Hcg Faq

Shamelessly lifted from another fine board, this should answer some basic questions about HCG and it's use in BB. This post is much more technical and concerns the substance itself all about hCG


1)What is HCG?
Hcg stands for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin.

2)Where does hcg come from?
It is extracted from the urine of pregnant women.

3)Is hcg a scheduled medication?
No, its similar to clomid and liquidex as far as US laws go. However you would need a prescription to purchase legally in the US.

4)What is hcg normally used for?
It is used to help females get pregnant, and can be used to stimulate testosterone production in males.

5)How does hcg work?
Hcg mimics LH(leutenizing hormone). The presence of LH causes the Leydig cells in the gonads to produce testosterone. This effect also restores the size of the testes rather quickly if they were suppressed from a cycle.

6)What should hcg be used for?
Hcg is commonly used by bodybuilders on either very heavy or very long cycles, when the hpta gets severely suppressed. Although hcg can be used in almost any cycle, the benefits are most pronounced on heavy/long ones.

7)How do you take it?
You can take it IM or Sub-q.

8)Can I use hcg only for Pct?
No you shouldn't. It is better than nothing, but clomid or nolva are far better plans. Since hcg mimics lh, your body wont begin producing its own lh, as it sees no need to because test levels are high. You stop the hcg, your balls stop making test until your body begins producing adequate levels of its own lh, and that may take a while if you don't use clomid or nolvadex to stimulate lh production. The use of Clomid or Nolvadex should also be continued at least 2 weeks after hcg is discontinued to avoid the hcg causing problems.

9)Can I use hcg during cycle and when?
Yes you can, imo to best benefit from Hcg is to run it by the last 3-4 weeks of your steroid cycle. Do not run hcg if your getting signs of gyno, hcg will make it worst, so becarful.

10)How much Hcg is needed during cycle and/or pct?
For pct a minimum of 10,000iu's hcg is needed. When you have a proper pct planned with a serm and an AI, and you want to run hcg during the last 4 weeks of your cycle, then you might only need 5,000iu's.
An anti-estrogen (Nolva, etc.) is to be used with hcg during your last 4 weeks of cycle.

11)What dose do you run hcg at?
Hcg is best dosed at 500iu and/or 1000iu, more than that can cause too much aromatization, and some people wont react to less than 500iu. So during the last 4 weeks of a cycle, you shoot 500iu of hcg twice a week or 1000iu once a week. For pct, 500iu ed or 1000iu eod.

12)Can hcg be used w/out steroids to boost test production above baseline?
Yes. It is not recommended however. Continued use of hcg will desensitize the leydig cells to lh, meaning once you stop using the hcg as an artificial lh, you will crash bad. The natural lh production once restored by using nolvadex or clomid, may not be as effective as it once was. To boost natural test above baseline, anastrozole, nolvadex and clomid are better choices.


13)How long does hcg boost testosterone for?
Hcg can boost testosterone for up to 5 days following the last dose, although the drugs halflife is very short, and its no longer active at that point.

14)Can hcg cause gyno?
Yes. Estrogen is elevated by two ways from hcg use. Primarily from the sharp rise in testosterone, which allows more testosterone to aromatize to estrogen. Secondly hcg can cause a small amount of estrogen to be produced which is not from the result of aromatizing, and this is the reason that a combination of an anti aromatize such as liquidex/arimidex/letrozole and a estrogen receptor blocker such as nolvadex are ideally used. The nolvadex may also offer some additional benefit to help avoid a negative estrogen feedback to the hpta during hcg therapy, which would otherwise slightly lessen the effectiveness of the therapy.

15)How does hcg come packaged?
You get 2 vials or amps, 1 has the powdered hcg in it, and the other has a diluent in it(solvent). The diluent is typically bacteriostatic water, or sterile water w/ .09% sodium chloride. ***ending on the brand and version, the package commonly comes w/ enough diluent to make concentrations ranging from 250-10,000iu per ml.

If your package is 5000iu, and you add 1ml diluent, you have 5000iu per ml.
If you add 5ml diluent, you final mix is then 1000iu per ml.
If you add 10ml diluent, then 500iu per ml and so on.

This is simple math, and you don't wanna screw it up, know what dose you are taking!

If your package doesn't include enough diluent to make the concentration you want, you have 2 options to make it easy to accurately measure your doses.

1-buy some insulin syringes, U-100 type. On the graduated markings, the 100iu mark is equal to 1ml, the 50iu is .5ml etc. THIS DOES NOT MEAN IF YOU FILL IT TO THE 100IU MARK THAT YOU ARE TAKING 100IU OF HCG! Iu's are not a measurement of volume or weight, they are a measure of effectiveness for a desired response from specific drugs/compounds. Every compound is different. These are insulin syringes, and they are made for insulin-not hcg. Insulin is the same iu concentration per ml everytime(if its u100 type), hcg is not. Imagine if you made your hcg 10,000iu per ml. if you fill the insulin syringe up to 100iu mark, you now have 10,000iu in there! Not good. You must understand this.
So if you had 5000iu per ml, and wanted to take a 500iu shot, you would inject 10iu on the insulin syringe scale.

2-buy some bacteriostatic water off the internet, its easily found. Simply add more to dilute it to the desired conscentration. Making lower concentrations are easier and more accurately dosed. Then it can accurately be measured w/ a regular syringe.

Mix the two together, they dissolve very easily. Keep things sterile folks. Unused hcg can be refrigerated and is ok to use for about a month after the initial mixing.