HGH and diabetes

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i found this interesting article on another site. i personally have no experience with hgh. i wonder if anyone has any comments regarding this article, esp those who has used it, or are considering using.

Growth Hormone, Steroids and Diabetes

If you check the medical literature for side effects of growth hormone use, you’ll note that diabetes often makes the list. A common effect of GH use is insulin resistance, which is considered a harbinger of full-blown diabetes. In fact, insulin resistance is often called “pre-diabetes.” Estimates are that as many as 50 million Americans fit the criteria for insulin resistance.

GH enters the picture because it triggers the release of large amounts of free fatty acids into the blood. The free fatty acids, in turn, interfere with the uptake of glucose, or blood sugar, into cells, and the body attempts to compensate by producing more insulin. Insulin aides glucose uptake into cells, but as the body continues to release large amounts of insulin, the cells become resistant to it. Hence the insulin resistance.

Bodybuilders and other athletes are aware of this GH side effect. They often counter it by adding insulin injections to their drug stacks, which serves two purposes: 1) It counters the hypergly***ia, or elevated blood glucose, brought on by GH-induced insulin resistance; 2) it has anticatabolic effects in muscle, and when used with GH and anabolic steroids , it appears to add a layer of anabolic efficiency. Insulin also favors amino acid uptake into muscle and triggers the enzyme that produces muscle glycogen, an effect that creates a fuller-appearing muscle.

Of course, using insulin is not without its dangers. Injecting it without taking in carbohydrate can lead to a disastrous drop in blood glucose. That, in turn, can cause a person to pass out suddenly or, depending on the dose used, lapse into a coma. The coma effect has actually happened to several well-known professional bodybuilders. Luckily, they all survived.

Then there are the aesthetic side effects of using insulin, particularly when combined with GH. Insulinlike growth factor 1 is a product of GH and, as the name implies, has a structure similar to insulin. At times IGF-1 may interact with the insulin cell receptor, although with far less affinity than insulin itself. There are many insulin cell receptors in the gut, however, and when insulin and/or IGF-1 interact with those receptors, organ growth results. It’s visible as a bloated abdomen and is particularly noticeable when viewed from the side. So you have the ironic appearance of a bodybuilder with low bodyfat, ripped abdominals and, when standing relaxed, a bloated gut.

While these various effects of insulin and GH are annoying, unless you overdo the insulin or use it incorrectly, your health isn’t at risk. The GH and diabetes connection is far more insidious and dangerous to long-term health. The notion that GH can bring on diabetes comes from observation of people afflicted with acromegaly, which is caused by a small tumor on the pituitary gland in the brain. The tumor causes huge amounts of GH to be secreted. If it happens prior to adulthood, giantism often results. These are people who stand well over 7’. They also often have serious health problems. Forty percent of people with acromegaly have diabetes related to the insulin resistance induced by excessive GH production. One notable example was pro wrestler André the Giant. His real name was André René Roussimoff, and he suffered from diabetes related to his acromegalic condition. He died of congestive heart failure at 46.

If large amounts of GH can cause diabetes, why don’t we hear about more bodybuilders being diagnosed with the disease? For one thing, most rational bodybuilders who use GH don’t stay on the drug year-round. As for older people who use GH as a form of aging therapy or to treat GH deficiency, their doses are a fraction of the amounts routinely used by athletes. Even so, a large percentage of older people using GH show insulin resistance at first. In most cases it subsides in a month or two.

A case report published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2007 discussed a young bodybuilder who showed up at a local emergency room complaining of severe abdominal pain. His blood glucose level was 543.6 (normal is 100 or less). He told the attending physicians that he had used anabolic steroids for years and had recently added GH and insulin to his drug stack. He had stopped injecting the insulin after experiencing a few hypogly***ic episodes, but still he was diagnosed with diabetes. He received treatment for the diabetes, which, luckily for him, resolved after six weeks.

The most recent report linking diabetes to a bodybuilder on anabolic drugs involved a 33-year-old man who showed up at a local emergency room complaining of a variety of symptoms that included excessive thirst, excessive urination, nausea, headaches, blurry vision and just feeling like crap.1 A test of his blood glucose showed it to be 1082, which later rose to 1166. Again, normal is 100. He had started to feel sick four days prior to showing up at the ER. Further questioning revealed that he had been on a self-prescribed drug regimen for the past 3 1/2 months but had discontinued injections three weeks earlier. He denied use of any other drugs or alcohol, which was confirmed by a toxicology test. He had no family history of diabetes, a significant fact since diabetes usually has a genetic component.

