majority don't know of the possibility to grow after puberty.
Anyway it is nice to see everything is going smoothly for you.
Take care
It's a lot, but it also isn't. Most people don't know about CLL or can't imagine that you did CLL and they also know that adults can't grow, so they just experience major cognitive dissonance and you can even see the gears in their head turning when they see you taller. You'll be gaslighting them without saying a single word. Of course, that's just the people that know you well; those who don't know you well aren't going to remember how tall you were whatsoever.Sounds like things are going well for you. Happy for you bro
Here are some more recent social encounters:
- Met friends of my parents who have known me since I was a child. One of them kept saying that I looked skinnier than before and that I was staying in great shape for my age.
- Met a relative for the first time in a while and he actually called me out on it. I just gave him a blank look and said that I haven't grown since college and he dropped the subject after that.
- Met a short female friend for the first time in 2 or 3 years and I actually don't remember how tall she was and she definitely didn't remember how tall I was either.
- Was at a party and there was a guy around my starting height who was talking to the same hot girl as me. I thought both of us would have had about the same chance of getting her but he just randomly gave up and left her with me. Probably grasping at straws here, but I wonder if he would have tried harder if we were the same height.
- At a social event, randomly ran into a girl who rejected me for being short 4-5 years ago. She said I was looking good and checked to make sure we still have each other's numbers. She clearly doesn't even remember how tall I was before.
Sounds like things are going well for you. Happy for you broYes, life is great!
"Does being average height help me in dating? I don't actually think so; LL just removed the penalty from being short"What I'm trying to say is that I don't think being taller helps as much we want to believe it does when we go through with this. Since I've been at my current height I don't feel like I've actually met any girls with a strict height requirement, but maybe it's because I'm just tall enough now not to trigger that topic. However, no girls have called me tall or anything like that, so I don't think I have an advantage from height, I'm just not crapped on for being short. I'm also more acutely aware of short guys with girls walking around in the street and it reminds me that height isn't everything. I suppose you could say that after LL it's not immediately apparent that height helps with dating even if we believe it does. However, with that said, I'd still rather be my current height any day versus my original height, and I don't regret doing LL even one tiny bit.
I dont understand the phrase. When you say penalty you mean the percieved penalty YOU thought you had with regards to height?
I think he meant LL didn't necessarily help him get more girls. However, it cures his height neurosis when it comes to dating game.I removed my nails when it was convenient for me. I mentioned in my journal that I leaned on the later side so my bone would be stronger rather than weaker, especially since I didn't have any lysis issues from the Stryde nail.
@Op: Why did you wait more than 1y to get the nail removed? If I remember correctly, there was 1 patient of Dr. Debiparshad on this forum also lengthen femur ~8cm, removed his nail after exactly 1y and snapped his femur. Bad enough it happened to him when he was back home in Canada (again if I remember correctly). So did you wait longer than 1y to ensure sufficient bone healing?
Thanks a lot for your diary! A good amount of deep thoughts in it ;)
You talked about not having your height neurosys anymore. However, for long time you (we) have built your personality in this dysforia, between many other things. Do you think that now your mind is focusing in another kind of personal complex? Such as skin colour, tone of voice, amount of hair…
My fear is that after “solving this problem” I wont be satisfied because any other complex, or find psicological excuses to everydays matters throw it.
Thanks in advanced! Kind regards
Hey BTM..Do you think Dr Debiparshad has a lot of tech workers as his patients as he is claiming in that GQ article?Yes, I fully believe that. Just based on this forum you should know that there are a lot of tech workers with more money than height doing LL in the first place.
Were pretty similar in that Im a tad over 5'7 and will end about your height. I have surgery in January (Betz) and I'm really interested in your scars. Any chance you could post pics? I know its a pain but it would be a huge help. And you detailing your treatment is already super helpful. Thank you.Regarding posting scar pics: No, absolutely not.
Also what do you think about tattooing the scars? Normally I wouldnt like this idea but the idea you can go in and have them gone in a day is appealing rather than waiting years. Might look weird with sun though.
