HGH injection &/or supplements for support

Anybody tried HGH injection for several months to see if they liked the antiaging benefits? Supposed to be very good for skin and cognitive function once you reach a certain age. I currently take GABA which is supposed to help with natural HGH levels somewhat, but certainly nothing like injecting would. I hear many feel very tired initially during HGH therapy.

Curious about it though.

Also, does anyone inject vitamin C regularly and with any discernable results? Apparently it's really the only way to get appreciable plasma concentrations of Vit c in the body, oral only works so much.

I have taken HGH injections for several years. It was like I finished growing up. I grew about 1/2 inch and had an increased in my muscle mass by 20% and lowered my body fat by 5%. I also take 4AD and other things like nootropics and antioxidants like RALA and E and C.

EPA's are very important as well. Omega 3-6 and such.

I never considered injecting C.

RALA recycles C and E.

HGH Never made me feel tired. I would not say it had antiaging effects but it certainly changed my body composition for the better. The slight growth increase was not expected. People who have known me since I was in my 20's wondered why I reached greater stature in my 40's. It was hard to explain. Perhaps my growth was not completed and was in fact stopped by poor diet or stress too early on.

The growth increast took place in the first 6 months, the change in body fat and muscle mass took place in the next 18 months. I now only take it once a week or so and not every day like the first 2 years.

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I'd avoid HGH supplements like the plauge if I was concerned about my health or longevity. I love it when dudes tell me that they don't work out, but think it's cool to inject hormones and steroids instead (not that it's safe to inject hormones or steroids and work out)...yeah...real smart, dude...all the evidence suggests messing with your hormones will only mess with your hormones more...and might shorten your life, make dudes look like ladies (gynecomastia) http://en.wikipedia....Gynecomastia..., and a lot more fun stuff too. The worst is when you have such high levels of HGH that you get acromegaly! That's a terribly obvious side effect that is almost as difficult to hide as a young woman becoming pregant (I just saw Quinceañera -- it's a great flick!) have fun!

http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Acromegaly

[quote name='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acromegaly']Symptoms
Features that result from high level of hGH or expanding tumor include:

Soft tissue swelling of the hands and feet
Brow and lower jaw protrusion
Enlarging hands
Enlarging feet
Arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome
Teeth spacing increase
Heart failure
Compression of the optic chiasm leading to loss of vision in the outer visual fields
Diabetes mellitus
Hypertension
Increased palmar sweating and sebum production over the face (seborrhea) are clinical indicators of active growth hormone (GH) producing pituitary tumours. These symptoms can also be used to monitor the activity of the tumour after surgery although biochemical monitoring is confirmatory.[/quote]

Here are some images of patients afflicated with Acromegaly (too gross to post..)

http://www.sd-neuros.....omegaly 1.jpg

http://www.sandostat..._2.0_image2.jpg

http://cal.man.ac.uk.../acromegaly.gif

More info:

http://www.acromegaly.org/

http://www.ncbi.nlm....l=pubmed_DocSum
[quote]Reprod Biol. 2003 Mar;3(1):7-28.
The role of insulin-like growth factor-I in neuroendocrine function and the consequent effects on sexual maturation: inferences from animal models.Chandrashekar V, Bartke A.
Department of Physiology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Carbondale, Illinois 62901-6512, USA. vchandrashekar@siumed.edu

It is known that growth hormone (GH) plays an important role in growth and development.Additionally, emerging evidence suggest that it also influences hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal function. We have found that GH from different species has different effects in mice. In rodents, human GH (hGH) binds to both GH and prolactin (PRL) receptors; it has both somatotrophic and lactotrophic effects. Since PRL has a profound effect on neuroendocrine function, the results obtained from hGH treatment or from transgenic animals expressing the hGH gene reflect PRL-like effects of this hormone. However, bovine GH (bGH) is purely somatogenic and therefore the effects of bGH represent the function of the natural GH produced in rodents. Furthermore, our studies in mice and rats have shown that not all effects of GH are stimulatory and the duration of exposure of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-gonadal system to GH might influence the secretions of gonadotropins and gonadal steroids. In humans, excess productions of GH in acromegaly and GH resistance in Laron syndrome adversely affect reproduction. Similarly, it has been demonstrated that in transgenic mice expressing various GH genes, in insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) gene-knockout mice, in GH receptor gene-disrupted (GHR-KO) mice, and in Ames dwarf mice the onset of puberty and/or fertility is altered. Therefore, excess or subnormal secretion of GH can affect reproduction. We have shown that the hypothalamic-pituitary functions are affected in transgenic mice expressing the GH genes, Ames dwarf mice and in GH receptor gene knockout mice. The majority of the GH effects are mediated via IGF-I and the aforementioned effects may be due to the GH-induced IGF-I secretion or due to the absence of this peptide production. It is important to realize that the syntheses and actions of IGF binding proteins are controlled by IGF-I. Furthermore, some IGF binding proteins can inhibit IGF-I action. Therefore, the concentrations of IGF binding proteins and the ratio of these binding proteins and IGF-I within the body might play a pivotal role in modulating IGF-I effects on the neuroendocrine-gonadal system.

