What is HGH?
At its most basic level, Human Growth Hormone (HGH) acts like a key that unlocks your body’s potential to function at its optimal level.
As the “master hormone” in the body, HGH fuels comprehensive growth and helps tissues and organs stay healthy and perform throughout our lives.
Why HGH is So Important to Aging Adults?
Human Growth Hormone therapy, or HGH therapy, is a hormone treatment that uses peptides to stimulate growth, cell reproduction and cell regeneration1.
Under normal conditions, HGH is created in the body’s pituitary gland and is responsible for adolescent growth and development. As we age and grow older, our bodies naturally produce less growth hormone, causing bodily functions to decline in effectiveness over time.
Optimized levels of human growth hormone change a person’s life for the better, which is why doctors prescribe HGH as an effective tool for regulating body composition, fat metabolism, muscle and bone growth, insulin resistance, and even improving heart function2.
What is an HGH Prescription?
HGH is commonly prescribed for children and adults who have been diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency and other conditions that cause short stature or “stunted growth.” HGH is also prescribed for adults who may be suffering from side effects related to low levels of HGH such as low energy, low sexual libido, weight gain, and mood swings.
HGH prescriptions are administered as injections at a doctor’s office, health care clinic, or in the privacy of your home. HGH products that are sold online and in vitamin stores in pill, powder, or liquid forms are not legitimate HGH products and do not contain real HGH. This hormone cannot be sold legally in the U.S. without a doctor’s prescription—meaning any HGH you see outside of a doctor’s office is most likely counterfeit or illegal. These products may also be dangerous and contain additives and harmful ingredients that put your health at risk.
HGH prescription medications are available under a variety of brand names that contain the active ingredient somatotropin, which is the scientific name for growth hormone. Some of the most common brand names for HGH prescriptions include:
- Genotropin
- Omnitrope
- Norditropin
- Humatrope
- Saizen
All of these formulas are injections, but they vary in dose, cost, and method of preparation and use. For instance, some HGH prescriptions involve the use of traditional medical syringes, while others come in disposable injection pens that already contain the proper dosage amount. Your doctor will determine the right HGH prescription for you based on your personal preference, lifestyle, and health needs.
For a free consultation, call (305) 682-1818
What are the Benefits of an HGH Prescription?
HGH injections are available at HealthGAINS as a hormone therapy for adults. An HGH prescription offers a range of benefits that help adults restore vitality and energy, as well as improve or reverse certain health conditions related to aging.
An HGH prescription can:
- Help you increase lean muscle mass while burning higher amounts of fat
- Increase your energy levels and vitality
- Help you sleep more deeply and restfully through the night
- Improve your cognition and combat age-related cognitive decline
- Increase your sexual libido and enhance sexual performance
If you are feeling sluggish, mentally cloudy, or are experiencing difficulty with losing excess weight, consult with one of our Wellness Advisors at HealthGAINS about how an HGH prescription can benefit you.
Who Needs an HGH Prescription?
An HGH prescription from HealthGAINS can benefit any adult over 40 who may feel tired, depressed, and unfit despite their efforts to exercise regularly, eat healthy foods, and get plenty of sleep. HGH therapy is shown to promote the building of lean muscle and improve fat metabolism so people can lose excess weight and become healthier and leaner.
Here are common signs of growth hormone deficiency that indicate you may need an HGH prescription:
- Muscle loss
- Fat gain
- Weakness and fatigue
- Poor quality sleep
- Mental cloudiness
- Cognitive problems
- Sexual health issues
- Poor skin health
If you have been gaining weight or experiencing problems with losing excess weight even though you’ve been practicing healthy lifestyle behaviors, you may need an HGH prescription. One of our doctors at HealthGAINS can perform an evaluation to determine if you could benefit from HGH therapy.
How Can You Get an HGH Prescription?
HGH is a prescription medication any other and require a physician’s prescription to obtain. The only way you can get a prescription for HGH is if you have a valid medical need for this growth hormone. Before your doctor can prescribe HGH, you typically musty undergo a wellness exam that should include bloodwork.
Before prescribing HGH, your doctor should review your medical history, perform a physical examination, and conduct one or more blood tests if needed. These steps are necessary to check your current HGH level and rule out other health conditions that may be causing symptoms of low HGH. Your doctor will evaluate the results of all your tests before writing you an HGH prescription.
