Prescribed HGH, What Changes Should I Make To Diet?

jacob

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GH deficiency was diagnosed via a glucagon stimulation test, where glucagon is injected and GH levels are measured every 30 min for 4 hours.

Do you mind sharing your test results? I did this same test last year and I was diagnosed as very deficient. My results were:

Baseline: 0.06
30 minutes: 2.14
60 minutes: 0.42
120 minutes: 0.18
Range: 0.00 - 3.00

My endocrinologist told me that anything less than 5.00 at the 30 minute mark is considered an HGH deficiency.

Just curious how your experience was compared to mine.
 
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Supplementing thyroid for what?
You said you have been feeling unwell. As @ilikecats has pointed out, rats who lack gh and are supplemented with thyroid live longer. If your thyroid was good, maybe you would be feeling better.
 
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take morning temps and HR through the day, starting just when you wake up

Temps should be close to 98F. and up to 98.6 - 99F. during the day. HR at rest should be 80-90 beats per minute

that will tell you where your thyroid is at

it's good to have low HGH in general.
 
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Smee

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take morning temps and HR through the day, starting just when you wake up

Temps should be close to 98F. and up to 98.6 - 99F. during the day. HR at rest should be 80-90 beats per minute

that will tell you where your thyroid is at

it's good to have low HGH in general.

Temps are always close to 98 upon waking and rises to 98.6 during daytime. Resting HR is usually 79 - 80 bpm. TSH is always less than 1 and my free t3 and t4 numbers have always been in the mid to high end of reference range. As far as I can tell my thyroid is just fine.

Having HGH be on the low side of the normal range probably is good, in general, but deficiency may be different issue.
 
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Smee

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Do you mind sharing your test results? I did this same test last year and I was diagnosed as very deficient. My results were:

Baseline: 0.06
30 minutes: 2.14
60 minutes: 0.42
120 minutes: 0.18
Range: 0.00 - 3.00

My endocrinologist told me that anything less than 5.00 at the 30 minute mark is considered an HGH deficiency.

Just curious how your experience was compared to mine.

Hi looks like you may have done the insulin stim test? Usually the glucagon stim test is 4 hours, but I think the IST is 2 hours. Both tests rely on falling glucose levels to stimulate GH release, but the insulin stim test is much faster since blood sugar drop is immediate essentially. GST, on the other hand, you have to wait for the spike then subsequent fall in blood sugar, so the peak is at 2.5 hour mark instead of .5 hour mark. IST also has different reference ranges, I believe, as glucagon has weaker ability to stimulate GH release than insulin.

My values were:

0 min: <0.05
30 min: <0.05
60 min: <0.05
90 min: <0.05
120 min: <0.05
150 min: 0.14
180 min: 1.63
210 min: 2.02
240 min: 0.62
 

Beefcake

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The tumor is definitely messing with my hormones, GH in particular, which is produced in the pituitary. And the doctor has recognized this. However, he thinks the low testosterone is due to primary, rather than secondary, hypogonadism due to the fact that my LH and FSH (which from my understanding signal testes to produce T) levels were in healthy range, despite T being low. Whereas someone with secondary hypogonadism has pituitary disorder at the root of low T. So yes one can have high LH and low T, as you have said you experienced, but this would be secondary hypogonadism, I believe. I'm not sure about having low LH and high T, I didn't realize that was possible, but I am still just trying to figure all this ***t out.

How did they diagnose the pituitary tumor? You had an MMRi scan i guess? If you have a tumor I would follow the doctors advice to shrink it. Is that why you are getting the growth hormones? Or is he just trying to compensate? Sorry for all the questions but need to know all details. Would be good if you wrote out your story from start to now. And go in detail what the doctors said, how they diagnosed you etc and what treatment they have choosen and why. What type of tumor is it? Beningn adenoma? Usually pituitary tumors also increase a hormone. An example is a prolactinoma which increases prolactin. This would then lower T levels and other hormones. You can shrink prolactinomas using dopamine agonists and thats usually how you treat it. People had Low T from that and gotten it all back by treatment. Since your probably not a prolactinoma I would still guess your best option is to get rid of the tumor. If the doctors believe the medication can shrink the tunor then do that. If you cant get rid of it I would consider surgery. You need to fix this even if you have to take hormones. Its more dangerous not to take them. I can’t believe people telling you not to use it. Low GH is linked to higher mortality.
 
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Temps are always close to 98 upon waking and rises to 98.6 during daytime. Resting HR is usually 79 - 80 bpm. TSH is always less than 1 and my free t3 and t4 numbers have always been in the mid to high end of reference range. As far as I can tell my thyroid is just fine.

Having HGH be on the low side of the normal range probably is good, in general, but deficiency may be different issue.

so I wouldn't worry about thyroid, seems like it's fine.
 

