New member learning about HGH and TRT

[Scooby69]

Hi everyone,

I recently joined the Meso forum and wanted to give a short introduction of how I found this forum. I am a 46-year-old male, relatively fit, and maintain a good diet. My scale claims that my current body fat percentage is 18% (not sure how accurate that is). I work out 5x/week, typically a combo of running and strength training. I mainly train to stay fit for backpacking and mountaineering adventures.

About 1.5 years ago, I reached out to a local TRT clinic because I wanted to start GHRH and GHRP therapy, primarily with anti-aging in mind but also the hope of feeling a little better and recovering from workouts more quicky. I had blood work done at the time and my total testosterone was 315 ng/dL. The clinic offered testosterone, but I wasn’t ready for it at that time. So, I started a regimen of sermorelin (sq, 300 mcg) and GHRP-2 (sl, 0.5 mg) 5x/week before bed.

After a year of this approach, I did not feel satisfied with the treatment and went back to the TRT clinic. My blood work on this visit revealed a total testosterone of 194 ng/dL along with low estradiol, 7.1 pg/mL. I was hesitant to start with testosterone and shut down the boys, so the clinic put me on a protocol of hCG (the good stuff—Pregnyl, 400 IU, 3x/week) and enclomiphene (25 mg, 3x/week). After 3 months on this protocol, my total testosterone was 864 ng/dL and my estradiol was 49.8 pg/mL. At the same time, I stopped peptide therapy from the clinic (it was way overpriced) and started using UGL mod GRF (1-29) and Ipamorelin (200 mcg each), 5x/week before bed. I recently had my IGF-1 levels checked and they were 110 ng/mL (unfortunately I don’t have a baseline).

So, that’s where I am right now. I am relatively happy with the boost in my total testosterone levels, but I would say I don’t quite feel that boost of energy that some people talk about on TRT. I am also fairly convinced that peptide therapy isn’t doing much for me based on my IGF-1 levels.

I joined this forum initially because I decided I wanted to start HGH. So, I recently procured some HGH via a Meso verified source and am easing myself into that with 1 IU, 3x/week before bed, increasing by 1 IU every week. I am currently thinking that I will max the dose at 5 IU, 3x/week before bed. Since I don’t have that boost in energy that I was expecting from TRT, I was also wondering if I should supplement my current TRT regimen with a little bit of testosterone. My concern there is that I don’t want to screw up a good thing if supplementing with testosterone will interfere with the hCG/enclomiphene effects.

I’m not looking to get huge. I just want to feel good, recover quickly from workouts, lose that last bit of belly fat, and put on some lean muscle. Most importantly, I want to be fit enough to continue to spend time in the mountains.

I’ve already read quite a bit in the Meso forums. I appreciate the knowledge here and, on occasion, even enjoy the bickering. Still, I have a lot to learn. I am open to advice or suggestions.

Thanks! I’m happy to be here.

 

[BigDadd7]

HGH is an every day thing. Switch to that immediately. Keep reading and ask more next week.

 

[Banana Joe]

Welcome to Meso, you made a great introduction. Here's my 2 cents, take it for whatever it seems worth to you:

Since I don’t have that boost in energy that I was expecting from TRT, I was also wondering if I should supplement my current TRT regimen with a little bit of testosterone. My concern there is that I don’t want to screw up a good thing if supplementing with testosterone will interfere with the hCG/enclomiphene effects.....
I am open to advice or suggestions.

I would stop the GH for now. Keep the testosterone boosting drugs as is.

Then check your thyroid, if you haven't already.
Sorting that out was almost a game changer for me. I don't care about the reference range, if I am not at the very upper end of it, which will never be (anymore?) without T3/T4 medication, my energy and mood will tank rapidly.

The rest is IMO fairly trivial, get on 150mg* of test, do some blood work in between, evaluate how you feel. If E2 gets too high, use exemestan sparingly and do more bloodwork.
Keep the HCG in, if you are attached to the size of your balls.
Then after another 6-8 weeks, introduce the GH back in, start at 1.5iu daily, if no adverse effects arise, escalate slowly to 2iu, maybe 2.5iu.

Given what else you write about yourself, this will be 90% on the money.
If you wanna do it right, follow the steps and do all the necessary bloodwork.