Find Doctors Who Specialize in Hormones
All the hormones in your body interact with one another and work together to help you maintain high energy, high sexual libido, and to ward off serious chronic illnesses like diabetes and cancer. Doctors who specialize in hormone therapy can perform a full evaluation of all your hormone levels to determine whether you should combine HGH with other hormone therapies. For instance, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) can restore estrogen or testosterone levels using hormones that mimic your body’s natural hormones. Many patients who work with doctors who specialize in hormones can often benefit from receiving other hormone therapies in addition to HGH.
How to Increase Levels of HGH
Medically-supervised hormone therapy remains the most effective way to increase levels of bioavailable growth hormone3.
Some of the other evidence-based, but largely less effective ways to increase your naturally occurring levels of growth hormone include:
- Lose belly fat
- Practice intermittent fasting
- Exercise
- Reduce sugar in your diet
- Avoid large meals before bedtime
- Get more restorative sleep
- Consider adding supplements like creatine, glutamine or glycine to your regimen
How Much Does HGH Cost?
Several factors influence the cost of a complete HGH regimen, but patients can expect to pay between $1,000 to $5,000 a month for medically prescribed HGH.
It’s important to note that anyone interested in starting HGH will need to first complete a comprehensive evaluation where our team of medical experts will create a treatment plan that may include HGH as part of your journey. Not everyone qualifies for this therapy, and unsupervised use of HGH can be dangerous so working with an experienced group of medical professionals, like the experts you’ll find at HealthGAINS, is critically important.
Who Needs HGH Therapy?
HGH therapy has been shown to be very effective at treating adults with age-related hormone disorders, like hormone deficiencies. For these adults, HGH can:
- Increase exercise capacity
- Improve bone density
- Increase muscle mass
- Decrease body fat
Additionally, HGH has proven to be an effective treatment for conditions that affect the distribution and metabolism of visceral fat which can lead to a longer, happier life.
What Are the Risks of HGH Therapy?
Although rare, HGH treatment might cause a number of side effects for healthy adults, including:
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Increased insulin resistance
- Type 2 diabetes
- Swelling in the arms and legs (edema)
- Joint and muscle pain
- For men, enlargement of breast tissue (gynecomastia)
- Increased risk of certain cancers
Clinical studies of HGH treatment in healthy older adults have been relatively small and short in duration, so there’s little to no information about the long-term effects of HGH treatment4.
Is HGH Available in Pill Form?
Currently, HGH is only effective as an injection. There’s no available pill form of growth hormone that has the same benefits for the body as intravenous or injectable HGH does. Some oral supplements claim to boost levels of HGH, but research doesn’t show a significant benefit.
HGH is considered a controlled substance by the Food and Drug Administration and is approved in the United States only for treatment of growth hormone deficiency. Using HGH for unapproved conditions is illegal.
How Does HGH Affect Older Adults?
Studies of healthy adults taking human growth hormone are limited and contradictory5. Although it appears that human growth hormone can increase muscle mass and reduce the amount of body fat in healthy older adults, the increase in muscle doesn’t translate into increased strength. It isn’t clear if human growth hormone provides other benefits to healthy adults.
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Getting Started
Getting started with HGH is incredibly simple and it all starts with a call. From there, our expert wellness advisors can help answer any questions you may have about growth hormone and how it can positively affect the quality of your life.
Request a free consultation with a Wellness Advisor at HealthGAINS or call us at (305) 912-8828 to learn more about our many available hormone therapies.
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References:
1 Khatri, M. (2021, May 16). HGH (human growth hormone): Uses and side effects. WebMD. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/human-growth-hormone-hgh#1.
2 Devesa, J., Almengló, C., & Devesa, P. (2016, October 12). Multiple effects of growth hormone in the body: Is it really the hormone for growth? Clinical medicine insights. Endocrinology and diabetes. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5063841/.
3 Lu, M., Flanagan, J. U., Langley, R. J., Hay, M. P., & Perry, J. K. (2019, February 8). Targeting growth hormone function: Strategies and therapeutic applications. Nature News. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-019-0036-y.
4 Khatri, M. (2021, May 16). HGH (human growth hormone): Uses and side effects. WebMD. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/human-growth-hormone-hgh#1.
5 Growth hormone, athletic performance, and aging. Harvard Health. (2021, August 13). Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/growth-hormone-athletic-performance-and-aging.
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Dr. Alvaro J. Ocampo
Dr. Ocampo is an expert physician specializing in anti-aging, hormone therapy, pathology and environmental medicine. He received his medical degree from Columbia State Medical School in Montreal, Canada. Dr. Ocampo’s comprehensive medical experience includes working as medical officer for the U.S. Public Health Service and C.D.C, National Institute for Occupational Health, medical director for the U.S. Public Health Service, and as a Principal Investigator for American Pharmaceutical Companies.
