Glucose on GH peptides — what I learned the hard way

Linking this thread in the beginner FAQ. The glucose/GH tradeoff is underdiscussed relative to how common this protocol is.

Thank you for the concrete numbers. A 0.4 HbA1c bump in 8 weeks is not subtle. I've been saying in the bloodwork forum for a year: if you run GH peptides without checking fasting insulin and HOMA-IR you're flying blind.

Agree with all of this. The only thing I'd add: the effect is dose- and frequency-dependent. 100/200 every night is a heavy protocol. 50/100 3x/week is much gentler and gets most of the GH pulse benefit with less metabolic cost.

I've had patients on low-dose tirzepatide + GH peptides for body comp reasons. Anecdotally the glucose degradation is blunted. Also the weight loss from GLP-1 can be so aggressive that combining it with a muscle-preserving GH agent makes sense. I'd still monitor FBG and HbA1c quarterly.

Anyone running GH peptides alongside a GLP-1? I'd bet that combo is protective on the glucose side but nobody I know has characterized it.

Going to be the grim voice: there's a nontrivial number of people who end up in type 2 diagnosis territory after running GH peptides casually for 12+ months. I've seen at least three in my personal circle. This post is right to be loud about it.

Running MK-677 (oral GHRP mimetic) is even worse on this axis because it's 24/7 elevation. People think because it's oral it's lighter and the opposite is true metabolically.

My protocol now: CJC only (no Ipa), morning, 100mcg MWF. GH pulse is smaller but glucose stays put. Split the difference.

Great point on the lipids. My ApoB was up ~8% at week 8 and I attributed it to other variables. In retrospect almost certainly partial peptide contribution.

One thing I don't see discussed: GH peptides can also nudge ApoB and lipids in some people. Glucose is the loud signal, lipids are the quiet one. Check both.

Running CJC-only MWF for a year, FBG stable, HbA1c stable. This is the protocol to use if you want GH benefits without the metabolic cost. I wouldn't run the heavy combo ever again.

Worth noting that the GH/insulin-resistance relationship is one of the better-established findings in endocrinology. This isn't controversial or peptide-specific. Exogenous GH has done this in acromegalics since forever.

This thread is why I chickened out of starting CJC/Ipa last fall. Saved me from a mess I didn't fully understand.

In 2019 I ran CJC/Ipa for 14 months and ended up prediabetic. Took 8 months off and aggressive diet/exercise to get A1c back under 5.5. Don't repeat my mistake.

4-6 weeks at moderate doses is unlikely to cause lasting issues. The degradation is cumulative. But baseline + recheck is always worth the $30.

How much of this applies to short-term use purely for injury recovery? 4-6 weeks?

This is the kind of post that justifies this whole forum. Thanks OP.

Yeah but this is exactly the kind of thing where people need to separate the signal from the noise. OP ran a single protocol and saw a change, which is useful data, but we're missing the critical stuff: what was diet doing during those 10 weeks, training stimulus, sleep quality, stress levels. GH is counter-regulatory to insulin, sure, but so is chronic undereating or heavy training volume with poor recovery. Did OP actually control for those or just assume it was the peptides? Also curious if anyone's actually run a proper paired comparison where they tested fasting glucose off-cycle first, then on, then off again. That'd actually tell you the causative effect vs correlation.