Low GH. Amino Supplements to Boost GH? (+labs!)

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
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Hi. Main problem fatigue. After various blood tests my Doc says low FT and GH likely due to a head injury in past causing problems with pituitary production…

My Q is, are amino supplements going to do much to boost GH production - or not? I’d much rather just get by with supplements, training and diet - but if the supplements aren’t going to really help then better I get on with HGH injections… ( I was thinking to try just HGH injections and see how that works - maybe consider TRT later.)

After reading an article on ‘Enhancing Growth Hormone Naturally’ I’ve ordered supplements containing:

Arginine (L-arginine hcl) 400 mg
Ornithine (L-ornithine hcl) 300 mg
L-Lysine (L-lysine hydrochloride) 100 mg
Glutamine (L-glutamine hcl) 300 mg
Colostrum (bovine) 200 mg
Ornithine Alphaketoglutarate 100 mg
Glycine (L-glycine hcl) 100 mg

Thanks.

2

@crst

I have very bad fatique currently and is getting worst the healthier I got. I found amino suppliments definitely work for fatique 100% and swore by them to give me the energy I needed to be excited in order to get to the gym. I felt It taken longer for me to start to feel drained when on a cardio machine than without. more noticeably after 3/4 days of taking them.

Here are a list of ingrediants that was used in the one I had just for comparison.

Amounts Per Serving
Vitamin D: 2.5 µg
Vitamin B6: 0.50 mg
Amino Acids: 10 g
BCAAs: 4 g
L-Leucine: 2 g
L-Isoleucine: 1 g
L-Valine: 1 g
L-Alanine: 3.5 g
Taurine: 2.5 g
L-Arginine: 45 mg

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Thanks for that - gives me some hope supplements will help!

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Some of those amino acids might give you the shits.

When you eat food, glucose is absorbed first and serum glucose increases, insulin is released giving cells permission to take up glucose. This system prevents a free-for-all that would take glucose too low leading to brain coma and death. Later, proteins are absorbed and serum amino acid levels increase and serum glucose is falling. This combination causes GH release to have cells absorb amino acids. When you take amino acids you are trying to trigger that ‘GH feeding response’. This works OK for some people and poorly for others. For this to work, you would want to have a hypothalamus-pituitary team that is not physically injured. Long story short … may not work for you. Similarity, GH releasing hormones may fail with injury and otherwise work poorly in some people.

If you inject GH, should always be subq, never IM.

You should not use HG lab results, use IGF-1 to eval GH status. GH is released in pulsed with very short half-life. A person with good GH status can have some low GH lab results. GH labs can be useful detecting very high GH levels or evaluation of a clinical response to an amino acid challenge. IGF-1 should be used for routine evaluation.

5

Thanks for reply…

Blood tests below - would appreciate if you could take a look. Apparently the best way to check pituitary is with an ITT. Where I am, local hospitals won’t do this and doc says has to be done in hospital. I do HIT for exercise 1-2 times a week (will do more), use iodized salt, eat 3 eggs a day and only eat diary (not much milk but cheese and yog) fish/seafood - not meat. (Temp this am 36.5c, last night 36.8c - with a baby skin thermometer ) More fat then used to have at waste but still pretty slim. No drinking/smoking. Sex drive not like it was but not bad - and no real ED problems. Muscle tone seems to have got worse. Fatigue / lack of drive is what I’m most unhappy about.

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TSH way too high, should be closer to 1.0
tT3 is way below mid-range
fT3 the active hormone has not been tested
Iodine levels should not be too low…
fT3 well above mid-range, TSH is trying hard, but T4–>T3 conversion seems impaired. Ferritin is not causing this.

Any problems with major stress events in your life? [That can increase rT3 that interferes with fT3, increasing TSH and lowering energy.]

FSH is low, average LH probably same. E2 and prolactin are not causing this.

IGF-1 is not great, decent, do not have age to eval. Do not test GH directly, IGF-1 is your GH status. GH released in pulses with short half-life and low results always expected. Was IGF-1 with or without amino acids? If without, there is not problem at all.

Please read the stickies found here: About the T Replacement Category - #2 by KSman

  • advice for new guys - need more info about you
  • things that damage your hormones
  • protocol for injections
  • finding a TRT doc

Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.

KSman is simply a regular member on this site. Nothing more other than highly active.

I can be a bit abrupt in my replies and recommendations. I have a lot of ground to cover as this forum has become much more active in the last two years. I can’t follow threads that go deep over time. You need to respond to all of my points and requests as soon as possible before you fall off of my radar. The worse problems are guys who ignore issues re thyroid, body temperatures, history of iodized salt. Please do not piss people off saying that lab results are normal, we need lab number and ranges.

The value that you get out of this process and forum depends on your effort and performance. The bulk of your learning is reading/studying the suggested stickies.

Please use an oral thermometer.

Cortisol seems OK, AM vs random unknown. Should be AM cortisol done at 8AM or 1 hour after waking.

Secondary hypogonadism. Read the things that damage your hormones sticky.

Unexplained high SHBG is creating a lot of non-bioavailable SHBG+T that inflates TT and TT overstates your T status while lowering FT. Docs will be misled by your TT numbers. AST/ALT do not suggest any liver problems that could increase SHBG. E2 increases SHBG but your E2 level is not high to suggest its involvement. More FT of bio-T will reduce SHBG.

Mean cell hemoglobin is high, but nothing else in CBC seems to have any consequence from that.

Lymphocytes seem to be indicating some viral activity which could be immune system business as usual.

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I’m 46. Haven’t taken any amino supplements yet. No major stress.

I read somewhere that creatine can increase SHBG. True? I just started to take some but will stop if true.

I can’t see anything obvious for what could be cause - apart from TBI. I do eat tinned fish fairly often (heavy metals?), I don’t drink/smoke and not on any medication. Diet healthy… Drinking water from a well - not tested (v. difficult here but unlikely as reverse osmosis filter.)

Might need an MRI…

I’ll get an oral thermometer and check temps - and up iodized salt intake.

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When you raise an issue like this, you need to post a link to the exact study.

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http://www.peaktestosterone.com/forum/index.php?topic=8784.0

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Hi. Please check the labs I’ve posted on this thread now - if you can spare the time. Thanks.

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Done

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Thanks. I answered some of your Qs and provided more info - and I added a link re. creatine increasing shbg.