Q: I am pretty new at this cycle stuff, and know that I should take something to bring my own Testosterone back into play once my cycle is done. I was going to use HCG, but someone told me that I need to be concerned with HPTA levels and started getting all scientific with me. What is that and why should I care about it?
A: When you take AAS, the body’s natural testosterone feedback loop shuts down production. The body has to see the deficiency or surplus for a period of time before stopping or secreting hormones, and an eight week cycle does that trick. While on an AAS cycle, it’s fine, but when off, it spells trouble, because we haven’t kick started our own production. HPTA stands for hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular (or sometimes gonadal) axis. It represents the combined function of the hypothalamus, pitultary gland, and testes. The hypothalamus produces GnRH (Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone), this hormone tells the pituitary gland to release LH (Luteinizing Hormone). LH travels from the pituitary through the bloodstream to the testes where it triggers the production and release of testosterone. That’s simply put. But when no LH is secreted, it means the testes shut down testosterone production, which you then see as temporarily shrinking balls. HCG mimics LH. So, what you want to do to stimulate the rest of the HPTa system is, once our test levels starts to approach our normal level (generally about 3 weeks depending on the esters) we can start with HCG injections, in something like the following:
- Day 1 3000IU
- Day 4 1500IU
- Day 7 750 IU
- Day 10 500IU
Doing this, will alleviate a lot of negative symptoms of going off a cycle and can help you transition back to your own testosterone secretion. Symptoms such as depression, mood swings, body and muscle aches, and other physical and psychological problems that occur, post-cycle, can wreak havoc with motivation and the retention of hard-earned muscle from cycles. Using HCG properly can significantly reduce these feelings. Clomid works better for some.