RisingSun

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I recently learned that I have a tumor on my pituitary that has caused me to become deficient in Growth Hormone. My endocrinologist has prescribed Genotropin (one form of somatropin that is made by Pfizer), which I have not started taking yet (insurance does not want to pay and drug is quite expensive apparently).

I have read about many of the problems with growth hormone and its effects on lipolysis, decreased insulin sensitivity etc., and I am wondering if maybe I should make some adjustments to my diet if/when I start taking the somatropin injections. Any recommendations or changes I should consider for diet or any supplement recommendations would be very helpful and appreciated. I have read a few people recommending limiting carbohydrate intake while on GH, but this seemed to be directed not at people with genuine GH deficiency, but rather bodybuilders or older men using GH for anti aging purposes.

I am 35 yo, 6 - 0", 225 lbs. I'm pretty active, work on my feet most of the day, and lift weights/exercise 4 - 5x/wk. I am currently on testosterone replacement at 125 mg/wk, which I have been on for about two years after being diagnosed with primary hypogonadism (pituitary is putting out signal, but testes not responding - endo suspects damage to testicles from rough sex or perhaps rough day on the playground as a young boy - no bs). Only supplement I am taking is Thorne vit D + k2 combo.

I don't track my dietary intake on Cronometer daily anymore but when I do, I typically fall around 4500 calories.

Here's what I ate yesterday. Not a perfect representation of typical day but close. I always salt my food to taste and try to eat shellfish and liver at least once every week or two. Other than that my diet doesn't change a whole lot.

1/2 gallon whole milk
3 cups OJ
2 tbsp collagen
2 tbsp sugar
2 - 3 eggs
3 cups cooked white rice
12 - 16 oz beef
6 - 8 oz cooked greens (spinach or kale or whatever is on hand)
1 raw carrot
1 can oysters
4 oz mushrooms
4 dates
2 oz raw cheddar
2 tbsp butter
1 lg potato
6 oz chicken
1 banana
1 cup haagen dazs


What is your IGF-1 level?
 
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Smee

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How did they diagnose the pituitary tumor? You had an MMRi scan i guess? If you have a tumor I would follow the doctors advice to shrink it. Is that why you are getting the growth hormones? Or is he just trying to compensate? Sorry for all the questions but need to know all details. Would be good if you wrote out your story from start to now. And go in detail what the doctors said, how they diagnosed you etc and what treatment they have choosen and why. What type of tumor is it? Beningn adenoma? Usually pituitary tumors also increase a hormone. An example is a prolactinoma which increases prolactin. This would then lower T levels and other hormones. You can shrink prolactinomas using dopamine agonists and thats usually how you treat it. People had Low T from that and gotten it all back by treatment. Since your probably not a prolactinoma I would still guess your best option is to get rid of the tumor. If the doctors believe the medication can shrink the tunor then do that. If you cant get rid of it I would consider surgery. You need to fix this even if you have to take hormones. Its more dangerous not to take them. I can’t believe people telling you not to use it. Low GH is linked to higher mortality.

Yes pituitary MRI with contrast is how the tumor was diagnosed. My endocrinologist says that the tumor is impacting the ability of pituitary to make GH.

I'm happy to answer whatever questions and tomorrow will post more about what led me to this point, including labs and what doctors have said, etc. Doctor says it is likely benign adenoma, stressing that likelihood of malignant tumor on pituitary is very rare. From what I understand, pituitary tumors can be divided into two groups, functional and non-functional. Functional pituitary tumors actually take on or replicate some function of the pituitary, as is the case with prolactinoma you mentioned or GH secreting adenoma. Non-functional do not, but they can impact the structure and/or function of the pituitary itself directly.

Aside from GH, all other pituitary hormone levels appear to be normal from recent blood work. Low cortisol was suspected but I passed both serum and 24 hour salivary cortisol test. (GH was not suspected but dr tested IGF-1 after finding tumor, and that was low, leading to glucagon stim test. The doctor said that he is not able to remove the tumor due to its location, unfortunately. He did not mention anything about being able to shrink it somehow. I'm hoping to get another opinion on this sometime soon.
 

Beefcake

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119 ng/mL (ref range 132 - 333)

Whats your testosterone level if you said all your labs where normal doctor also thought your T was normal? I’ve also read somewhere that IGF-1 increases testosterone and vice versa. Thanks by the way for the details. Since your tumor is not a secreting type of tumor I don’t think you can shrink it like that. So the doctor thinks you should live rest of your life with this tumor messing up your hormones? The basically want you to take the growth hormone forever and they hope that will make you feel better? Have they mentioned anything about your testosterone levels or testosterone replacement? They say all your symptoms are down to GH levels? I would consider switching doctor first to see if there’s really not any other way to get rid of the tumor. There must be forums with other people with similair adenomas. What do they say about GH medication? They feel better?
 

