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In this article, you'll notice some words in red. These are described in the glossary below for your reference. I understand that single technical term can make it difficult to understand an entire sentence. You might notice some common terms that make you wonder why they're in the glossary; this is because we have members from across the world and some verbiage may be difficult to understand even if it's simple for some of us.
The Glossary:
- Pituitary Gland: Gland that releases growth hormone, prolactin & oxytocin & more.
- Hypothalamus: Cluster in the brain that links your central nervous system to the endocrine system.
- Leydig Cells: Cells in your testicals that produce testosterone.
- Exogenous: Foreign, or introduced from outside the body. Not naturally produced.
- LH: Luteinizing Hormone (detailed in article)
- FSH: Follicle Stimulating Hormone (detailed in article)
- Testicular Atrophy: Shrinking of the size of testicals.
What is hCG?
hCG stands for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin. This is a hormone produced in pregnant women. (in some cases pregnant rats, such as HUCOG brand). It's extracted from their urine.
What Can hCG Do for Men?
Before we delve into the benefits, you need to understand what LH & FSH mean. LH is your Luteinizing Hormone. This is a hormone produced by cells in the pituitary gland. LH stimulates our Leydig cells.
FSH is your Follicle Stimulating Hormone. Just like LH, it's produced by the pituitary gland and works in synergy with LH. You'll notice that when you cycle, both of these numbers are in the gutter, because they're suppressed.
THE PURPOSE OF hCG is to maintain or restore your natural testosterone production. For those of you who cycle steroids, this is a vital step towards a successful post cycle recovery. Because exogenous testosterone triggers your hypothalamus to stop LH production. No LH production means no natural testosterone production. This is how atrophy occurs, because your testes become empty.
Shortly after administering doses of hCG, testicals come back to normal size and natural production is back in business. This is because hCG mimics LH. Pretty straight forward.
What are All the Benefits from Using hCG?
There's more to hCG than maintaining natural testosterone production and preventing testicular atrophy. So there's plenty of good reasons why I always recommend hCG treatment as a part of your cycle protocol. I'll get into the technicality and benefits now, but I want you to understand that you're going to have to base your decisions on the science I'll be listing. The science and facts can be researched and verified and I'll do what I can to provide as much evidence as possible. However, there are no studies on hCG with relation to high volume cycles. All studies relate to testosterone therapy replacement (TRT) patients. And we will utilize this information to relate it to our cycles.
Benefits of hCG:
1. Prevention of testicular atrophy.
-- This is done by mimicking LH and restarting natural test production in the testes.
2. Balances hormonal fluctuation. (Mainly TRT patients)
-- By strategically timing hCG injections, you will prevent "dips" in serum levels.
3. Maintains healthy sperm counts.
-- hCG is a staple in fertility and sperm production. Much better chance at having children in the future.
4. hCG is a Precursor for DHEA.
-- DHEA is a hormone with endless benefits, such as reduced cardiovascular risk, immune stimulation, memory, energy, bones, etc...
5. Activates the P450 side chain cleavage enzyme.
-- This is an enzyme that converts cholesterol to pregnenolone. Pregnenolone is a hormone that combats fatigue and stress, betters your mood, defends us against coronary disease, has a role in energy and promotes a healthy brain. This is a staple in anti-aging-seeking men.
6. Increases libido in males.
-- Some steroids cause libido loss in some males, even with the presence of high serum testosterone. hCG has reportedly improved the male libido by stimulating what otherwise would be "shut down".
How To Properly Mix hCG
As you all know, hcg comes in a powder form and needs to be mixed with bacteriostatic water in preparation for injections. In this example, we will use a 10,000 unit vial. You can do the math from there...
Step 1: Transfer 10 CC's of bacteriostatic water into the vial containing your hCG powder. No more than 3 CC's at once.
Step 2: After each bacteriostatic water transfer, you'll need to draw out air to release pressure.
Step 3: Swirl the mix gently and keep it in the refrigerator.
Once you've completed your mix above, you now have a 10,000 iu vial that contains 1,000 iu's of hCG for every CC. So if you want to shoot 250iu, that would be 0.25 CC/ML. Or 25 units on a slin pin.
I personally use injectable B12 to mix my hCG. Helps me get both B12 and hCG in one shot.
