HCG (Gonadotropin)
Your PCT and PRE-PCT parachute. The only compound that can help you to hop off any long-term and high-dosage anabolic steroid cycle.
Things to Know About Human Chorionic Gonadotropin
- Class: Supportive
- Structure: Non-steroidal
- Aromatization: No
- How to take: Injectable
- Primary use: Post-Cycle Therapy, Pre-PCT
- Compounds in the family: 1 (HCG)
HCG is a big deal in the world of sports and bodybuilding. This wonder hormone, produced by the placenta in the early stages of pregnancy, has properties similar to the luteinizing hormone (LH) from the pituitary gland. It’s a crucial part of your PCT, especially when you run powerful gear or blast & cruise.
Why Care
When you’re on a cycle of anabolic-androgenic drugs, your hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis gets all messed up. Steroids increase your testosterone levels, which sounds great, but it tricks your hypothalamus into telling your pituitary gland to stop producing follicle-stimulating hormones.
This messes with the luteinizing hormones’ effect on germ cells, which are essential for producing testosterone. But here comes HCG: it corrects this situation by activating the production of natural male sex hormones.
hCG Action Points
It’s actually pretty simple and stright-forward:
- hCG artificially stimulates the production of sex hormones;
- Boosts spermatogenesis in men;
- And also aids in the development of secondary male sexual characteristics (if your testicles get tiny on some hardcore blast, hCG will get their size back).
hCG Side Effects
But, and it’s a big BUT, there are side effects, similar to those of Testosterone. We’re talking:
- Increased sex drive;
- Acne;
- Nipple swelling;
- Prostate enlargement.
So, it’s not all rainbows and butterflies. Dosages need to be spot on to avoid these adverse reactions.
Development & History: Know Your PEDs
HCG, or Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, was first discovered in the 1920s by researchers Selmar Aschheim and Bernhard Zondek.
They found this hormone in the urine of pregnant women (don’t even ask), and it was initially used to treat infertility in both men and women.
Fast forward to the 1950s, and a pharmaceutical company called Organon introduced synthetic hCG to the market as Pregnyl.
Athletes and bodybuilders of the 50’s soon realized that HCG could help them restore their natural testosterone levels after using anabolic steroids. And just like that, HCG became a big thing in the world of sports, even though that wasn’t its initial purpose.
Yes, it hasn;t been really popular until the 1990s, but keep in mind that bodybuilders back in the days didn;t have access to the amount of information that we now have. Even PCT was not a popular thing, and Nolvadex was a common on-cycle compound. Luckily, now we know that hCG can be a life-savior on PCT.