*a medical doctor (no TRT mill) would surely titrate you up from maybe 70mg but realistically you will end up at 150mg anyway, if you wanna feel the best. At your age (and presumed health) such a dose is nothing that should cause any concern.

 

[Scooby69]

Welcome to Meso, you made a great introduction. Here's my 2 cents, take it for whatever it seems worth to you:


I would stop the GH for now. Keep the testosterone boosting drugs as is.

Then check your thyroid, if you haven't already.
Sorting that out was almost a game changer for me. I don't care about the reference range, if I am not at the very upper end of it, which will never be (anymore?) without T3/T4 medication, my energy and mood will tank rapidly.

The rest is IMO fairly trivial, get on 150mg* of test, do some blood work in between, evaluate how you feel. If E2 gets too high, use exemestan sparingly and do more bloodwork.
Keep the HCG in, if you are attached to the size of your balls.
Then after another 6-8 weeks, introduce the GH back in, start at 1.5iu daily, if no adverse effects arise, escalate slowly to 2iu, maybe 2.5iu.

Given what else you write about yourself, this will be 90% on the money.
If you wanna do it right, follow the steps and do all the necessary bloodwork.


*a medical doctor (no TRT mill) would surely titrate you up from maybe 70mg but realistically you will end up at 150mg anyway, if you wanna feel the best. At your age (and presumed health) such a dose is nothing that should cause any concern.

This is great, thank you! I happen to have a thyroid panel scheduled next month that I purchased through Marek Diagnostics.

 

[Banana Joe]

This is great, thank you! I happen to have a thyroid panel scheduled next month that I purchased through Marek Diagnostics.

You're welcome. The reason to do it step by step is to be able to evaluate what each does actually does. You have never used any kind of PEDs, and are not a 20y wanting to get big.
So, you IMO should learn what each does and how it changes how you feel and perform/sleep/recover/etc. You seem to be able to closely observe, document and draw relatable conclusions from that, this is why I recommend to do it that way.

Keep an eye on blood pressure and start measuring around a few times a week starting now, to average out any outliers.If blood pressure increases, I would immediately look into strategies to counter that. First measure is to reduce body fat, along with diet changes, then look into other measures like medication.
What ever BF you are right now, aim to get at least somewhat visible abs, or visible if you are already there. Get a measuring tape and measure your waist at your belly button 2x a week. I firmly believe this is all most guys need to gauge their bodyfat. If weight stays the same and waist shrinks, good. If weight goes down and waist stays as is, bad. You get the drill.
Focussing on your BF is IMO way more important right now, than building muscle, you can still do that in 6 months. More muscle will not (objectively) make you feel better, but 5% less body fat will.
I have way more energy with low BF, even if I am the same (high-ish) weight I was already with higher BF. I know it sounds like a tall order, but I would aim to get it down to around 11-12%. With just that optimised HRT support, it is doable for a man your age.

I was not new to PEDs, so I admittedly kinda winged it a bit, but I was off for months in 2024, felt like shit, and then kinda followed this process last year, and can therefore tell you with reasonable confidence, that this will very likely work as intended.
Of course I didn't stick with just 150mg, but that is not a decision you should make in a hurry. Personally I see noting wrong with 200mg, but I am not gonna recommend that, let a lone a higher dose. Remember, at this age, TRT is pretty a decision you made for life.

If you don't know about it already, look into achieving stable blood serum concentrations of Test. If you pin Test E/C, I would not do it less often than e2d, at least at the beginning, where you need to learn what it feels like to be on Xmg of Test. I know it is hassle, but once you found your dose, you can switch to Test U, where e7d injections are totally fine for TRT purposes.


Anyway, that got way too long again, but I hope you will be able to take away a few more things from it. I admit to not know as much as many on this board, but if you just get these few things right, you will have done 80% of the work.
Broad strokes first, then you can worry about the fine strokes.

 

[sub10when]

Since I don’t have that boost in energy that I was expecting from TRT, I was also wondering if I should supplement my current TRT regimen with a little bit of testosterone.

Not everyone will feel a boost of energy, FYI. I didn't and my baseline T was much lower than 194 ng/dl.