PMID: 14666141 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE][/quote]

http://www.ncbi.nlm....l=pubmed_DocSum

Hmmm...ball shrinking? I'll pass:

[quote]Neth J Med. 1990 Apr;36(3-4):191-5
Hypogonadism in untreated male normoprolactinaemic acromegalics.de Lange WE, Verhoeff AJ, Sluiter WJ, Doorenbos H.
Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, Groningen.

Hypogonadism is a distinct feature of acromegaly, even in the absence of hyperprolactinaemia. In 10 untreated male acromegalics, aged 24 to 46 yr, without evidence of any other disturbance of anterior pituitary function, low testosterone values were found in the presence of a normal reaction of pituitary gonadotrophins following GnRH administration. In three patients, one injection of 5000 IU hCG resulted in a sharp rise in testosterone. Although we were unable to elicit a similar reaction pattern of the GnRH-gonadotrophins-testosterone axis following administration of biosynthetic methionyl-hGH, it is suggested that suppression of testicular function in untreated acromegaly without other endocrine disturbances may be partly caused by increased somatostatin production.

PMID: 1972548 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE][/quote]



1. Growth hormone as a risk for premature mortality in healthy subjects: data from the Paris prospective study

REf 1:

http://www.pubmedcen...ubmedid=9552951

The influence of growth hormone on mortality in adults is well known in conditions such as growth hormone deficiency and acromegaly.1 2 In both diseases the excess mortality is principally from cardiovascular disorders, but the occurrence of malignant disorders has also been reported in acromegaly.2 To our knowledge the long term effect of physiological growth hormone on mortality in healthy adults has not been reported.

2. A critical analysis of the role of growth hormone and IGF-1 in aging and lifespan.

Studies in Caenorhabditis elegans demonstrate that disruption of the daf-2 signaling pathways extends lifespan. Similarities among the daf-2 pathway, insulin-like signaling in flies and yeast, and the mammalian insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) signaling cascade raise the possibility that modifications to IGF-1 signaling could also extend lifespan in mammals. In fact, growth hormone (GH)/IGF-1-deficient dwarf mice do live significantly longer than their wild-type counterparts. However, multiple endocrine deficiencies and developmental anomalies inherent in these models confound this interpretation. Here, we critique the current mammalian models of GH/IGF-1 deficiency and discuss the actions of GH/IGF-1 on biological aging and lifespan.

Ref 2:

http://www.ncbi.nlm....8&dopt=Abstract

3. Risk of cancer in patients treated with human pituitary growth hormone in the UK, 1959-85: a cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Growth hormone raises serum concentrations of insulin-like growth factor IGF-I, which is mitogenic and antiapoptotic. There is evidence that raised endogenous levels of growth hormone and IGF-I might be associated with increased risk of certain solid cancers, but there have been no data on long-term risks of solid cancers after growth hormone treatment. METHODS: We did a cohort study to investigate cancer incidence and mortality in 1848 patients in the UK who were treated during childhood and early adulthood with human pituitary growth hormone during the period from 1959 to 1985. Patients were followed up for cancer incidence to December, 1995 and for mortality to December, 2000. Risk of cancer in the cohort was compared with that in the general population, controlling for age, sex, and calendar period. FINDINGS: Patients treated with human pituitary growth hormone had significantly raised risks of mortality from cancer overall (standardised mortality ratio 2.8, 95% CI 1.3-5.1; ten cases), colorectal cancer (10.8, 1.3-38.8; two cases), and Hodgkin's disease (11.4, 1.4-41.3; two cases). Incidence of colorectal cancer was also greatly raised (7.9, 1.0-28.7). After exclusion of patients whose original diagnosis rendered them at high risk of cancer, the significance and size of the risks of colorectal cancer incidence and mortality, and of Hodgkin's disease mortality were increased. INTERPRETATION: Although based on small numbers, the risk of colorectal cancer is of some concern and further investigation in other cohorts is needed. We have no evidence as to whether growth hormone in modern dosage regimens is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer.

