thinking of weaning myself off of hcg

[powerlifterty16]

so for anyone who doesnt know, i am not on trt, and not on hcg mono long term. My doc prescribed me hcg for 6 weeks to see if i can convince my body to make more test without the hcg. He prescribed 350 iu 3x per week for 6 weeks. Ive been taking 400 iu bc he said if i took a lil extra it wouldnt kill me, and i dint want to throw out half the bottle.
My last hcg dose is july 15th and i have 3 more shots left. I was thinking of weaning myself off. My next shot is tomorrow, and then on friday and then monday. I was going to do 350 iu for those 3.

My question is, should i stop there or would it be better to also do 2 additional shots on the 17 and 19 of july using 200 iu on the 17th and 125 iu on the 19th....to wean myself off? then get blood drawn the 25th or so?

im just worried my lh wont bounce back...plus it's not looking like a doc is going to prescribe me trt, so ill be fuggggged lol.

and yeah i realize this post is kind of pessimistic, as i dont know if hcg has helped or not(and it may have), but just trying to be prepared while i still have enough testosterone to think clearly LOL.

[FRDave]

I personally would just do injections like normal till your last day, not ween it off.

Based on my experience with HCG alone (was injecting 400iu 2x weekly for 5 weeks prior to starting TRT), I think you would feel the difference if it were working. From my very first injection on, I was no longer tired/fatigued and my labido was night and day difference.

[powerlifterty16]

didnt hcg only raise u 80 points? that's pretty cool u felt the effects with that little test gains.
i do feel some symptom relief although not every symptom is gone.

[JohnGalt]

didnt hcg only raise u 80 points? that's pretty cool u felt the effects with that little test gains.
i do feel some symptom relief although not every symptom is gone.

I think your expectations are too high. Just having normal to high t levels does NOT immediately fix everything. Even if your HPTA has restarted and your body's levels get into the normal range it will take time for all of the benefits to truly be felt if your body's balance was low for so long. Read through the t
Sticky on when to expect the benefits of trt to be felt for a better idea of what I'm talking about.

The fact that you have felt SOME relief of your symptoms is a great sign! Just ride out the current treatment and do the follow ups before you deem it a complete failure.

[powerlifterty16]

I think your expectations are too high. Just having normal to high t levels does NOT immediately fix everything. Even if your HPTA has restarted and your body's levels get into the normal range it will take time for all of the benefits to truly be felt if your body's balance was low for so long. Read through the t
Sticky on when to expect the benefits of trt to be felt for a better idea of what I'm talking about.

The fact that you have felt SOME relief of your symptoms is a great sign! Just ride out the current treatment and do the follow ups before you deem it a complete failure.

thanks for the response, but i think you misread my post? I was actually saying the opposite. I am happy with the symptom relief i have gotten, and hope i dont go south after stopping the treatment. I was replying to dave saying i should have felt something, by expressing my partial symptom relief .

[powerlifterty16]

I think your expectations are too high. Just having normal to high t levels does NOT immediately fix everything. Even if your HPTA has restarted and your body's levels get into the normal range it will take time for all of the benefits to truly be felt if your body's balance was low for so long. Read through the t
Sticky on when to expect the benefits of trt to be felt for a better idea of what I'm talking about.

The fact that you have felt SOME relief of your symptoms is a great sign! Just ride out the current treatment and do the follow ups before you deem it a complete failure.

in your opinion would adding the two extra injections be a good idea?

[JohnGalt]

Maybe but I was taking into account your many other threads and posts here ;-).

Just trying to say keep your spirits up and have faith in the treatment. It may not fully work but stressing over it and getting anxiety over it might just counteract all the gains and undermine it from working.

[JohnGalt]

An extra shot or 2 in the bigger picture I doubt it matters. I know you have scripts for 2 future BWs so the important thing I read from a recommendation from lowtmike. Use the first script 24-48 hours after last injection, this will show how well your testies respond to an analog LH and your levels. Then get another draw a week or more (or your docs rec time) to see if and by how much your T levels are on their own. Just my opinions I am nowhere near an expert on HCG I plan to add it to my protocol on my next dr visit later this month.

