by Dave Palumbo
Online Editor, Muscular Development; NPC Top Amateur Bodybuilder; Producer, Director, and Star of Reconstruction of a Bodybuilder

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Nothing in this article is intended to take the place of advice from a licensed health professional. Consult a physician before taking any medication.

Subject: Growth Hormone and Insulin Resistance

Harvey

ANSWER: When one self-administers GH (especially more than once daily) a situation known as insulin resistance can occur. When this phenomenon occurs, the current insulin release in the body becomes insufficient to absorb all the ingested nutrients (thus explaining your observed "flat" feeling and inability to gain "weight"). My suggestion is to try adding Humulin-R (this is a relatively quick acting insulin with a life of about 4-6 hours in the bloodstream) at 10 IUs in the morning and 8 IUs eight hours later. Also, make sure to ingest at least 100 grams of carbohydrates with breakfast and 80 grams of carbs with your second insulin injection (i.e. 10grams of carbohydrates for each IU of Humulin-R). This should resolve your insulin resistance and thus enable you to start gaining weight.

I recently heard about a form of insulin called HUMALOG. What is this and should I try using it with my growth hormone cycle? Jack

ANSWER: Humalog is a relatively new synthetic form of insulin. It is an extremely quick acting insulin-- only surviving for a few short hours in circulation. It, unlike other forms of insulin, requires a doctor's prescription thus making it more difficult to procure. From what I discovered after talking to several diabetic individuals and one endocrinologist, Humalog is so quick acting (and short lived) that it requires you administer it many times a day. Since, as a bodybuilder, you are only looking to supplement your current insulin output (not replace it as a type I diabetic would), it would make more sense to stick to the non-prescription Humulin-R type that would only require a twice daily administration schedule.

How much exogenous testosterone do I (at 220 lbs., 5' 10'') require per week to maximize my gains and obviously minimize my side effects. Mike

ANSWER: Mike, I get asked this question time and time again and its a hard one to answer but I will give you my best guess based on years of empirical data observing and noting how other bodybuilders respond to varying dosages of testosterone (T). It is my experience that 1000 mg (1 gram) of testosterone (T) per week (taken in divided doses every other day) provides an adequate stimulus for muscle growth. Since testosterone is a man's primary muscle-building hormone, it makes sense to utilize it to maximize muscle gains. When one begins administering T at 250-500mg per week, endogenous T production begins to shut down and there is very little noticeable muscle mass gains (most weight gain is water at this point). However, as T dosages reach 1000mg per week, muscle gains are maximized. As one increases the dose over 1000mg T per week, more aromatization (conversion to estrogen) occurs and quantitatively less T is available for muscle building. Likewise, if one adds an anti-aromatase such as Arimidex to the mix, less estrogen is produced but more dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is produced. DHT production (which can result in acne, hair loss, and prostate enlargement) has very little direct anabolic properties, therefore, we are back to the same empirical conclusion-- 1000mg T per week maximizes muscle gains while minimizing estrogen and DHT production-- the two hormones responsible for testosterone-induced side effects.

What supplements or prescription drugs do you suggest I use to minimize estrogen-related side effects? Justin

ANSWER: The best solution to your problem (assuming the estrogen is coming from the aromatization of testosterone) is to inhibit estrogen from being produced in the first place. That being said, compounds like Nolvadex (tamoxifen) become obsolete for they only block the estrogen once it has been produced (and what you are left with is too little T and too much estrogen). If anti-aromatases such as chrysin, Arimidex, or Teslac are utilized, the enzyme necessary for conversion of T to estrogen is neutralized thus preserving T for muscle building and removing the possibility of estrogen-related side effects (i.e. there is no estrogen present).

How dangerous is 50 mg of Anadrol-50 (a.k.a. Synasteron, Hemogenin, Anapolon, oxymethelone)? Neal

ANSWER: Yes Neal, oral steroid are hepatotoxic; however, the context in which we are talking must be clarified. The term hepatotoxic refers to any substance that places an undue strain on the liver. Technically, eating too much food or even taking too many fat soluble vitamins can fall into this category. It is the ingestion of drug-like substances that force the liver to work above and beyond its normal workload that we are talking about. To answer your question, yes, taking 50 mg of Anadrol-50 per day is hepatotoxic but so is drinking one shot of vodka daily. Why is it that no one complains about the neighbor who has a nightly martini after work yet the drug enforcement squad is called if you're caught ingesting pills to grow large muscles? The answer is that our local Congressmen like to ingest alcohol (not Anadrol), therefore, they don't want to hear health lectures on the dangers of alcohol. Save it for the steroid abusers! Getting back to your question, 50 mg Anadrol per day will not destroy your liver (just like one martini per day won't); however, if continued indefinitely (unlike most bodybuilders and like most martini drinkers) there may be some serious consequences.

Theorem #1: One Anadrol-50 (oxymethelone) is hepatotoxically equal to one vodka martini.

I just got my hands on some (Long R3) IGF-1. What exactly does Long R3 mean and what dosages should I be taking? Also, Dave, can I freeze my IGF-1 to use at a later time? John

ANSWER: IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor-1) is liberated from the liver following the destruction of circulating growth hormone. The "long R3" part of the IGF-1 refers to the three long amino acid side chains that have been "added" to the recombinantly produced IGF-1 to inhibit it from attaching to the IGF-1 binding proteins (all "bound IGF-1" is inactive while "free IGF-1" remains available for stimulating muscle hyperplasia in skeletal muscle). Most humans that inject recombinant long R3 IGF-1 notice good result when dosages of at least 10mcg (micrograms) are taken per day. The longer one injects IGF-1, the higher the dosage (upward of 50mcg per day) that is required to see continual gains (probably due to some sort of receptor downregulation).

Yes John, IGF-1 and its analog (long R3 IGF-1) can be frozen; however, complex, polypeptide hormones such as growth hormone can under no conditions be frozen or their convoluted protein structures will be destroyed rendering the hormone useless when defrosted.