Is HGH worth doing for 50-yo guy? Serum IGF-1 at 150 and GH at <0.1

[MuscularMD]

I'm a 50-yo guy who's been feeling my age lately.

Started the 3Ts:
- Triz - 2 months ago. Shed 20 lbs from 205 lbs to 185lbs!
- TRT - 2 weeks ago. Pre TRT total T was 280 ng/ml.
- Training - Weights 2x/week and cardio 3x/week for years!

Thinking of adding HGH to this at a low dose of 2IU/day. Pulled some labs:

IGF1: 150 ng/ml (normal)
GH: < 0.1 ng/ml (normal)

My goal is to get more pep and feel more youthful. Is it worth starting HGH? If I do, how often should I check IGF1? Do I even need to check GH levels?

 

[Ghoul]

I'm a 50-yo guy who's been feeling my age lately.

Started the 3Ts:
- Triz - 2 months ago. Shed 20 lbs from 205 lbs to 185lbs!
- TRT - 2 weeks ago. Pre TRT total T was 280 ng/ml.
- Training - Weights 2x/week and cardio 3x/week for years!

Thinking of adding HGH to this at a low dose of 2IU/day. Pulled some labs:

IGF1: 150 ng/ml (normal)
GH: < 0.1 ng/ml (normal)

My goal is to get more pep and feel more youthful. Is it worth starting HGH? If I do, how often should I check IGF1? Do I even need to check GH levels?

Give the TRT time to work. It really takes 6 weeks to feel a significant change and benefits continue to materialize over several more months.

rHGH isn't really energizing or does much for mood. Probobly the best impact in the 50s at that dose is visceral fat reduction.

Personally I think Tesamorelin is a better alternative to low dose rHGH. At 2iu you may not see an increase in IGF. It may even go down. While with Tesa, you will see increased IGF, since it's building on your endogenous GH, not replacing it, while keeping you in the physiological range (and all that implies about low risk).

If you're feeling low energy, check your thyroid. TSH, Free T4, T3.

If your're hypothyroidal, or just sub optimal, you'll feel sluggish and mildly depressed. Often a very easy fix if that's flagging, the energy boost can be very significant. On par or greater than TRT.

 

[MuscularMD]

Hey, I really appreciate your posts. They're awesome. Thanks!

 

[bubba618]

I'm a 50-yo guy who's been feeling my age lately.

Started the 3Ts:
- Triz - 2 months ago. Shed 20 lbs from 205 lbs to 185lbs!
- TRT - 2 weeks ago. Pre TRT total T was 280 ng/ml.
- Training - Weights 2x/week and cardio 3x/week for years!

Thinking of adding HGH to this at a low dose of 2IU/day. Pulled some labs:

IGF1: 150 ng/ml (normal)
GH: < 0.1 ng/ml (normal)

My goal is to get more pep and feel more youthful. Is it worth starting HGH? If I do, how often should I check IGF1? Do I even need to check GH levels?

I'd leave off the HGH at this time and give yourself 4-6 months to get nice, stable testosterone levels. Then rather than start something else like HGH or tesamorelin, I'd up the testosterone a bit more to get above the high end of normal. Personally, I found that to give me the better mood and energy I was looking for.

 

[MuscularMD]

I'd leave off the HGH at this time and give yourself 4-6 months to get nice, stable testosterone levels. Then rather than start something else like HGH or tesamorelin, I'd up the testosterone a bit more to get above the high end of normal. Personally, I found that to give me the better mood and energy I was looking for.

Thanks. I guess I have 3 kits of HGH 36 to keep on hand. Hope it doesn’t degrade jn the fridge or is it freezer?!?

 

[dragonz]

What would be the easy fix for sub-optimal thyroid levels? @Ghoul

Sorry I’m on my phone and can’t get the quotes to work.

 

[bubba618]

Thanks. I guess I have 3 kits of HGH 36 to keep on hand. Hope it doesn’t degrade jn the fridge or is it freezer?!?

It should. I know I've got a few 36IU kits in storage myself. There are a few good threads discussing freezer versus refrigerator, including discussions on long-term storage of peptides and HGH.

 

[AlexDavis43]

Thanks. I guess I have 3 kits of HGH 36 to keep on hand. Hope it doesn’t degrade jn the fridge or is it freezer?!?

It should. I know I've got a few 36IU kits in storage myself. There are a few good threads discussing freezer versus refrigerator, including discussions on long-term storage of peptides and HGH.

Fridge, before and after reconstitution.

 

[RandGuy]

rHGH isn't really energizing or does much for mood. Probobly the best impact in the 50s at that dose is visceral fat reduction.

Personally I think Tesamorelin is a better alternative to low dose rHGH. At 2iu you may not see an increase in IGF. It may even go down. While with Tesa, you will see increased IGF, since it's building on your endogenous GH, not replacing it, while keeping you in the physiological range (and all that implies about low risk).

Couple of questions about that...
First, if significantly older, with baseline IGF-1 significantly below 100 (self), would it then be better to use GH? (There also appears to be a camp out there pushing GH over use of GHS at any age.) Second, isn't the Tesamorelin (1 mg/d) about 5x more expensive than GH (assuming $1/IU GH)? I guess that would be another consideration.

 

[AlexDavis43]

Couple of questions about that...
First, if significantly older, with baseline IGF-1 significantly below 100 (self), would it then be better to use GH? (There also appears to be a camp out there pushing GH over use of GHS at any age.) Second, isn't the Tesamorelin (1 mg/d) about 5x more expensive than GH (assuming $1/IU GH)? I guess that would be another consideration.

The old GH mantra: as much as you can afford and tolerate.

And now with high quality inexpensive UGL hGH sources, it's easily doable on whatever dose you decide on. Sure you can mess around with any GHS but most people going down this route will end up on hGH.

 

[Sickxlost]

I'm a 50-yo guy who's been feeling my age lately.

Started the 3Ts:
- Triz - 2 months ago. Shed 20 lbs from 205 lbs to 185lbs!
- TRT - 2 weeks ago. Pre TRT total T was 280 ng/ml.
- Training - Weights 2x/week and cardio 3x/week for years!

Thinking of adding HGH to this at a low dose of 2IU/day. Pulled some labs:

IGF1: 150 ng/ml (normal)
GH: < 0.1 ng/ml (normal)

My goal is to get more pep and feel more youthful. Is it worth starting HGH? If I do, how often should I check IGF1? Do I even need to check GH levels?

GH is the fountain of youth but you have to run it for 6 months to really start getting the full benefits. The better skin, hair, nails, sleep all that come with time.

 

[RockyP]

Couple of questions about that...
First, if significantly older, with baseline IGF-1 significantly below 100 (self), would it then be better to use GH? (There also appears to be a camp out there pushing GH over use of GHS at any age.) Second, isn't the Tesamorelin (1 mg/d) about 5x more expensive than GH (assuming $1/IU GH)? I guess that would be another consideration.

Just run the GH - don't waste money on the secretagogues. If you choose to escalate the dosage keep a close watch on your fasting blood glucose. When / what dosage of GH that people experience insulin resistance is individual but dose-dependent as well. This can be mitigated obviously by diet, supplements like quality berberine, and of course, GLP-1s.