My IGF-1 fell from 140 to 100 in roughly a month after losing weight and sleeping poorly so other factors can play a role. If nothing else changed I would be disappointed. Have you looked at straight HGH instead.
Lol I mixed up two different people.
It is interesting that your insulin rose that much while on reta. I would have expected any rise from tesamorelin to be offset by the reta. ChatGPT mentioned that reta can raise insulin early on but later weight loss should bring insulin resistance down. Since you have only been on it a short time that fits. Without knowing the exact normal range for IGF-1 at age 70 I asked about that too and 215 lands around or just above normal depending on the assay. Most people using GH or secretagogues seem to target the upper end of normal for their age.
Sorry I mixed you up with someone else. Top of normal is listed around 250 at age 40 and 200 at age 70 so you are still in the high-normal ballpark for IGF-1.
My LabCorp reference tops out at 255. I am inside range but I do not know whether sitting high in the range is preferable to sitting lower.
Whether high in the range is better depends on how you define better. I generally prefer to be high in the range on most markers.
I suppose it is better because it shows the tesamorelin is actually doing something.
Raw IGF-1 numbers are not very useful on their own because they depend on the machine reference range and method used. Z-score is the only way to compare results sensibly across different labs.
Thanks this is excellent information.
Skip the MOTS-c and add the IPA with Tesa instead. The two together give more benefit than either alone. MOTS-c has far less supporting data. The combination of tesamorelin and ipamorelin uses two separate signaling routes to raise GH. Tesamorelin acts on GHRH receptors to produce a natural pulse while ipamorelin works through the ghrelin receptor. No direct human trials exist for this exact pair but the physiology is established.
Amazing work thank you for the education and study links. Great information.
It might be worth noting that tesamorelin does not require cycling. The original FDA studies had subjects using it daily for nearly a year. Ipamorelin on the other hand is usually cycled with 12 to 16 weeks being the common range.
Just finished my second run of tesamorelin. The first lasted 30 days last November after I miscalculated how much I needed. This run went 50 days at 2 mg each morning fasted and I kept the vial in a cool dark spot without refrigerating it. Latest bloodwork shows IGF-1 at 470 with a Z-score of plus 3.0 both way too high. Side effects like carpal tunnel and joint soreness have appeared in the last couple of weeks. Waist measurement dropped another two inches but I am stopping because the levels are higher than expected. I might try again later this year at 1 mg instead.
That schedule should be fine. I have not seen any real data supporting the need for a break. The HIV patients used it every day for months.
What is the right ratio when combining tesamorelin and ipamorelin. Is it 1 mg tesa to 0.25 mg ipa or something else.
That actually sounds like good news. You do not need 2 mg to get a solid IGF-1 increase so you can save money. Very few people outside the HIV group will need the full 2 mg dose. Use the Z-score to guide dosing rather than a fixed milligram amount.
This is the right approach. Check the Z-score and adjust the dose from there. I ran 1.5 to 2 mg and my Z-score also went too high so I dropped to 1 mg and will retest later this month.
No studies give a specific ratio or combined dose. Separate trials used up to 2 mg tesamorelin weekly in HIV patients and ipamorelin has almost no human data beyond a short seven-day study. IGF-1 and Z-score results are probably the best practical guide. I have used up to 2 mg tesa with 290 mcg ipa then lowered the amounts to hit target blood levels. GH will not do much without resistance training either.
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