How to Administer hCG
Myth # 1: hCG must be injected subcutaneously. (This is not true, IM injections work just as well)
Myth # 2: I cannot use hCG past the expiration date (Also not true, use it for several months. It'll be fine)
Myth # 3: I can use oral hCG I got at the store. (This is not true and is simply a complete scam. Avoid it)
HOW MUCH & WHEN TO INJECT:
TRT Patients: therapy patients are likely injecting testosterone cypionate and should be injecting this twice weekly. Every 3.5 days to be exact. If you're not splitting your testosterone dose, please do so to stabilize your hormones. 250 iu of hCG injected twice weekly will suffice. These injections should be 2 days after your testosterone injection. So for example, your TRT protocol should look like so "ideally":
- Mon. Morning: testosterone injection
- Wed. Morning: hCG injection
- Thu. Evening: testosterone injection
- Sat. Evening: hCG injection
On Cycle: Not much difference here. The only real difference is that the injection timing is somewhat irrelevant as the main purpose is to balance serum levels, which is not necessary during a cycle or a blast due to the higher volumes that take over serum levels. The important timing factor is splitting the dose up into twice weekly. So it's actually a bit easier on cycling because you can do all your injections on the same days. So this is what your protocol should look like on cycle:
- Mon. Morning: testosterone injection + hCG
- Thu. Evening: testosterone injection + hCG
For cycling, again 250iu twice weekly will suffice as well. There's only so much stimulation that can occur with hCG, so you should never bother with doses in excess of 500 iu at once. If you're injecting 250 iu and after several weeks you're still experiencing some issues, increase your dose 100 iu's at a time, not to exceed 500 iu's twice weekly.
If you inject your hCG subcutaneously, always be sure that you do not inject more than half of a CC at once. Volumes greater than 0.5 CC will result in lumps under your skin that can be quite uncomfortable and in some cases slightly painful to the touch. this goes for anything that is injected subQ, including testosterone, B12 & hCG. This is volume related, not iu or milligram related.
Injections in subcutaneous fat should be administered using a syringe with a high gauge. Some folks use a 27 gauge syringe, but I prefer a 29 gauge. Even a 31 gauge works great.
DO NOT PINCH YOUR SKIN. Never pinch your skin when injecting anywhere. If injecting in a muscle, do not flex it. Just relax and inject. If injecting subQ, do not pinch your skin. Just find a good spot about 2 to 6 inches from the naval and inject. Don't go in slow with subQ injections, just dart it in and inject.
Informative Study Excerpts Relating to hCG
Please remember what I said earlier in this article. There are no such thing as hCG studies done on folks who cycle steroids. Please, do not ask for any studies, they do not exist.
Dose-Dependent Increase in Intratesticular Testosterone by Very Low-Dose Human Chorionic Gonadotropin in Normal Men with Experimental Gonadotropin Deficiency
Abstract
Context and Objective: In men with infertility secondary to gonadotropin deficiency, treatment with relatively high dosages of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) stimulates intratesticular testosterone (IT-T) biosynthesis and spermatogenesis. Previously we found that lower dosages of hCG stimulated IT-T to normal. However, the minimal dose of hCG needed to stimulate IT-T and the dose-response relationship between very low doses of hCG and IT-T and serum testosterone in normal men is unknown.
Conclusion: Doses of hCG far lower than those used clinically increase IT-T concentrations in a dose-dependent manner in normal men with experimental gonadotropin deficiency. Assessment of IT-T provides a valuable tool to investigate the hormonal regulation of spermatogenesis in man.
Reference above can be found here.
Effects of Recombinant Human LH and hCG on Serum and Urine LH and Androgens in Men
Abstract
Context and Objective: The administration of gonadotrophins is prohibited in sport but the effect in men of recently available recombinant hCG and LH on serum and urine concentrations of gonadotrophins and androgens has not been systematically evaluated in the antidoping context. Objective: To determine the time-course of recombinant LH (rhLH) and hCG (rhCG) on blood and urine hormone profiles in men to develop effective tests to detect rhLH and rhCG doping.
