Confusion over "International Units" with drugs like hCG

[KimboHalfSlice]

When it comes to steroids, we tend to only use simple units of mass and volume.

An example of measuring mass might be "Take 10mg of Aromasin per day".

An example of measuring volume might be "Take 1cc of Sustanon250 every 3 days".

Certain drugs however, are measured in International Units (abbreviated to IU). An example would be "Take 500 IU of hCG every 5 days".

I searched the web and got the following information about International Units:

In pharmacology, the International Unit is a unit of measurement for the amount of a substance, based on measured biological activity or effect.

The precise definition of one IU differs from substance to substance and is established by international agreement for each substance.

There is no equivalence among different substances; for instance, one IU of vitamin E does not contain the same number of milligrams as one IU of vitamin A.

A lot of people are confused about what an IU actually is. Some people wrongly think that 1 IU is exactly equal to 0.01cc. Not so. The reason they think this is that they've been playing around with insulin syringes for too long.

As you may know, insulin syringes are measured in IU's, and if you take a look at an insulin syringe you'll see that 100 IU is exactly equal to 1cc. However, 100 IU is exactly equal to 1cc only when you're dealing with insulin! Here's why:

Syringes for insulin users are designed for standard U-100 insulin. The dilution of U-100 insulin is such that 1cc of fluid contains 100 IU of insulin.

So here's the scoop, you're best off just forgetting that insulin syringes are marked in IU's. You're better off just thinking that every 10 units on an insulin syringe is equal to 0.1cc.

I went searching the web to see if I could find out what 1 IU of hCG is actually equal to in terms of mass or volume. . . but it turns out that it's not that simple. In much the same way that Testosterone is available as many different molecules such as Test Propionate, Test Cypionate, Test Enanthate. . . hCG is available in different forms too.

I went to the World Health Organisation website to find that they have 6 listings for hCG:

Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin for immunoassay of intact hCG,
Lyophilized, 1.88 nmol / ampoule.

Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin, for immunoassay of alpha subunit
hCG (hCG-alpha), Lyophilized, 0.84 nmol / ampoule.

Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin, for immunoassay of beta core
fragment hCG (hCG-beta-cf), Lyophilized, 1.02 nmol / ampoule.

Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin, for immunoassay of hCG beta
subunit (hCG-beta), Lyophilized, 0.88 nmol/ampoule.

Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin, for immunoassay of nicked hCG
(hCG-n), Lyophilized, 0.78 nmol/ampoule.

Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin, for immunoassay of nicked hCG
beta subunit (hCG-beta-n), Lyophilized, 0.33 nmol/ampoule.

When you go and buy hCG in a pharmacy, I don't know which one of the above you actually get!

But here's the thing: You don't need to know! You don't need to know because 1 IU of any of these substances will "have the same biological effect". International Units makes it easy to compare amounts of substances even if they have things like esters attached. For example, Vitamin E is available in many different forms:

Vitamin E exists in a number of different forms, all having different biological activities. Rather than specifying the precise type and mass of vitamin E in a preparation, for the purposes of pharmacology it is sufficient, simply, to specify the number of IUs of vitamin E.

So let's say you buy 5000 IU of hCG. This might come as a tiny powder in a vial without any fluid added. Now let's say that you plan on shooting 250 IU of this every 3 days. If you want each shot to be 0.5 cc, then here's how you figure out how much water to add to it:

1) Take 250 and divide it into 5000, giving 20. This means you've got 20-shots-worth of hCG.
2) You want each shot to be 0.5 cc, so multiply 0.5 by 20 to get 10cc.

So if you add 10cc of water to 5000 IU of hCG, then you'll end up with the following concentration:

500 IU of hCG per 1cc

If you want to be really accurate with your dosing, or if you want to inject slowly with ease, you may choose to use an insulin syringe instead of using one of those big 3cc or 5cc syringes. If you do choose to use an insulin syringe, you just have to know that the 50 mark on an insulin syringe is exactly equal to 0.5cc.