[powerlifterty16]

An extra shot or 2 in the bigger picture I doubt it matters. I know you have scripts for 2 future BWs so the important thing I read from a recommendation from lowtmike. Use the first script 24-48 hours after last injection, this will show how well your testies respond to an analog LH and your levels. Then get another draw a week or more (or your docs rec time) to see if and by how much your T levels are on their own. Just my opinions I am nowhere near an expert on HCG I plan to add it to my protocol on my next dr visit later this month.

john, low t actually replied with another post saying i should wait a week,so i was thinking of waiting a week, and then waiting another 3 weeks to see if anything changed. Im going to the endo first week of august, so hopefully she will write me a script, and i can save the other one i have for an emergency.

My reasoning for wanting to do the 2 extra shots was, i figured going from 350 to 0 would leave me with no lh for a little while..but going from 350 to 200 to 125 would hopefully leave me with a little lh while my body recovers. I also hate throwing out all that hcg but i got it for 82 bucks so it's not terrible.

low t mikes reply was in that same thread..and anabolic doc also said to wait a week, so im pretty confident as far as that goes....

[JohnGalt]

That works I haven't gone through that thread recently to see they went more in depth and I defer to them

[Trific]

I wouldn't taper the HCG, just my pinion.

I don't know if it was higher T or higher E or placebo but it's cool you lost the migraines....I'd buy my own HCG UGL if I had to to keep them gone but time will tell maybe they'll stay gone....if you need/want to be on something down the road I'd consider HCG first and if that stopped working I'd maybe try low dose clomid and then test as more of a last resort.

[FRDave]

didnt hcg only raise u 80 points? that's pretty cool u felt the effects with that little test gains.
i do feel some symptom relief although not every symptom is gone.

It did raise my natural test levels less than 100 points but surprisingly I felt pretty good and almost immediately in comparison to before the HCG therapy.

The mind is a very powerful thing so just based on my research on HCG and the fact I was receiving some sort of treatment after years of feeling like crap, this alone could have been enough to make me feel better and could have been nothing more than a head trip. Hard to say...

Based on your other post I have read, you seem to be feeling better and your workouts are going good so keep positive and all may be fine. Like mentioned above, it takes time. I am still dialing in my E2 on TRT (7 months in) and feeling better and better each and every week.

[phaedo]

I've tapered down my TRT dose over the course of 4 weeks while taking 3000 IU of hCG and 75 IU hMG three times weekly. My latest labs show testosterone at 1348 ng/dL and estrogen at 78 pg/mL. Needless to say, I've lowered (halved) the hCG dose.

[The large doses are in effort to regain fertility and not necessarily remedy "low testosterone."]

My point here is that hCG mono-therapy, or even when combined with TRT, is individual dependent. Like FRDave mentioned, he immediately felt better where powerlifterty16 hasn't noticed much change over the past few weeks.

[powerlifterty16]

I've tapered down my TRT dose over the course of 4 weeks while taking 3000 IU of hCG and 75 IU hMG three times weekly. My latest labs show testosterone at 1348 ng/dL and estrogen at 78 pg/mL. Needless to say, I've lowered (halved) the hCG dose.

[The large doses are in effort to regain fertility and not necessarily remedy "low testosterone."]

My point here is that hCG mono-therapy, or even when combined with TRT, is individual dependent. Like FRDave mentioned, he immediately felt better where powerlifterty16 hasn't noticed much change over the past few weeks.

i just took my last prescribed dose of hcg at 350 iu. I still have 82 syringes left(they come in packs of 10) so i have 2 left over from my open pack. To the people who said i shouldnt taper down can i ask why? I really was wanting to do a shot of 200 on wednesday and a shot of 100 on friday to taper down and use up the syringes and then get bloodwork the friday after..any thoughts? that would mean i would have been taking 20 total shots instead of 18 shots like prescribed.

[powerlifterty16]

I've tapered down my TRT dose over the course of 4 weeks while taking 3000 IU of hCG and 75 IU hMG three times weekly. My latest labs show testosterone at 1348 ng/dL and estrogen at 78 pg/mL. Needless to say, I've lowered (halved) the hCG dose.

[The large doses are in effort to regain fertility and not necessarily remedy "low testosterone."]