Conclusion: Both rhCG doses produce a striking increase in serum hCG and T with suppression of serum LH but, at single doses up to 750 IU, rhLH has no influence on serum or urine LH or T. Effective rhLH doping, which relies on a sustained increases in endogenous T, would require much higher and more frequent daily rhLH doses. Use of LH immunoassays optimized for serum to detect rhLH doping by urine LH measurement requires more standardization and validation and, at present, is unreliable. The T : LH ratio is, however, a useful screening test for hCG doping although its utility requires further evaluation.
Reference above can be found here.
Low-Dose Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Maintains Intratesticular Testosterone in Normal Men with Testosterone-Induced Gonadotropin Suppression
Abstract
In previous studies of testicular biopsy tissue from healthy men, intratesticular testosterone (ITT) has been shown to be much higher than serum testosterone (T), suggesting that high ITT is needed relative to serum T for normal spermatogenesis in men. However, the quantitative relationship between ITT and spermatogenesis is not known. To begin to address this issue experimentally, we determined the dose-response relationship between human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and ITT to ascertain the minimum dose needed to maintain ITT in the normal range. Twenty-nine men with normal reproductive physiology were randomized to receive 200 mg T enanthate weekly in combination with either saline placebo or 125, 250, or 500 IU hCG every other day for 3 wk. ITT was assessed in testicular fluid obtained by percutaneous fine needle aspiration at baseline and at the end of treatment. Baseline serum T (14.1 nmol/liter) was 1.2% of ITT (1174 nmol/liter).
LH and FSH were profoundly suppressed to 5% and 3% of baseline, respectively, and ITT was suppressed by 94% (1234 to 72 nmol/liter) in the T enanthate/placebo group. ITT increased linearly with increasing hCG dose (P < 0.001). Posttreatment ITT was 25% less than baseline in the 125 IU hCG group, 7% less than baseline in the 250 IU hCG group, and 26% greater than baseline in the 500 IU hCG group. These results demonstrate that relatively low dose hCG maintains ITT within the normal range in healthy men with gonadotropin suppression. Extensions of this study will allow determination of the ITT concentration threshold required to maintain spermatogenesis in man.
The mean serum T concentration for all volunteers before treatment was 14.1 ± 1.1 nmol/liter. Serum T was significantly elevated from baseline in all four groups by d 7 (P < 0.0001). The lowest hCG dose group had serum T levels similar to those in the placebo group, whereas higher serum levels were achieved in the two highest hCG groups, 250 and 500 IU.
[URL=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15713727[/URL].
The Glossary:
- Pituitary Gland: Gland that releases growth hormone, prolactin & oxytocin & more.
- Hypothalamus: Cluster in the brain that links your central nervous system to the endocrine system.
- Leydig Cells: Cells in your testicals that produce testosterone.
- Exogenous: Foreign, or introduced from outside the body. Not naturally produced.
- LH: Luteinizing Hormone (detailed in article)
- FSH: Follicle Stimulating Hormone (detailed in article)
- Testicular Atrophy: Shrinking of the size of testicals.
What is hCG?
hCG stands for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin. This is a hormone produced in pregnant women. (in some cases pregnant rats, such as HUCOG brand). It's extracted from their urine.
What Can hCG Do for Men?
Before we delve into the benefits, you need to understand what LH & FSH mean. LH is your Luteinizing Hormone. This is a hormone produced by cells in the pituitary gland. LH stimulates our Leydig cells.
FSH is your Follicle Stimulating Hormone. Just like LH, it's produced by the pituitary gland and works in synergy with LH. You'll notice that when you cycle, both of these numbers are in the gutter, because they're suppressed.
THE PURPOSE OF hCG is to maintain or restore your natural testosterone production. For those of you who cycle steroids, this is a vital step towards a successful post cycle recovery. Because exogenous testosterone triggers your hypothalamus to stop LH production. No LH production means no natural testosterone production. This is how atrophy occurs, because your testes become empty.
Shortly after administering doses of hCG, testicals come back to normal size and natural production is back in business. This is because hCG mimics LH. Pretty straight forward.
What are All the Benefits from Using hCG?
There's more to hCG than maintaining natural testosterone production and preventing testicular atrophy. So there's plenty of good reasons why I always recommend hCG treatment as a part of your cycle protocol. I'll get into the technicality and benefits now, but I want you to understand that you're going to have to base your decisions on the science I'll be listing. The science and facts can be researched and verified and I'll do what I can to provide as much evidence as possible. However, there are no studies on hCG with relation to high volume cycles. All studies relate to testosterone therapy replacement (TRT) patients. And we will utilize this information to relate it to our cycles.
