Can't seem to get my fasted morning blood glucose at the right level on HGH

[BatmanVAR]

5'9, 193 pounds at 12% body fat, taking 4IUs a day. I'm on 1.5mg of Reta a week, 500mg of berberine every morning, and about a week about I added 500mg of metformin before bed.

I take all of my HGH in the morning. Before taking it, I test my BG and it's usually around 100. Some days as low as 95, and some as high as 112.

I then test my BG 2 hours later and again 2 hours after every meal and it's always 100-105. So my morning fasted BG is high but post meal BG is great.

For context I used to take my HGH before bed and my numbers were the same. I switched it to morning due to sleep issues and also to see if it would help with this issue.

My diet and training are on point but I do have bad sleeping issues that I've always had and can't get any relief from. I wake up a bunch and I wake up exhausted every morning.

Thoughts? Thinking of increasing my metformin to 1000mg at night, and/or more berberine throughout the day

 

[Ghoul]

Can you handle a higher Reta dose? That’ll likely help more than anything else.

That 112 is concerning if it’s an accurate measurement. Generally 100 isn’t a big deal if there’s no trend upwards over time.

 

[AlexDavis43]

5'9, 193 pounds at 12% body fat, taking 4IUs a day. I'm on 1.5mg of Reta a week, 500mg of berberine every morning, and about a week about I added 500mg of metformin before bed.

I take all of my HGH in the morning. Before taking it, I test my BG and it's usually around 100. Some days as low as 95, and some as high as 112.

I then test my BG 2 hours later and again 2 hours after every meal and it's always 100-105. So my morning fasted BG is high but post meal BG is great.

For context I used to take my HGH before bed and my numbers were the same. I switched it to morning due to sleep issues and also to see if it would help with this issue.

My diet and training are on point but I do have bad sleeping issues that I've always had and can't get any relief from. I wake up a bunch and I wake up exhausted every morning.

Thoughts? Thinking of increasing my metformin to 1000mg at night, and/or more berberine throughout the day

GH doesn't seem to agree with everyone (sleep issues, blood glucose control, CTS, etc)

And imo it's not really a game changer like testosterone, so if high blood glucose is bugging you, drop the GH for a few weeks and see if it normalizes

 

[Ateam2023]

5'9, 193 pounds at 12% body fat, taking 4IUs a day. I'm on 1.5mg of Reta a week, 500mg of berberine every morning, and about a week about I added 500mg of metformin before bed.

I take all of my HGH in the morning. Before taking it, I test my BG and it's usually around 100. Some days as low as 95, and some as high as 112.

I then test my BG 2 hours later and again 2 hours after every meal and it's always 100-105. So my morning fasted BG is high but post meal BG is great.

For context I used to take my HGH before bed and my numbers were the same. I switched it to morning due to sleep issues and also to see if it would help with this issue.

My diet and training are on point but I do have bad sleeping issues that I've always had and can't get any relief from. I wake up a bunch and I wake up exhausted every morning.

Thoughts? Thinking of increasing my metformin to 1000mg at night, and/or more berberine throughout the day

You could also try splitting up your metformin instead of taking a large dose at night, blood glucose is somewhat regulated throughout the day so it's not such a strain on that at night so the next morning blood glucose may look better, in my experience berberine did not do anything to my fasting blood glucose, works for some people but not me

 

[BatmanVAR]

Can you handle a higher Reta dose? That’ll likely help more than anything else.

That 112 is concerning if it’s an accurate measurement. Generally 100 isn’t a big deal if there’s no trend upwards over time.

I'm slowly titrating up the Reta. Previously I went as high as 4mg but the sides were too bad (allodynia, joint pain, body aches). I went up too fast so I'm hoping a slower titration allows me to go higher. I did 1mg for a month and I've been on 1.5 for 2 weeks and will go up again once I hit a month on that.

The 112 only happened once and it was the day after a massive day of overeating (thanksgiving), so I'm willing to consider that a fluke for now. Every other morning has been 98-102 (with 1 morning at 95).

 

[BatmanVAR]

GH doesn't seem to agree with everyone (sleep issues, blood glucose control, CTS, etc)

And imo it's not really a game changer like testosterone, so if high blood glucose is bugging you, drop the GH for a few weeks and see if it normalizes

It's been a game changer for me. My physique has improved more in 2 months on HGH than it has the entire rest of the year.

I did try dropping it for 1 day and fasted BG was 88.

 

[BatmanVAR]

You could also try splitting up your metformin instead of taking a large dose at night, blood glucose is somewhat regulated throughout the day so it's not such a strain on that at night so the next morning blood glucose may look better, in my experience berberine did not do anything to my fasting blood glucose, works for some people but not me

My thoughts process about taking it all at bedtime is that my BG is great during the day and after meals, it's just shit in the morning. But I can definitely try a split dosage.

