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HCG: Why you should use it on-cycle only & how to prepare your HCG for injections
Austinite's HCG thread for those interested.
Austinite's HCG thread for those interested.
Introduction
There seems to be quite a bit of confusion regarding hCG, it's timing, benefits and risks. Per your request, I'm writing this article in hopes to clear some of the confusion up. It's entirely necessary that you understand clearly, so if anything in this article is confusing, please ask questions. Whether you choose to use this info or not, you should at least familiarize yourself with hCG so that you can make more informed decisions going forward.
In order to understand the terminology in this thread, you will need to read at least the first segment of the HPTA article located here.
What Is hCG?
hCG stands for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin. This is a hormone produced in pregnant women. It's extracted from their urine.
- Human is obviously, human.
- Chorionic references the Chorion, which is a membrane that surrounds the fetus of pregnant females.
- Gonadotrophins references Luteinizing Hormones (LH) in this case.
Why you should use hCG ON cycle:
If you listened to me in the introduction of this thread, you would have read the HPTA segment in the linked thread above. So I'm typing with that assumption.
We know that steroids shut down production of LH at the pituitary. This means you no longer produce natural testosterone because there's nothing to stimulate your Leydig Cells in the testes. The reason your testicals normally look "full", is because they're loaded with testosterone. When your natural testosterone production is suppressed, your testes atrophy (shrink), because they're empty. Make sense?
Injecting hCG results in a "mimicked" LH. So although your pituitary gland is not secreting LH, your leydig cells, in the presence of hCG, are stimulated by the mimicked LH and begin to produce testosterone. So there's your solution for preventing testicular atrophy while on cycle. But there's more to hCG than just reversing atrophy. Let's have a quick look at some other reasons to use hCG.
Benefits of hCG during your cycle:
1. Prevention of testicular atrophy.
-- This is done by mimicking LH and restarting natural testosterone production in the testes.
2. Speed up recovery.
-- This is done by mimicking LH so that your Leydig cells remain stimulated. More on this in the next segment.
3. Balances hormonal fluctuation. (Mainly testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) patients and dose dependant)
-- By strategically timing hCG injections, you will prevent "dips" in serum levels.
4. hCG in involved in the process of production for DHEA, Cortisol and Pregnenolone.
-- A host of benefits here. These benefits will combat fatigue and stress, betters your mood, has a role in energy, reduced cardiovascular risk, immune stimulation, betters memory, and more.
Leydig Cell Desensitization:
Desensitization basically means unresponsive. Your Leydig cells are stimulated by the LH signal. If they no longer respond to LH, you will not produce testosterone.
There are 2 ways that could potentially desensitize Leydig Cells:
1. Prolonged LH deprivation: When you inject steroids, your LH production is halted at the pituitary, remember? So if you continue in a suppressed state for weeks upon weeks, your Leydig Cells could potentially become unresponsive, or desensitized. It is possible to reverse desensitization of the cells, but that has been proven to be quite a difficult task. So when you use hCG on cycle, the mimicked LH analog will maintain stimulation of Leydig cells so that you don't run the risk of rendering them useless. This level of maintenance will ensure a much healthier and speedy recovery and one of the most important reasons to use hCG on cycle.
2. Over stimulation of Leydig cells: There is no reason to use more than 500 IU of hCG at one time. And certainly not a good idea to run even that dose on a daily basis. You do not have an unlimited-ever-flowing-supply of Leydig cells. There is only so much stimulation hCG can do. What happens when you dose hCG really high, is that you're increasing intra-testicular estrogen. So you're thinking that you could use an aromatase inhibitor in that case, right? Nope. AI's are not effective treatment for intra-testicular e2. Furthermore; high doses is a surefire way to desensitize Leydig Cells. So we have a double whammy here. And this is just another reason to use hCG on cycle, and not "blast" hCG post cycle leading up to and/or during post cycle therapy (pct).
^ If either of the events above occur, you would become hypogonadal (Low T). This is called dingdong-induced Primary Hypogonadism. You're the dingdong by the way. But wait, there's more...
Why You Should Not Use hCG Post Cycle:
Let's establish what we are trying to accomplish here. You just got done with your cycle and you've been suppressed for however many weeks. We want to bring our natural HPTA back to life, can we all agree on that? If you said no, please ask Mom if she dropped you on your head when you were a baby. Moving on...
hCG is suppressive! Since we know that hCG mimics LH, then we know that in the presence of exogenous LH, the pituitary gland will not produce LH. Hang on a minute! You see that word in blue above? It says "natural". So which one is natural? The one I just induced by using hCG, or the one coming from the pituitary? Doh! The pituitary of course! So why? Why on earth would you want to suppress your pituitary with hCG when you're trying to recover?! "Ain't nobody got time for dat!" Are we clear on this one, folks? If you said no, you know what to do...
So next time you meet Rich Piana. Tell him that he is a dingdong, and he's hurting a lot of people with his statements. Please, Rich. stop hurting people. (Jon Stewart voice)
SERMS! Clomid and Nolva are not suppressive. In fact, they work on your brain to help the pea sized gland pump out your precious LH. That is all you should be using for post cycle therapy (pct). Otherwise, it would be like walking into a closed door and never being able to get inside. Would you constantly walk into a door without being able to get inside? Wait... that's doing the wrong thing over and over again. I'm pretty sure that's referred to as insane. Ok, enough comedy. Lame, I know. Sorry, I'm not kelkel.
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 5,000 unit vial. Obviously, you need to observe the math and adjust according to how you want your hCG concentrated per CC.
Step 1: Transfer 5 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 just as much 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 5,000 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
Let's get a few myths out of the way...
Myth # 1: hCG must be injected subcutaneously. (This is not true, IM injections work just as well. Although SubQ is super easy and preferred)
Myth # 2: I cannot use hCG past 30 days (This is not true, use it for 2 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 hCG do I need on cycle?
For cycling, 250 iu two to three times weekly will suffice. Do not use hCG back to back. If you choose twice weekly at that dose, run it every 3.5 days, just like you would with Test cyp. If you choose 3 times weekly, run it Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 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. Your weekly grand total should never have to exceed 1000 IU, ever.
If you inject your hCG subcutaneously, always be sure that you do not inject more than 0.6 CC at once. Volumes greater than 0.6 CC will result in lumps under your skin that can be quite uncomfortable and in some cases 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. So be sure to mix your hCG with a concentration resulting in about half of a CC or less.
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. Water based compounds get through the tiny bore with ease.
If injecting in a muscle, do not flex it. Just relax and inject. If injecting subQ, just find a good spot about 2 to 6 inches from the naval and inject.
That's all folks. Have a powerful day,
~ Austinite