I wanted to follow up with two more questions, if you don't mind. In your reply, you said:Really, to both your questions I think it's the small and novel things that you notice that make a lot of the difference, whether it's internal or external. Things such as girls going on their tiptoes to kiss you, more people moving out of the way when you are walking toward each other on the sidewalk, etc. I don't really have specific things to point out anymore since it's been a while and I don't think of my height as my "new height". I've already totally adjusted to it and I can't even imagine being 3 inches shorter anymore.
"And I've noticed some circumstantial evidence that the physical aspect of the change is causing some differences in how I'm being perceived."
I'm curious if you could elaborate a little bit more on the circumstantial evidence here. (I think in your diary you mentioned that you were speaking/flirting with a woman at a party with another man present, that he eventually left, and the question crossed your mind how much your present height may have had to do with that- perhaps this was part of that?)
Secondly, do you think that this feeling of improved comfort in your own skin has improved your confidence in interpersonal interactions unrelated to the dating sphere? I know you said that there were never any issues in e.g. the workplace or in platonic friendships with your height, but I'm curious about, for you, what this improved comfort & confidence has meant to you day-to-day.
Feel free to copy and paste these answers into your diary thread if you like, if you'd rather 'get more mileage' out of the time you spend on this forum -- to which you've already given many hours of your time. Thanks again for your contributions to this community.
Thats because many American women are extremely materialistic and clout competitive. It really comes from nonstop advertising and media indulgence and they get into competition with their girlfriends. The height preferences does comes from some natural preference, but its increasingly more to do with impressing people....because they have been told that impresses people. These are also the same women that will leave you when you lose your job though. Any women who treats you like a piece of jewlery to show around is not going to be loyal down the road. So after LL I will still be avoiding the height centric women like the plague. Its reasonable for women to have a height preference, but the "only 6ft and over" girls are the ones you actually want to avoid if you want to be happy with someone in the end.
Hi , I did precise 2.2 with DR debiparshad in april , now I am 5 months into consolidation .
congratz on your recovery so far , hope it get better and better .
I went from 168 to 176ish , hope I can get back to normal activity soon . lol .
Hi BTM,
I checked the forum after several months and on first page I saw your page.
I am glad all worked well for you.
Some of us (you and myself included) did CLL at a perfect timing window during the covid lockdown and that I think sped up our recovery, while almost everything went online!
SNC
Hey SNC, you might not ever see this, but I'm really glad I had you, Movie, and the other guys to chat with while lengthening. Having a community made the process so much better, even if only virtually! We were definitely super lucky to do CLL during the golden window (Stryde + lockdown + WFH).
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In other news it's been over a year since my nail removal and I randomly felt like stopping by today. It seriously feels like it's already been years since I went through CLL!
I don't have any major updates to give. I'm still improving athletically, but not to my pre-surgery level. I think part of it is also caused by aging, but there was definitely some level of athletic loss from getting the surgery, which I have always been aware that it was going to happen. Numbness in my shins is still slightly there, but again it's better than before. My scars are still quite obvious, though two of the six have faded to a much lighter color (though still different than my base skin tone).
In terms of dating, not much has changed. I'm basically back to the same lifestyle as I was before CLL and COVID (mostly hookups with above average looking girls, but with a lot fewer of them calling me short now). I'm still far too picky for my own good and CLL doesn't seem to have helped me find someone worth settling down with. I don't want to encourage people to do CLL for more dating opportunities, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make the process a little easier.
However, based on my experience while the baseline number of girls willing to date me after CLL has gone up significantly, it hasn't made a huge impact to the types of girls I'm dating; I just have access to a lot more of the same type of girl. You will definitely have more dating opportunities if you do CLL, but not necessarily better looking girls. I think I have to make more structural changes to my lifestyle and dating strategies if I want to date a completely different pool of girls than I already am. Adding three inches of height was definitely not enough to make a difference.
I'm still working on this and based on firsthand experiences from the last year, I have a few ideas on what approach to take (aside from just making way more money ;D) A part of me wonders if I even needed to get CLL if I ultimately end up taking the money route to get married to a 10/10.. but doing CLL has definitely made me happier with myself and more confident in general (outside of dating too) so it was still worth it to me even if not for the girls.
