HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin)

HCG is a prescription medication containing chorionic gonadotropin obtained from a natural origin. Chorionic gonadotropin is a polypeptide hormone normally found in the female body during the early months og pregnancy. Chorionic gonadotropin is present in a significant amounts only during pregnancy and used as an indicator of pregnancy by standard over the counter pregnancy test kits. HCG was first discovered in 1920, and was identified as a pregnancy hormone approximately 8 years later. The first drug preparation containing chorionic gonadotropin came in the form of an animal pituitary extract, which was developed as a commercial product by the pharmaceutical company Organon. Organon introduced the extract in 1931, under the brand name of Pregnon. Atrademark dispute forced the company to change the name to Pregnyl, however, which reached market in 1932. Pregnyl is still sold by Organon to this day, although it no longer comes in the form of a pituitary extract. Manufacturing techniques were introduced in 1940 that allowed the hormone to be obtained by filtering and purifying the urine of pregnant women. Today the drug is widely available from different companies in countries all over the world.

For male steroid users, HCG can mimic the action of luteinizing hormone (LH) in the body. Luteinizing hormone is a pituitary hormone that is released and signals the manufacture of testosterone in the testicles. It is this ability that enables the compound to help restore the normal function of the testes to respond to endogenous luteinizing hormone. This ability can be dramatically reduced after a long period of inactivity, as is the case when administering anabolic steroids. Even when the release of endogenous LH has been resumed to it's normal levels, testosterone levels may not return to normal because of the extended time of inaction that the testes were exposed to. Individuals will also often use HCG to combat testicular atrophy, a result of the hypothalamus pituitary testes axis shut down. While this atrophy is more of a symptom of a side effect of anabolic steroid use rather than something that can be dangerous to a user, many individuals are concerned about testicular atrophy and turn to human chorionic gonadotropin to help and alleviate it. For this purpose, HCG is quite effective. As is fairly obvious by the preceding, human chorionic gonadotropin offers female athletes no performance enhancing qualities and is useless for this purpose. The primary risk associated with human chorionic gonadotropin is causing testicular desensitization and damage to the Leydig cells of the testes resulting in permanent impairment to natural testosterone production. It is the aromatase activity that occurs with HCG that some feel is actually toxic to the Leydig cells of the testes. If this sceanrio plays out an individual would be causing permanent damage to their natural testosterone production (hypogonadism). This is why relatively small doses of the compound should be administered at a time. If large doses are taken it is likely that some damage may occur.

First, more frequent dosing is nearly always better to use rather than increasing the dose size. Due to the fact that HCG aromatizes and it is believed that it may be the estrogen, along with other factors, that may cause testicular desensitization large doses would only cause more problems for a user. However, smaller more frequent doses should enable an individual to use a substantial dose of the drug spread out over several days while minimizing the risk of damage. Anecdotally users report administering the compound from twice per week to every other day, with some even choosing to inject everyday at very small doses. In terms of frequency of injections users often find that it is determined by the length of time that they are planning on running the compound which influences their decision about dosing length. For example, some individuals will begin administering HCG during the last few weeks of their cycle prior to beginning their post-cycle therapy (PCT).