Remember to forget about the IU markings on a insulin syringe, they can only be used if you're shooting insulin. Instead just treat each 10 mark on an insulin syringe as 0.1cc.

[urbanbody]

Good Info. bump

[SniperDoc]

IU is nothing more than 1/10 of the substance

ie...500IU = 50mG, 1000IU = 100mG so onand on

Hope this helps

Respectfully
-SniperDoc
Medical Practioner

[Hazard]

It's just a unit of measure.....

How many iu's you are actually getting all depends on the concentration of the liquid.

a 5000iu amp of HCG mixed with 1ml of water = 500iu's of HCG per 10iu marking on the slin pin. You can alter that by adding or subtracting the ammount of water.

~Haz~

[Kibble]

It's just a unit of measure.....

How many iu's you are actually getting all depends on the concentration of the liquid.

a 5000iu amp of HCG mixed with 1ml of water = 500iu's of HCG per 10iu marking on the slin pin. You can alter that by adding or subtracting the ammount of water.

~Haz~

EXACTLY.

Let's take hCH. Mix 5,000IU into a 10ml Vial. That means that each ML/CC/100IU would be 500IUs of hCG.

Now mix 10,000IU into a 10ml Vial. That means that each ML/CC/100IU would equal 1,000IUs of hCG. It is all about the concentration. If you are talking about a pure substance such as water, then yeah, you can use the IUs for volume/concentration

[KimboHalfSlice]

IU is nothing more than 1/10 of the substance

ie...500IU = 50mG, 1000IU = 100mG so onand on

Are you joking? Take a look at the list I got off the web:

* Insulin: 1 IU is the biological equivalent of about 45.5 μg pure crystalline insulin (1/22 mg exactly)
* Vitamin A: 1 IU is the biological equivalent of 0.3 μg retinol, or of 0.6 μg beta-carotene
* Vitamin C: 1 IU is 50 μg L-ascorbic acid
* Vitamin D: 1 IU is the biological equivalent of 0.025 μg cholecalciferol/ergocalciferol
* Vitamin E: 1 IU is the biological equivalent of about 0.667 mg d-alpha-tocopherol (2/3 mg exactly), or of 1 mg of dl-alpha-tocopherol acetate

You can only tell me what 1 IU equates to in terms of mass if you know what substance you're dealing with.

a 5000iu amp of HCG mixed with 1ml of water = 500iu's of HCG per 10iu marking on the slin pin. You can alter that by adding or subtracting the ammount of water.

Your calculations are right, but I think you'll only confuse people by mentioning that insulin syringes are measured in IU's (because you can only rely on those markings if you're shooting insulin). I think it's far simpler and more concise to say:

500 IU of hCG per 0.1cc (and 0.1cc is equal to the 10 mark on an insulin syringe)

Let's take hCH. Mix 5,000IU into a 10ml Vial. That means that each ML/CC/100IU would be 500IUs of hCG.

You're saying here that 1 ml = 1 cc = 100 IU

Yes 1 ml is exactly equal to 1 cc. But you can't say that 100 IU is equal to 1 cc, reason being that that's only true if you're dealing with U-100 Insulin.

----

I remember a few friends of mine got their hands on Melanotan, and it came as a tiny powder in a small vial. They were told that the vial contained 10mg of Melanotan, and that they should add 2cc of bacteriostatic water to it. They were told to load it into an insulin syringe and shoot 10 IU of it at a time.

What they should have been told is to load it into an insulin syringe and shoot 0.1cc at a time because those IU markings on an insulin syringe only make sense if you're dealing with insulin.

It's actually quite fortunate that the guys who were shooting this Melanotan weren't very bright, because if they were a little more educated they would have went and found out how many milligrams of Melanotan is equal to 10 IU of Melanotan, and then they would have shot that amount of milligrams at once... which could have resulted in a massive overdose.