Anyway, just some random thoughts! Wishing you all the best. -BTM
So glad you came back to this forum after so many years and told us your current status. You said that your athletic ability is improving, can you play football, basketball and tennis? Not a professional level, just entertainment. I know it's trade off and I will lose some athletic ability after LL surgery, but if just for entertainment, can I play sports again?
You said doing CLL has definitely made u happier with yourself and more confident in general so it was still worth it to u. I totally agree with u. Just do it for myself, not for dating. But I am worried about permanent complications. You said numbness in your shins is still slightly , but it's better than before. Does it bother u and affect your daily life?(eg cannot walk long distances).
Please update randomly to tell us your current status. Wishing u all best. Thanks a lot!
do u hav a very handsome face and body? are u rich? i thought this level of getting laid happens only in movies.. teach us bro
Just checking in on you BTM. How are you doing?Not much changed in the one week between when I updated and you posted this :)
Hi.Responding to this PM publicly so anyone else who has similar questions can see.
I am setting a consultation with Dr.D tomorrow, I know you are not always active here anymore but I have some questions
1.How much would you say you spent overall on LLC, not including the surgery, just other stuff like housing, uber, medication etc
2.what things off the top of your head can I get to make this journey a little easier
3. do you still have the area you stayed at while in vegas
Your response is highly appreciated.
My legs are too sore today so I'm waiting for tomorrow to record a video and update the journal. This entry is not an update, but rather the list of LL costs that I had promised. It should give you a good idea of what you might need to spend in total to get this done in the US. I'm also including a list of some of the items that I bought just for LL and found helpful or not helpful to have during the process.Additionally, nail removal cost about $9K and I spent about $2.5K on laser scar reduction at a dermatology office. (Edit: Actually, if you want to go into details, I spent €600 to upgrade my transatlantic flight back from Spain after nail removal to a lie flat seat to reduce my risk of DVT. That's technically a CLL-related expense. I don't think that price remotely feasible nowadays with post-COVID travel back to 100%)
Major Medical Costs (No Insurance)
Item Cost Virtual Consultation $200 In Person Consultation $400 Deposit $15K Remainder to Doctor $54K Hospital Deposit $9K Hospital Radiology+Lab Bills $100
Ancillary Medical Costs (Billed to Insurance)My insurance paid about $10K for these claims. YMMV depending on your plan benefits.
Item Count Out of Pocket Cost Pre-op Blood Work (Lab) 1 visit $40 Physical Therapy 60 visits $3850* Pharmacy 4 mo supply $1850^ X-Rays 4 visits $850
*PT: First 6 visits were within 2 weeks of my surgical date and covered by Dr. D. For my PT sessions at home, I negotiated a discount on my out of pocket costs otherwise I would have paid about $900 more.
^Drugs: Painkillers paid with cash and everything else billed to insurance. The anticoagulant was most expensive drug by far. I only got one refill on my painkillers.
Other Items*Aide came 5 times for 3 hours each time.
Item Cost Vegas Airbnb (1 month) $1500 Home Health Aide* $450 Bone Supplements $40/month Waterproof Bath Pillow^ $40 Rubber Ring Cushion^ $20 Massage Gun $80 Walking Cane $20 Grabber Tool $10 10 ft Cell Phone Cable $10
^For taking baths. It's very uncomfortable to sit in the bathtub with a flat butt
Items that I didn't find useful:
Cloth bath pillow - grew moldy, way too hard to clean for an LL patient
Biofreeze gel - didn't really do anything for my pain
Bath wipes - didn't really need them
Other costs not included here:
Transportation - airfare, rideshares, and hotel for initial stay or follow-up visits
Food - delivery of groceries and takeout
Additional X-rays - I will have to get more of these to track my consolidation, but they are <$100 a visit for me for the rest of the year
Nail removal surgery - no comment for now
Scar removal surgery - I might need this
Hi sir,
My son will be 19 when is potentially getting the surgery (G-nail). He is thinking of getting only 6cm done but your progress is very meaningful to us as he is only 169cm as well.
We are thinking get the 6cm on femur and later do tibias after college if he wants it.
Do you still think the surgery has reduced yoru athletic potential? He plays soccer and would hate to lose alot of speed. If so, any thoughts on % lost? Do you think you could do anyting more to fix that (heavy training?)