Treatment began with intravenous fluids and a bolus of 10 units of regular insulin, plus an insulin drip. He was also given potassium, which helps speed glucose uptake into cells. Within six hours his blood glucose had returned to normal. He stabilized over the next 24 hours and was diagnosed with new onset diabetes. After two days he was discharged from the hospital.

The drug regimen that he had been on consisted of Sustanon 250, a blend of four testosterone esters that provide a time-released style of testosterone release; another type of testosterone that he wasn’t able to identify; and trenbolone acetate, or Finaplix , a veterinary anabolic steroid never approved for human use. It was described by the doctors as a “bovine growth hormone” because that’s precisely what it’s used for—to beef up cattle, in the form of pellets shot under the skin.

Trenbolone was formerly available in injectable form called Parabolan . Another form was called Finaject. It was a popular steroid among bodybuilders because it allegedly provided a hard appearance to the body, didn’t convert into estrogen and was very androgenic . The company that manufactured the injectable form of the drug, however, ceased production in 1987—although cattle implants continued to be sold. Two forms currently exist: Finaplix-H (for heifers) and Finaplix-S (for steers).The drug is not indicated for use in humans, but “kits” and instructions on how to crush the implants and use them as injections are available over the Internet. Problems include uncertainty about the purity of the dissolving substance, as well as concerns about possible contamination with toxins and bacteria, since the home brew drugs are not made under sterile conditions.

As for the bodybuilder, three months after showing up at the ER, he still had diabetes, but he was keeping it under control so that his blood glucose was at normal levels. He did that with a once daily dose of 35 units of long-acting insulin. He also stated that he would never again use any home brew cattle implant injections.

[gixxerboy1]

it's funny you brought this up. I've been having this discussion with a few other members the last couple days. I am already diabetic. On 5iu's of gh i need to more then double my insulin i inject because of the insulin resistance gh causes.

[Sgt. Hartman]

I'm not trying to discredit the article, it's no big secret that GH can cause insulin resistance, but it makes it sound like it's just a matter of time before everyone who runs GH will get diabetes.

People who already have diabetes or insulin resistance will obviously experience much worse effects than people who have naturally healthy blood sugar levels. Hell, if you look at the precautions on every HGH manufacturer's web site it lists insulin resistance as a possible side effect and that those who already have insulin resistance or diabetes will have to change their insulin doses. This is from Humatrope:


Treatment with somatropin may decrease insulin sensitivity, particularly at higher doses in susceptible patients. As a result, previously undiagnosed impaired glucose tolerance and overt diabetes mellitus may be unmasked, and new onset type 2 diabetes mellitus has been reported in patients taking somatropin. Therefore, glucose levels should be monitored periodically in all patients treated with somatropin, especially in those with risk factors for diabetes mellitus, such as obesity, Turner syndrome, or a family history of diabetes mellitus. Patients with preexisting type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus or impaired glucose tolerance should be monitored closely during somatropin therapy. The doses of antihypergly***ic drugs (e.g., insulin or oral agents) may require adjustment when somatropin therapy is instituted in these patients.

The bold is what's important though imo. Everyone is different and will react differently especially those who are at higher risk of developing insulin issues.

I've been taking GH for a year straight now and I check my glucose levels occasionally (not as much as I should but every once in a while lol). If I pin in the morning and then wait an hour to eat my blood sugar level doesn't change much if at all. I don't ever eat carbs within an hour of pinning so I don't know how that would affect the levels. And then after I wait an hour and eat, my blood sugar levels stay within very reasonable range, actually kind of low, which I don't know if is a good thing or not. I checked mine just now before making this post, pinned 5iu GH this morning, and 45 minutes ago I ate 8oz chicken breast and 1.5 cups cooked basmati rice. Blood sugar = 69ng/ml. Definitely no hypergly***ia here.

And I really don't get the correlation between tren and diabetes. One guy who was taking fina happened to develop diabetes so now fina causes diabetes?

[Razor]

Simple solution...run slin with gh..problem solved

I am running more gh than a lot of people here and have no problems

[AD]

definitely the dosage, the duration of use, and personal susceptibility plays a big part in the development of sides and complications. Gix seems to be susceptible but Sgt isn't. i haven't been very interested to run GH, so i haven't done much research. just found this article on ironmanmag.com, which is a squicky clean, non-roid site. i immediately wonder how good are their info regarding drugs, since they never promoted drugs. i thought the easiest way to find out is to post the article here for an open discussion.

