Prolotherapy: Does It Affect Hormone Levels and Other Laboratory tests?

From time to time here at Caring Medical, patients ask us how the dextrose Prolotherapy will affect such things as blood sugar levels, blood pH, hormone levels, and inflammation markers. Logical thinking would suggest that since Prolotherapy causes an inflammatory response in the localized area of injection that you may see a rise in such levels as C-reactive protein (CRP) and Sedimentation Rate. Due to the stress response in the body after having a lot of injections, you would think that hormone levels may also rise. Because dextrose is absorbed readily by the body tissue, we felt that blood sugar levels would not likely be directly affected by dextrose Prolotherapy. To know the answers to these questions for sure, we did a little in-office research.

We treated a volunteer 25 year old male patient with a history of knee and back pain, with Prolotherapy to his knee using dextrose Prolotherapy with HGH (Human Growth Hormone) and Glucosamine, and Prolotherapy to his back using a strong solution of 15% dextrose Prolotherapy and Sodium Morrhuate. A total of 110cc of fluid was injected during this treatment, which provided 17 grams of sugar (or 68 calories). Just to make this relative, a piece of bread contains about 70 calories.  Prior to the treatment, blood was drawn on the patient to check his initial levels of IGF-1 (insulin like growth factors), C-reactive Protein, Sedimentation Rate, blood pH, blood sugar (glucose) levels. (Unfortunately, the lab lost his initial Sedimentation Rate.)

We then checked his lab parameters 1 hour post Prolotherapy, 1 day post Prolotherapy, and 2 days post Prolotherapy. The patient was in a non-fasting state at the time of each blood draw. Here is a summary of his results:

Laboratory Tests of a 25 year-old male pre and post Prolotherapy treatment.

Results:
Blood Glucose: The dextrose given to patients in the Prolotherapy injections does not affect blood sugar levels, so those with diabetes should not worry about adjusting their medications on the day of Prolotherapy treatment. In our clinical experience, the most we have ever seen blood sugar levels rise within two hours after Prolotherapy treatments is 20 points, which is insignificant.

Inflammatory response labs: This patient showed a small rise in C-reactive protein levels over the course of treatment. We typically only occasionally see small rises in the CRP or Sedimentation Rates a day or two after Prolotherapy. We had no pre-sedimentation rate to compare to in this case, but most likely it was within the normal range.

Growth hormone levels: Typically clients with cartilage degeneration in their joints will receive 2 IU of HGH in their Prolotherapy treatments at our office. HGH stimulates the liver to make IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factors) which is responsible for many of the biological effects of HGH. From this study, HGH injected into the knee did not affect IGF-1 levels in the blood. In our clinical experience, we have never seen HGH injections used in Prolotherapy show up as increased levels in the blood. This is particularly important for athlete patients.

pH levels: Of interest, is that this patient showed a decrease in blood pH over time over each successive day. In our experience, we find that pain that is really severe often alkalinizes the blood, so in this case, it is probable that the person was getting pain relief and thus his subsequent blood pH levels would likely be back into the normal range after Prolotherapy.