2,000 IU of HCG, 3 times per week: is this crazy?

[fauxnaturale]

I tried out a TRT clinic in the U.S. and the Dr. prescribed me 2,000 IU of HCG , 3 times a week to increase testosterone . His rationale was that HCG increases test production but without the risk of infertility. After 1 month it raised my total test from 393 to 495. A mild improvement but I was also a little sick so that could be part of the reason why it wasn't higher.

2,000 IU seems high to me based on everything I've read elsewhere. Between that and my previous success with HGH (2 IU/day), I decided to discontinue treatment.

Question 1: does that HCG dose seem crazy high? I haven't seen pubmed studies using doses that high.

Question 2: I have a couple weeks of between when I run out of HCG and when I can travel abroad and get HGH. What do you think I should do:

- halve the HCG dose now so I have enough until I get HGH
- order some darkweb HCG to bridge the last 2 weeks
- order some test and use the HCG to bridge

My goals are just to be feel good / anti-aging / have a good libido. I'm 40ish and in decent shape but not a bodybuilder.

[Youthful55guy]

I tried out a TRT clinic in the U.S. and the Dr. prescribed me 2,000 IU of HCG , 3 times a week to increase testosterone . His rationale was that HCG increases test production but without the risk of infertility. After 1 month it raised my total test from 393 to 495. A mild improvement but I was also a little sick so that could be part of the reason why it wasn't higher.

2,000 IU seems high to me based on everything I've read elsewhere. Between that and my previous success with HGH (2 IU/day), I decided to discontinue treatment.

Question 1: does that HCG dose seem crazy high? I haven't seen pubmed studies using doses that high.

Question 2: I have a couple weeks of between when I run out of HCG and when I can travel abroad and get HGH. What do you think I should do:

- halve the HCG dose now so I have enough until I get HGH
- order some darkweb HCG to bridge the last 2 weeks
- order some test and use the HCG to bridge

My goals are just to be feel good / anti-aging / have a good libido. I'm 40ish and in decent shape but not a bodybuilder.

That is a very high dose of HCG and it's a pretty expensive method of increasing your T levels. Also, given that it doesn't seem to be doing much at all based on your labs, I'd question whether you have a primary gonadal issue rather than a secondary (hypothalamic/pituitary) issue. If that's the case, HCG is not going to be of much help and you may have infertility issues already.

The next thing you need to consider is that your doctor at this clinic is more than likely in it for the money and not your well being. I'd also venture to guess that he doesn't really understand what he's doing. Preserving fertility while on TRT (assuming you are fertile to begin with) is a matter of preventing testicular atrophy while taking therapeutic doses of T. When you take exogenous T, you shut down brain/pituitary production of gonadotropins (LH and FSH). FSH is needed to stimulate spermatogenesis and LH is necessary to produce T. High levels of local intra-testicular T (ITT) is necessary for final maturation of sperm cells. To this end, researchers use ITT to determine testicular function as a marker of fertility. See the graph below I made of data from two studies that were published for the use of HCG to preserve ITT levels while healthy young male subjects were taking high doses of T-eth (200mg/week).



The researchers measured ITT levels in these men before TRT and then at various doses of HCG. What they found was that the weekly (split) dose of HCG necessary to bring ITT levels back to normal was between 1,040 and 1,060 IU per week. I recommend 1,050 IU/week (300 IU E2d).

The key to preserving fertility while on TRT is to maintain testicular function with HCG and to not overdo the T dose and drive you E levels out of range. Once you discontinue the TRT, your normal gonadotropin system will kick in fairly quickly as long as you hormonal system is not way out of balance. At most, you may want to consider a short course of Clomaphine citrate to jump start the production of gonadotropins when you are ready to have kids. I'd also start saving for their college education now, fertility can have some expensive financial side-effects.