RisingSun

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Whats your testosterone level if you said all your labs where normal doctor also thought your T was normal? I’ve also read somewhere that IGF-1 increases testosterone and vice versa. Thanks by the way for the details. Since your tumor is not a secreting type of tumor I don’t think you can shrink it like that. So the doctor thinks you should live rest of your life with this tumor messing up your hormones? The basically want you to take the growth hormone forever and they hope that will make you feel better? Have they mentioned anything about your testosterone levels or testosterone replacement? They say all your symptoms are down to GH levels? I would consider switching doctor first to see if there’s really not any other way to get rid of the tumor. There must be forums with other people with similair adenomas. What do they say about GH medication? They feel better?

Testosterone may increase IGF-1, but not the other way around.

IGF-1 will increase DHT’s receptor sensitivity
 

Beefcake

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Testosterone may increase IGF-1, but not the other way around.

IGF-1 will increase DHT’s receptor sensitivity

Ok maybe thats what I’ve read. But anyhow. DHT in turn indirectly could boost T? It would lower estrogen and cortisol. Anyhow I would say OPs problem is the fact that his adenoma is basically making his pituitary inactive and unless he removes it only way to get adequate level of hormones would be from medication. And if the doctor says it’s no possible to remove it by surgery thats a big bummer. I would still try get a 2nd opinion and see if it’s possible to get it surgically removed. As long as that tissue presses on the pituitary there will be problems.
 
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Smee

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Whats your testosterone level if you said all your labs where normal doctor also thought your T was normal? I’ve also read somewhere that IGF-1 increases testosterone and vice versa. Thanks by the way for the details. Since your tumor is not a secreting type of tumor I don’t think you can shrink it like that. So the doctor thinks you should live rest of your life with this tumor messing up your hormones? The basically want you to take the growth hormone forever and they hope that will make you feel better? Have they mentioned anything about your testosterone levels or testosterone replacement? They say all your symptoms are down to GH levels? I would consider switching doctor first to see if there’s really not any other way to get rid of the tumor. There must be forums with other people with similair adenomas. What do they say about GH medication? They feel better?

I didn't think it mattered whether tumor was functional or not in regards to removal. My endo said he could not operate on it due to its size, 2 mm.

I am on TRT now, 125 mg / wk. Have been for nearly two years now.

Endo thinks symptoms may be rooted in GH deficiency.

I got a second opinion just yesterday and the doctor thinks that I should forego the GH for now and use sermorelin, then re-check igf1 levels in 3 mo. If levels don't come up then go on HGH. This doctor also thinks that some of my symptoms could be chalked up to low GH but also thinks that my cortisol is low (based on 24 hr salivary cortisol test) and that some of my problems are related to adrenal insufficiency.

I have read several studies looking at QOL issues for people with GH deficiency due to adenoma and yes people say many of their symptoms resolve when they take it.
 

Beefcake

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I didn't think it mattered whether tumor was functional or not in regards to removal. My endo said he could not operate on it due to its size, 2 mm.

I am on TRT now, 125 mg / wk. Have been for nearly two years now.

Endo thinks symptoms may be rooted in GH deficiency.

I got a second opinion just yesterday and the doctor thinks that I should forego the GH for now and use sermorelin, then re-check igf1 levels in 3 mo. If levels don't come up then go on HGH. This doctor also thinks that some of my symptoms could be chalked up to low GH but also thinks that my cortisol is low (based on 24 hr salivary cortisol test) and that some of my problems are related to adrenal insufficiency.

I have read several studies looking at QOL issues for people with GH deficiency due to adenoma and yes people say many of their symptoms resolve when they take it.

Yes I think in your case if you ever wanna get rid of your symptoms you have to go on the prescribed drugs. I just said best scenario would be to remove it. If doctor says that doesnt work maybe check with someone else. If you come to the conclusion you cant get rid of it what optipns do you have. I promise nothing on this forum will fix that for you. You have a legit issue with your brain.
 

baccheion

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It should since it lowers cortisol and estrogen.
It also suppresses response to LH at the testes, effectively lowering testosterone synthesis. Better to lower both DHT and estrogen (equally, proportionally), such that more testosterone has to be produced to replenish each.
 

ShotTrue

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Funny, I have TSH of 9.8 and IGF-1 of 347. They think I could have functioning pituatry tumor I guess, not interested in checking right now
Sucks you cant operate on the tumor. I would get another opinion as that seems like the best solution, as synthetic gh doesn't share the same chemical isomers and is expensive.

I wouldn't recommending lowering DHT, one of the best neuropeptides out there.
 

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