 

[accidentaljedi173]

Maybe dawn phenomenon? Drop or lower the gh for awhile and see if it lowers.

 

[BatmanVAR]

O

Maybe dawn phenomenon? Drop or lower the gh for awhile and see if it lowers.

Skipped one day and it dropped to 88

 

[accidentaljedi173]

O

Skipped one day and it dropped to 88

I would just drop the gh. Maybe try running 2iu or something if you feel you don't want to waste your gear

 

[BatmanVAR]

I would just drop the gh. Maybe try running 2iu or something if you feel you don't want to waste your gear

You don't think it's worth trying more metformin or Reta or berberine to see if I can get the numbers down? If I ignore the one 112 outlier, every other day my fasted BG has been 95-102 which doesn't seem too bad.

 

[duecebigelow]

5'9, 193 pounds at 12% body fat, taking 4IUs a day. I'm on 1.5mg of Reta a week, 500mg of berberine every morning, and about a week about I added 500mg of metformin before bed.

I take all of my HGH in the morning. Before taking it, I test my BG and it's usually around 100. Some days as low as 95, and some as high as 112.

I then test my BG 2 hours later and again 2 hours after every meal and it's always 100-105. So my morning fasted BG is high but post meal BG is great.

For context I used to take my HGH before bed and my numbers were the same. I switched it to morning due to sleep issues and also to see if it would help with this issue.

My diet and training are on point but I do have bad sleeping issues that I've always had and can't get any relief from. I wake up a bunch and I wake up exhausted every morning.

Thoughts? Thinking of increasing my metformin to 1000mg at night, and/or more berberine throughout the day

You might want to consider the Dexcom Stelo Glucose Biosensor (Stelo Wearable Glucose Biosensor | OTC CGM | Stelo by Dexcom). According to the web, while it continuously measures glucose, it only reports in 5-min intervals (same as the Dexcom G6/G7 diabetic monitors)

It is not for diabetic use though, but Dexcom realized there's a market for the "rest of us".

IMO you will gain better insight to your BG levels, every 2-hrs you could be missing the glucose spikes from reta's slowed gastric emtpying; which I thought was anywhere from 3-4 hours. If this is the case, then at 2-hrs post-meal you're not really reading anything extra from nutrition. BUT hard to tell without a real frequent testing, say in 15 or 30 min intervals to really characterize post-meal glucose (which is what I've done with my t1d wife)

food for thought

 

[BatmanVAR]

Than

You might want to consider the Dexcom Stelo Glucose Biosensor (Stelo Wearable Glucose Biosensor | OTC CGM | Stelo by Dexcom). According to the web, while it continuously measures glucose, it only reports in 5-min intervals (same as the Dexcom G6/G7 diabetic monitors)

It is not for diabetic use though, but Dexcom realized there's a market for the "rest of us".

IMO you will gain better insight to your BG levels, every 2-hrs you could be missing the glucose spikes from reta's slowed gastric emtpying; which I thought was anywhere from 3-4 hours. If this is the case, then at 2-hrs post-meal you're not really reading anything extra from nutrition. BUT hard to tell without a real frequent testing, say in 15 or 30 min intervals to really characterize post-meal glucose (which is what I've done with my t1d wife)

food for thought

Thanks I'll look into that.

And that's a good point about delayed gastric emptying, I'll start testing 2, 3, and 4 hours after eating in the meantime.

 

[accidentaljedi173]

You don't think it's worth trying more metformin or Reta or berberine to see if I can get the numbers down? If I ignore the one 112 outlier, every other day my fasted BG has been 95-102 which doesn't seem too bad.

Idk, do as you please. I would just rather use an amount that doesn't effect me like that over throwing extra meds to force it. That's just me though.

 

[BatmanVAR]

Idk, do as you please. I would just rather use an amount that doesn't effect me like that over throwing extra meds to force it. That's just me though.

That's fair but I also think metformin and a GLP1 at 4IUs isn't uncommon

 

[accidentaljedi173]

That's fair but I also think metformin and a GLP1 at 4IUs isn't uncommon

It's not uncommon at all. I personally utilize suppressor max from troponin. It's a good gda. I had a similar problem as you, however dropping the gh didn't change anything for me. Are you using insulin?

 

[BatmanVAR]

It's not uncommon at all. I personally utilize suppressor max from troponin. It's a good gda. I had a similar problem as you, however dropping the gh didn't change anything for me. Are you using insulin?

I'll look into that too. I'm on berberine and RALA already but a lower dosage.

I'm not using insulin

 

[accidentaljedi173]

I'll look into that too. I'm on berberine and RALA already but a lower dosage.

I'm not using insulin

I would replace the berberine with it if anything.

 

[BatmanVAR]

I would replace the berberine with it if anything.

Yeah since it has berberine and R-ALA that makes sense

 

[Vicki]

Increasing reta helped me with this.