My point here is that hCG mono-therapy, or even when combined with TRT, is individual dependent. Like FRDave mentioned, he immediately felt better where powerlifterty16 hasn't noticed much change over the past few weeks.

i think im addicted to jabbing myself rofl

[powerlifterty16]

I've tapered down my TRT dose over the course of 4 weeks while taking 3000 IU of hCG and 75 IU hMG three times weekly. My latest labs show testosterone at 1348 ng/dL and estrogen at 78 pg/mL. Needless to say, I've lowered (halved) the hCG dose.

[The large doses are in effort to regain fertility and not necessarily remedy "low testosterone."]

My point here is that hCG mono-therapy, or even when combined with TRT, is individual dependent. Like FRDave mentioned, he immediately felt better where powerlifterty16 hasn't noticed much change over the past few weeks.

today's shot was weird, it felt painless going in but while in felt a little pain so i took it out by a little, and put it back in and then it really hurt so i removed it, and saw a lot of blood coming out...there's no way the hcg came back out right? or the needle broke off?

[Trific]

today's shot was weird, it felt painless going in but while in felt a little pain so i took it out by a little, and put it back in and then it really hurt so i removed it, and saw a lot of blood coming out...there's no way the hcg came back out right? or the needle broke off?

You must have been going deeper than sq....sounds like you were hitting IM land...oh well, you are done for now and everything is fine and I doubt you broke off the needle, did you inspect the tip of the needle?

[powerlifterty16]

You must have been going deeper than sq....sounds like you were hitting IM land...oh well, you are done for now and everything is fine and I doubt you broke off the needle, did you inspect the tip of the needle?

lol dude i dont know what the heck i was doing lol i just saw a big dot of blood, wiped it up, and the blood stopped a second later
yeah i checked the needle, appeared fine.
bump for below post
''i just took my last prescribed dose of hcg at 350 iu. I still have 82 syringes left(they come in packs of 10) so i have 2 left over from my open pack. To the people who said i shouldnt taper down can i ask why? I really was wanting to do a shot of 200 on wednesday and a shot of 100 on friday to taper down and use up the syringes and then get bloodwork the friday after..any thoughts? that would mean i would have been taking 20 total shots instead of 18 shots like prescribed.''

[FRDave]

You probably nicked a vein, it happens. As for tapering, I see no point and no benefit. I would take one last shot of 300 vs two shots of 200 & 100.

[Trific]

Hold onto your spare pins and stop the HCG as prescribed...that's why, because it was prescribed that you end today...that's what the doc expects of you.

You with the leftover syringes reminds me of someone who has checks but no money in the bank....still have checks and wanna write them for something!

[powerlifterty16]

Hold onto your spare pins and stop the HCG as prescribed...that's why, because it was prescribed that you end today...that's what the doc expects of you.

You with the leftover syringes reminds me of someone who has checks but no money in the bank....still have checks and wanna write them for something!

ok ill stop, but tbh the doc didnt even tell me when to stop..i was actually shocked when isaw him. He said just stop in 6 weeks..idk august or something. when i got home i wrote up a calender and july 15th was my last dose. this doc didnt even want to give me blood work. i think he just gave me hcg to shut me up lol.

btw what were you saying about freezing hcg? does that keep it from going bad? How come i can tjust freeze the vial?
i didnt fully follow his directions anyway, i did 400iu each shot instead of 350

[powerlifterty16]

You probably nicked a vein, it happens. As for tapering, I see no point and no benefit. I would take one last shot of 300 vs two shots of 200 & 100.

i guess i could have nicked a vein, but it's a 30g needle lol. btw you use 29 right? is that an insulin? how long did you say tstosterone draws?

[Trific]

for it to work very well, you would need to have individual doses in the syringes

if you froze the vial, you would be putting all the left over hcg through many freeze/thaw cycles instead of freezing all the individual loaded syringes once and only unthawing each one once right before using it....it's probably postulated that freezing and thawing that many times is too destructive to the hcg

loading each individual syringe and then freezing works well....you have to load it sometime....but I suppose some feel freezing hcg destroys it...I haven't proven that to myself yet

I just thought you ought to get on with the scheduled testing and then go back to hcg if you like, last I heard you didn't like clomid, I'm suggesting a lower dose than what most in the past used.....or maybe on to test....maybe you should at least do a 12 week TRT dosage cycle....what the hell....and see what you see and feel what you feel....