Raz, how long have you been running GH and at what dose? do you check your sugar frequently?

[AD]

it's funny you brought this up. I've been having this discussion with a few other members the last couple days. I am already diabetic. On 5iu's of gh i need to more then double my insulin i inject because of the insulin resistance gh causes.

hey gix, does your insulin requirement return to normal when you go off HGH? is the insulin resistance that gh cause reversible?

[Razor]

Been running it for 1 month now, this is my second run though..I was previously on for 9 months and took 3 off

[gixxerboy1]

hey gix, does your insulin requirement return to normal when you go off HGH? is the insulin resistance that gh cause reversible?

yes after a couple days i go back to my normal dose

[Sgt. Hartman]

Gix have you ever noticed whether or not your blood sugar is worse if you eat carbs around the time you pin?

I've always heard and followed the don't eat carbs for an hour before or after pinning. I don't know where this came from but the more I think about it it doesn't make sense. GH levels don't peak til about 4 hrs after pinning and stay elevated for a few more hours so why is the 1 hour after pinning when your GH levels are still low important to not eat carbs?

Anybody know where the no carbs for an hour idea came from because I can't find it from any credible source. I think the ideas been parrotted around forever but really if GH is gonna cause insulin resistance then it's gonna cause it whether you eat carbs around pinning or not.

[gixxerboy1]

^^^ yes. Thats why i was pinning before bed.
If i did it in the morning and ate breakfast maybe 45-1 hr later my sugar would go sky high

[Razor]

^^^ yes. Thats why i was pinning before bed.
If i did it in the morning and ate breakfast maybe 45-1 hr later my sugar would go sky high

Can u just pin slin then?

[AD]

"Then there are the aesthetic side effects of using insulin , particularly when combined with GH. Insulinlike growth factor 1 is a product of GH and, as the name implies, has a structure similar to insulin. At times IGF-1 may interact with the insulin cell receptor, although with far less affinity than insulin itself. There are many insulin cell receptors in the gut, however, and when insulin and/or IGF-1 interact with those receptors, organ growth results. It’s visible as a bloated abdomen and is particularly noticeable when viewed from the side. So you have the ironic appearance of a bodybuilder with low bodyfat, ripped abdominals and, when standing relaxed, a bloated gut."

what about this statement from the article? has anyone experienced this?

[Sgt. Hartman]

^^^ yes. Thats why i was pinning before bed.
If i did it in the morning and ate breakfast maybe 45-1 hr later my sugar would go sky high

That makes sense about pinning before bed. Did you notice any difference in the amount of time you waited to eat after pinning in the morning though?

I'm thinking that carbs are just as bad for insulin sensitivity a few hours after pinning as they are a few minutes after pinning.

[gixxerboy1]

Can u just pin slin then?

i was injecting a ton of slin already.

[gixxerboy1]

That makes sense about pinning before bed. Did you notice any difference in the amount of time you waited to eat after pinning in the morning though?

I'm thinking that carbs are just as bad for insulin sensitivity a few hours after pinning as they are a few minutes after pinning.

i agree. The insulin resistance last for hours

[therealdycegame]

this is an excellent thread. I'm a type 1 diabetic and i'm trying to learn if there are any aas i could take. I know this thread is pertaining to HGH, but I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction

[gixxerboy1]

yes, steroids dont have the same effect as hgh.

[Brohim]

yes testosterone actually improves insulin resistance.

Gix what caused our diabetes?

[gixxerboy1]

i got it when i was 9. who knows

[Brohim]

"Then there are the aesthetic side effects of using insulin , particularly when combined with GH. Insulinlike growth factor 1 is a product of GH and, as the name implies, has a structure similar to insulin. At times IGF-1 may interact with the insulin cell receptor, although with far less affinity than insulin itself. There are many insulin cell receptors in the gut, however, and when insulin and/or IGF-1 interact with those receptors, organ growth results. It’s visible as a bloated abdomen and is particularly noticeable when viewed from the side. So you have the ironic appearance of a bodybuilder with low bodyfat, ripped abdominals and, when standing relaxed, a bloated gut."

what about this statement from the article? has anyone experienced this?

I would imagine a bloated gut would results from HIGH doses of HGH and Slin for long periods and durations of time.