Benefits of hCG:
1. Prevention of testicular atrophy.
-- This is done by mimicking LH and restarting natural test production in the testes.
2. Balances hormonal fluctuation. (Mainly TRT patients)
-- By strategically timing hCG injections, you will prevent "dips" in serum levels.
3. Maintains healthy sperm counts.
-- hCG is a staple in fertility and sperm production. Much better chance at having children in the future.
4. hCG is a Precursor for DHEA.
-- DHEA is a hormone with endless benefits, such as reduced cardiovascular risk, immune stimulation, memory, energy, bones, etc...
5. Activates the P450 side chain cleavage enzyme.
-- This is an enzyme that converts cholesterol to pregnenolone. Pregnenolone is a hormone that combats fatigue and stress, betters your mood, defends us against coronary disease, has a role in energy and promotes a healthy brain. This is a staple in anti-aging-seeking men.
6. Increases libido in males.
-- Some steroids cause libido loss in some males, even with the presence of high serum testosterone. hCG has reportedly improved the male libido by stimulating what otherwise would be "shut down".
How To Properly Mix hCG
As you all know, hcg comes in a powder form and needs to be mixed with bacteriostatic water in preparation for injections. In this example, we will use a 10,000 unit vial. You can do the math from there...
Step 1: Transfer 10 CC's of bacteriostatic water into the vial containing your hCG powder. No more than 3 CC's at once.
Step 2: After each bacteriostatic water transfer, you'll need to draw out air to release pressure.
Step 3: Swirl the mix gently and keep it in the refrigerator.
Once you've completed your mix above, you now have a 10,000 iu vial that contains 1,000 iu's of hCG for every CC. So if you want to shoot 250iu, that would be 0.25 CC/ML. Or 25 units on a slin pin.
I personally use injectable B12 to mix my hCG. Helps me get both B12 and hCG in one shot.
How to Administer hCG
Myth # 1: hCG must be injected subcutaneously. (This is not true, IM injections work just as well)
Myth # 2: I cannot use hCG past the expiration date (Also not true, use it for several months. It'll be fine)
Myth # 3: I can use oral hCG I got at the store. (This is not true and is simply a complete scam. Avoid it)
HOW MUCH & WHEN TO INJECT:
TRT Patients: therapy patients are likely injecting testosterone cypionate and should be injecting this twice weekly. Every 3.5 days to be exact. If you're not splitting your testosterone dose, please do so to stabilize your hormones. 250 iu of hCG injected twice weekly will suffice. These injections should be 2 days after your testosterone injection. So for example, your TRT protocol should look like so "ideally":
- Mon. Morning: testosterone injection
- Wed. Morning: hCG injection
- Thu. Evening: testosterone injection
- Sat. Evening: hCG injection
On Cycle: Not much difference here. The only real difference is that the injection timing is somewhat irrelevant as the main purpose is to balance serum levels, which is not necessary during a cycle or a blast due to the higher volumes that take over serum levels. The important timing factor is splitting the dose up into twice weekly. So it's actually a bit easier on cycling because you can do all your injections on the same days. So this is what your protocol should look like on cycle:
- Mon. Morning: testosterone injection + hCG
- Thu. Evening: testosterone injection + hCG
For cycling, again 250iu twice weekly will suffice as well. There's only so much stimulation that can occur with hCG, so you should never bother with doses in excess of 500 iu at once. If you're injecting 250 iu and after several weeks you're still experiencing some issues, increase your dose 100 iu's at a time, not to exceed 500 iu's twice weekly.
If you inject your hCG subcutaneously, always be sure that you do not inject more than half of a CC at once. Volumes greater than 0.5 CC will result in lumps under your skin that can be quite uncomfortable and in some cases slightly painful to the touch. this goes for anything that is injected subQ, including testosterone, B12 & hCG. This is volume related, not iu or milligram related.
Injections in subcutaneous fat should be administered using a syringe with a high gauge. Some folks use a 27 gauge syringe, but I prefer a 29 gauge. Even a 31 gauge works great.
