starting hcg tomorrow

[formernjguy39]

my new hormone doc has decided to first try me on hcg. she has me injecting it 3 times a week (mon,wed,fri). Im a little nervous about it. have never injected myself ever. Has anyone had good success with hcg alone? my total tes is 394,,,,,fsh was just below mid range and lh was close to the bottom of range. Im hoping this helps me

[LeanGuy]

I've been doing great on HCG alone... 300iu E3D keeps my TT over 700. But everyone is different. The needles are very small and injections are easy and painless. If your LH was low you should have a good response.

[JanSz]

my new hormone doc has decided to first try me on hcg. she has me injecting it 3 times a week (mon,wed,fri). Im a little nervous about it. have never injected myself ever. Has anyone had good success with hcg alone? my total tes is 394,,,,,fsh was just below mid range and lh was close to the bottom of range. Im hoping this helps me

Go to your doc and get all copies of all your tests.
Post all tests that you had done.
Post
analyte name, number, units, range, lab name, date, any medicines prior to the testing.

You most likely will get prescription for syringes.
You can buy syringes with out prescriptions.
More important is to get good syringes, they are your friends 3x/week or trouble makers 3x/week.

I use syringes (below).
It appears to make major difference, we had recent thread about problematic syringes.

http://www.hocks.com/Merchant5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=A910291
BD Ultrafine II U-100 Insulin Syringe 31 Gauge 3/10cc 5/16inch Short Needle--1/2 Unit Markings 100/b Price: $27.80
--------------------------------------------------

You most likely will get prescription for HCG, 10000iu vials.

The (claimed) shelf life is 30days, some claim even 60 days.
There is a lots of doubts of what is the real shelf life.

If you are like most of us, you will hate to throw away medicine.
I suggest that you throw away any unused portion after 20 days.

When you settle down on your schedule, any future HCG purchases, make sure that they come in very small portions.

hch is made in

11000iu
10000iu
5000iu
2000iu
1500iu

Shop around.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
While on HCG mono-theraphy you have number of goals and limits:

you want to maximize TotalT that is your goal

your limit usualy is your E2 level

preferably you want reach your e2 goal (E2~29) and not be forced to use AI (aromatase inhibitors)

If you see that you are making good progress at TT but at the cost of high E2,
use Arimidex, but your top dose is about 1.5mg/week(avarage)

also you want to use Arimidex as frequently as possible, say 3x/week with your HCG shots.

Arimidex pills come as 1mg, you will quicly find them troublesome, hard to cut and hard to adjust into fractional doses. Liquid versions will be apealing.

I suggest that you discuss with your doc and change your schedule into symetrical schedule.
Your current 3x/week is not evenly divisible.
I suggest that you change to EOD schedule.
You would do your HCG shots and any Arimidex on that schedule.
Important to stick to above, if not for health effects reasons then for ability to do proper testing.

My suggested change of schedule have to do more with convenience/ability of testing than anything else.

You may want to do your future blood tests as planned by your doc except for test for E2.
You want to ask your doc to test E2 daily, over ful cycle, in this case cycle is two days, so draw blood for E2 on two consecutive days.
First blood draw in time when you usually have HCG shot, next time 24 hrs latter.
Make any decission based on average of those two E2 tests.
------------------------

You may safely inject 6000iu/week for a year or more.
So do not sweat about desensitizing testis.
You may want to remember about that when trying to conceve>
Most likely, because of E2 limitations you will most likely end up around (1500-2500)iu/week
Start low.

There is a research that claims that 306iu/EOD is an average replacement dose.
Some claim that testis are able to respond to 140% of that number.

306*1.4=420iu/EOD

From this you see that I would start at 300, 400, 500iu each shot on EOD schedule.

Latter on you may go up to about 750iu/EOD
but that would be about where you would be your milestone.

If you are comfortable on 300-750iu stay there.

If you do not have enough BAT at that time,
consider adding external testosterone.

If you would have to add testosterone, back out of all Arimidex.
You really do not want to use AI, unless there is no other choice.

Good luck.
.
.

[formernjguy39]

Go to your doc and get all copies of all your tests.
Post all tests that you had done.
Post
analyte name, number, units, range, lab name, date, any medicines prior to the testing.

You most likely will get prescription for syringes.
You can buy syringes with out prescriptions.
More important is to get good syringes, they are your friends 3x/week or trouble makers 3x/week.

I use syringes (below).
It appears to make major difference, we had recent thread about problematic syringes.

http://www.hocks.com/Merchant5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=A910291
BD Ultrafine II U-100 Insulin Syringe 31 Gauge 3/10cc 5/16inch Short Needle--1/2 Unit Markings 100/b Price: $27.80
--------------------------------------------------

You most likely will get prescription for HCG, 10000iu vials.

The (claimed) shelf life is 30days, some claim even 60 days.
There is a lots of doubts of what is the real shelf life.

If you are like most of us, you will hate to throw away medicine.
I suggest that you throw away any unused portion after 20 days.

When you settle down on your schedule, any future HCG purchases, make sure that they come in very small portions.

hch is made in

11000iu
10000iu
5000iu
2000iu
1500iu

Shop around.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
While on HCG mono-theraphy you have number of goals and limits:

you want to maximize TotalT that is your goal

your limit usualy is your E2 level

preferably you want reach your e2 goal (E2~29) and not be forced to use AI (aromatase inhibitors)

If you see that you are making good progress at TT but at the cost of high E2,
use Arimidex, but your top dose is about 1.5mg/week(avarage)

also you want to use Arimidex as frequently as possible, say 3x/week with your HCG shots.