Ref 3:

http://www.ncbi.nlm....9&dopt=Abstract

4. Growth hormone replacement in healthy older men improves body composition but not functional ability.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether growth hormone replacement in older men improves functional ability. DESIGN: Randomized, controlled, double-blind trial. SETTING: General community. PATIENTS: 52 healthy men older than 69 years of age with well-preserved functional ability but low baseline insulin-like growth factor 1 levels. INTERVENTION: Growth hormone (0.03 mg/kg of body weight) or placebo given three times a week for 6 months. MEASUREMENTS: Body composition, knee and hand grip muscle strength, systemic endurance, and cognitive function. RESULTS: The participants' mean age was 75.0 years (range, 70 to 85 years). At 6 months, lean mass had increased on average by 4.3% in the growth hormone group and had decreased by 0.1% in the placebo group, a difference of 4.4 percentage points (95% CI, 2.1 to 6.8 percentage points). Fat mass decreased by an average of 13.1% in the growth hormone group and by 0.3% in the placebo group, a difference of 12.8 percentage points (CI, 8.6 to 17.0 percentage points). No statistically or clinically significant differences were seen between the groups in knee or hand grip strength or in systemic endurance. The mean Trails B score in the growth hormone group improved by 8.5 seconds, whereas scores in the placebo group deteriorated by 5.0 seconds, a difference of 13.5 seconds (CI, 3.1 seconds to 23.9 seconds; P = 0.01). However, the growth hormone group's score on the Mini-Mental Status Examination deteriorated by 0.4, whereas the placebo group's score improved by 0.2, a difference of 0.6 (P = 0.11). The two treatment groups had almost identical scores on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (P > 0.2). Twenty-six men in the growth hormone group had 48 incidents of side effects, and 26 placebo recipients had 14 incidents of side effects (P = 0.002). Dose reduction was required in 26% of the growth hormone recipients and in none of the placebo recipients (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Physiologic doses of growth hormone given for 6 months to healthy older men with well-preserved functional abilities increased lean tissue mass and decreased fat mass. Although body composition improved with growth hormone use, functional ability did not improve. Side effects occurred frequently.

Ref 4:

http://www.ncbi.nlm....t_uids=96213851

Thoughts? Does anyone have any evidence to suggest injecting hormones is safe? All the data I've seen strongly suggests it's a really bad idea.

Edited by nootropikamil, 13 August 2006 - 05:26 AM.

The reason why someone would feel tired while on HgH would be the spike and sudden drop in their insulin levels.
Some BB's try to combat that feeling with other compounds but thats even more of a risk to mess with.
HgH in small doses may help with life extentions...........there was a TV special the other night where men were inj HgH along with a low test and DHEA dose.
They looked great I must say. The price for that is somewhat steep though.

Since growth plates are closed well before reaching the age of 40, it's not possible to grow past that age -- even with injections of GH. The claim that someone has done so is, shall we say, ridiculous. Also, it is illegal to distribute and use GH as an anti-aging intervention in the U.S.
SJO

Sjao, what about the increased bone growth in the vertebrae - if there was say, 1mm of growth in each of the vertebra it is conceivable that one could gain an additional 2-3 cm of height in their torso.

GH might slow the rate of loss of bone mass, which of course is not the same as increased bone growth in the vertebrae. Exercise has the same effect. My wife is in the process of increasing her bone density through the use of medication, but that just makes the bones more dense -- she won't grow taller as a result. My guess is that this person is selling or distributing GH and is trying to convince adults they can grow taller by using it.

I dunno, I've heard more than a few people on various forums also claim a slight height increase. I've never used HGH before and am young, I was more interested in the apparently dramatic improvement in skin tone and texture one gets with light GH injections.

One doctor who is a popular celebrity derm out of NY said the fastest and most profound skin improvement measure she has yet found is HGH injections to her clients, so that sparked my interest more than anything.

Thoughts? Does anyone have any evidence to suggest injecting hormones is safe? All the data I've seen strongly suggests it's a really bad idea.

Also to gross to think about..... How do you think HGH is "harvested"? I remember a scandal a few years ago involving (Irish?) hospitals that used passed away children, without informing relatives, for... (well, you may finish this yourself). Apparently it's scarcity on the black-market causes basic ethics to be bypassed big-time.

Yagh. [sick]

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They don't harvest it from cadavers anymore. That stopped in the mid 80's.