DO NOT PINCH YOUR SKIN. Never pinch your skin when injecting anywhere. If injecting in a muscle, do not flex it. Just relax and inject. If injecting subQ, do not pinch your skin. Just find a good spot about 2 to 6 inches from the naval and inject. Don't go in slow with subQ injections, just dart it in and inject.
Informative Study Excerpts Relating to hCG
Please remember what I said earlier in this article. There are no such thing as hCG studies done on folks who cycle steroids. Please, do not ask for any studies, they do not exist.
Dose-Dependent Increase in Intratesticular Testosterone by Very Low-Dose Human Chorionic Gonadotropin in Normal Men with Experimental Gonadotropin Deficiency
Abstract
Context and Objective: In men with infertility secondary to gonadotropin deficiency, treatment with relatively high dosages of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) stimulates intratesticular testosterone (IT-T) biosynthesis and spermatogenesis. Previously we found that lower dosages of hCG stimulated IT-T to normal. However, the minimal dose of hCG needed to stimulate IT-T and the dose-response relationship between very low doses of hCG and IT-T and serum testosterone in normal men is unknown.
Conclusion: Doses of hCG far lower than those used clinically increase IT-T concentrations in a dose-dependent manner in normal men with experimental gonadotropin deficiency. Assessment of IT-T provides a valuable tool to investigate the hormonal regulation of spermatogenesis in man.
Reference above can be found here.
Effects of Recombinant Human LH and hCG on Serum and Urine LH and Androgens in Men
Abstract
Context and Objective: The administration of gonadotrophins is prohibited in sport but the effect in men of recently available recombinant hCG and LH on serum and urine concentrations of gonadotrophins and androgens has not been systematically evaluated in the antidoping context. Objective: To determine the time-course of recombinant LH (rhLH) and hCG (rhCG) on blood and urine hormone profiles in men to develop effective tests to detect rhLH and rhCG doping.
Conclusion: Both rhCG doses produce a striking increase in serum hCG and T with suppression of serum LH but, at single doses up to 750 IU, rhLH has no influence on serum or urine LH or T. Effective rhLH doping, which relies on a sustained increases in endogenous T, would require much higher and more frequent daily rhLH doses. Use of LH immunoassays optimized for serum to detect rhLH doping by urine LH measurement requires more standardization and validation and, at present, is unreliable. The T : LH ratio is, however, a useful screening test for hCG doping although its utility requires further evaluation.
Reference above can be found here.
Low-Dose Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Maintains Intratesticular Testosterone in Normal Men with Testosterone-Induced Gonadotropin Suppression
Abstract
In previous studies of testicular biopsy tissue from healthy men, intratesticular testosterone (ITT) has been shown to be much higher than serum testosterone (T), suggesting that high ITT is needed relative to serum T for normal spermatogenesis in men. However, the quantitative relationship between ITT and spermatogenesis is not known. To begin to address this issue experimentally, we determined the dose-response relationship between human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and ITT to ascertain the minimum dose needed to maintain ITT in the normal range. Twenty-nine men with normal reproductive physiology were randomized to receive 200 mg T enanthate weekly in combination with either saline placebo or 125, 250, or 500 IU hCG every other day for 3 wk. ITT was assessed in testicular fluid obtained by percutaneous fine needle aspiration at baseline and at the end of treatment. Baseline serum T (14.1 nmol/liter) was 1.2% of ITT (1174 nmol/liter).
LH and FSH were profoundly suppressed to 5% and 3% of baseline, respectively, and ITT was suppressed by 94% (1234 to 72 nmol/liter) in the T enanthate/placebo group. ITT increased linearly with increasing hCG dose (P < 0.001). Posttreatment ITT was 25% less than baseline in the 125 IU hCG group, 7% less than baseline in the 250 IU hCG group, and 26% greater than baseline in the 500 IU hCG group. These results demonstrate that relatively low dose hCG maintains ITT within the normal range in healthy men with gonadotropin suppression. Extensions of this study will allow determination of the ITT concentration threshold required to maintain spermatogenesis in man.
The mean serum T concentration for all volunteers before treatment was 14.1 ± 1.1 nmol/liter. Serum T was significantly elevated from baseline in all four groups by d 7 (P < 0.0001). The lowest hCG dose group had serum T levels similar to those in the placebo group, whereas higher serum levels were achieved in the two highest hCG groups, 250 and 500 IU.
[URL=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15713727[/URL].
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