I thought you might not have been sq else you wouldn't have hit a vein?

[HRTstudent]

I'm not sure the taper would matter for the upcoming blood test -- that test is relatively soon after the cessation of HCG. HCG, as we know, is suppressive to LH and FSH. It doesn't mean it can't help you restart though.

My best advice would be to trust the doctor. I'm assuming he's done this before so a little faith is sometimes necessary. Regardless, the full effects of the HCG restart would not be apparent this soon anyways, so if you want to test again in 4-6 weeks that wouldn't be a bad idea at all. In fact, I think it would make more sense to test for the first time at 4-6 weeks after the last shot when things have had time to re-equilibrate.

The most important thing to keep in mind, however, is to note how you feel. Too often we fall into the rabbit hole of chasing numbers, and then a new number, and a new one, and then a new malady, then another, then another, etc etc. That does a lot of harm to our well-being despite its "good intentions."

[FRDave]

i guess i could have nicked a vein, but it's a 30g needle lol. btw you use 29 right? is that an insulin? how long did you say tstosterone draws?

I actually use 30g for HCG and 26g for test. For test, it takes a good 20-30 sec to draw 40-50mg.

I nic veins every so often and a little blood will run out, usually leaving a bruise afterwords. Happens in both my love handles (HCG injection site) and the glutes (test injection site).

[powerlifterty16]

for it to work very well, you would need to have individual doses in the syringes

if you froze the vial, you would be putting all the left over hcg through many freeze/thaw cycles instead of freezing all the individual loaded syringes once and only unthawing each one once right before using it....it's probably postulated that freezing and thawing that many times is too destructive to the hcg

loading each individual syringe and then freezing works well....you have to load it sometime....but I suppose some feel freezing hcg destroys it...I haven't proven that to myself yet

I just thought you ought to get on with the scheduled testing and then go back to hcg if you like, last I heard you didn't like clomid, I'm suggesting a lower dose than what most in the past used.....or maybe on to test....maybe you should at least do a 12 week TRT dosage cycle....what the hell....and see what you see and feel what you feel....

I thought you might not have been sq else you wouldn't have hit a vein?

thanks..ill just load 250 or 300 in the syringes. how long would they last? wont the needles get contaminated?
tbh, i really want to trt trt to se how i feel. problem is finding a doctor. I think clomid at this point would be useless since i already used hcg and i think hcg works better. I wish my doc gave me clomid to take for 1 week or two after the hcg...prob would make the restart more successful.

i think i just wiggled the needle around today...idk.
btw are you on trt and how old are you?

[powerlifterty16]

i dont feel incredibly different. migraines seem to have reduced, workouts have been wayyyyyyy better strength is way up, im getting more comments on my build, although even with low t ive built a good strong physique bc ive lifted nearly a decade. most of my numbers on strength charts are between advanced and elite for my weight(202)
Nothing someone with normal test couldnt get in 4 years though lol.

everything ive heard says lh is suppressed on hcg, so i dont see how it can help me restart. im hoping i bounce back through the neg feedback loop. I only trusted the doctor because lowtmike and anabolicdoc said it could work, although vettster disagrees.

I conned my dr into giving me two scripts for future bloodworks(got his secretary to write another one) so im going to get my first blood work next monday, and then another one next month. I have an endo appt august 2nd so hopefully she writes me another script.
I want to try trt anyway since sub q it would be easy...but it's not my choice lol.
dont you do trt with a 30g? how is drawing?

I'm not sure the taper would matter for the upcoming blood test -- that test is relatively soon after the cessation of HCG. HCG, as we know, is suppressive to LH and FSH. It doesn't mean it can't help you restart though.

My best advice would be to trust the doctor. I'm assuming he's done this before so a little faith is sometimes necessary. Regardless, the full effects of the HCG restart would not be apparent this soon anyways, so if you want to test again in 4-6 weeks that wouldn't be a bad idea at all. In fact, I think it would make more sense to test for the first time at 4-6 weeks after the last shot when things have had time to re-equilibrate.

The most important thing to keep in mind, however, is to note how you feel. Too often we fall into the rabbit hole of chasing numbers, and then a new number, and a new one, and then a new malady, then another, then another, etc etc. That does a lot of harm to our well-being despite its "good intentions."