Arimidex pills come as 1mg, you will quicly find them troublesome, hard to cut and hard to adjust into fractional doses. Liquid versions will be apealing.

I suggest that you discuss with your doc and change your schedule into symetrical schedule.
Your current 3x/week is not evenly divisible.
I suggest that you change to EOD schedule.
You would do your HCG shots and any Arimidex on that schedule.
Important to stick to above, if not for health effects reasons then for ability to do proper testing.

My suggested change of schedule have to do more with convenience/ability of testing than anything else.

You may want to do your future blood tests as planned by your doc except for test for E2.
You want to ask your doc to test E2 daily, over ful cycle, in this case cycle is two days, so draw blood for E2 on two consecutive days.
First blood draw in time when you usually have HCG shot, next time 24 hrs latter.
Make any decission based on average of those two E2 tests.
------------------------

You may safely inject 6000iu/week for a year or more.
So do not sweat about desensitizing testis.
You may want to remember about that when trying to conceve>
Most likely, because of E2 limitations you will most likely end up around (1500-2500)iu/week
Start low.

There is a research that claims that 306iu/EOD is an average replacement dose.
Some claim that testis are able to respond to 140% of that number.

306*1.4=420iu/EOD

From this you see that I would start at 300, 400, 500iu each shot on EOD schedule.

Latter on you may go up to about 750iu/EOD
but that would be about where you would be your milestone.

If you are comfortable on 300-750iu stay there.

If you do not have enough BAT at that time,
consider adding external testosterone.

If you would have to add testosterone, back out of all Arimidex.
You really do not want to use AI, unless there is no other choice.

Good luck.
.
.

wow,,,I appreciate this long thoughtful response. my doc has actually sent me 3 vials of hcg which should arrive tomorrow with syringes. she said it should last me about 3 months. I'll have to question her about that shelf life,,,that definitely concerns me now. she seems like she's up on the trt. she's already sent me a lab requisition to be done at labcorp in 3 weeks retesting tes,,,estrodial shbg etc,,,also thyroid and adrenals. she says if thyroid and or adrenals are poor I'll likey just convert tes to estrogen and in that case would need an AI and treatment for adrenals/thyroid. we'll see how it goes. thanks again

[chilln]

my new hormone doc has decided to first try me on hcg. she has me injecting it 3 times a week (mon,wed,fri). Im a little nervous about it. have never injected myself ever. Has anyone had good success with hcg alone? my total tes is 394,,,,,fsh was just below mid range and lh was close to the bottom of range. Im hoping this helps me

I occasionally switch to HCG monotherapy to lower my DHT (dihydrotestosterone).

I always get better sexual libido with transdermal T (testosterone) gel/cream plus HCG. The transdermal T get/cream raises my DHT, while the HCG does not.

And the DHT improves my sexual performance and my libido.

But then I also do an excellent job at managing my E2 (estradiol) levels, by accurate dosing of arimidex (an aromatase inhibitor) - which is another critical factor in managing sexual performance and libido.

Males manufacture all of our E2 via conversion from T (testosterone) into E2, and E2 needs to be optimum (neither too high or too low) to ensure excellent sexual performance and libido.

[JanSz]

wow,,,I appreciate this long thoughtful response. my doc has actually sent me 3 vials of hcg which should arrive tomorrow with syringes. she said it should last me about 3 months. I'll have to question her about that shelf life,,,that definitely concerns me now. she seems like she's up on the trt. she's already sent me a lab requisition to be done at labcorp in 3 weeks retesting tes,,,estrodial shbg etc,,,also thyroid and adrenals. she says if thyroid and or adrenals are poor I'll likey just convert tes to estrogen and in that case would need an AI and treatment for adrenals/thyroid. we'll see how it goes. thanks again


Your doc sound like a keeper.
If you still have a chance add the following to her list of tests.
Many of them are probably already in it,
but it would help if you got all of the list below.

Try to stay away from Arimidex as much as possible.
Hard to figure out correct dose,
lifetime of frustrations and constant blood draws to check e2 levels.
Battling with bad E2 tests.

================================================== ==
7 Iodine, iodide Panel
8 Selenium
9 Copper
10 Zinc
11 Magnesium
17 • Iron and Iron Binding Capacity
18 • Iron, Total
19 • Ferritin
20 • Transferrin
21 • Folate, RBC & Hematocrit
22 • Hemoglobin A1c
23 • Hemoglobin, Plasma
24 VITAMIN SCREEN
25 VITAMIN B PANEL
26 Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy, LC/MS/MS
27 T3, Total
28 T4, Total
29 T3, Free
30 T4,Free
31 T3, Reverse
32 Ultrasensitive TSH
33 Thyroid Peroxidase and Thyroglobulin Antibodies
37 IGF Binding protein-3
38 IGF-1
39 Aldosterone
40 Cortisol Binding Globulin (Transcortin)
41 Cortisol AM/PM
42 DHEA sulfate
43 Prolactin
46 Progesterone, LC/MS/MS
47 Pregnenolone, LC/MS/MS
48 Estradiol, Ultrasensitive, LC/MS/MS
49 Estrone, LC/MS/MS
50 Testosterone, Free, Bio/Total (LC/MS/MS)
51 Dihydrotestosterone
================================================== =======