posted Mon, 09/22/2025 - 16:23
364
Metformin with GH
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Hey all,
I was looking to finally run GH in the offseason for improved body comp. I've ran 2-3iu in the past just for improved sleep and never had any blood glucose / insulin sensitivity issues, but wanted to step it up to 4-6iu. Seen a few people talk about GH + metformin, but was curious what everyone's experience was with the combo. Slightly concerned since I'm aware metformin has some blunting of mtor, albeit probably negligible when run alongside AAS.
Doing daily fasted cardio, on top of my labs, and currently taking berberine (200mg dihydroberberine with dinner). Is metformin, or at least some form of pharmacological insulin sensitivity management, typically needed at 4-6iu daily?
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IceDo2gI ran up to 10iu a day and fasted blood glucose got out of hand pretty quickly, tried metformin and it made me feel so nauseous, I couldn't eat or drink anything but water. If you are going up to 4-6iu a day i would look into basal insulin, there are plenty of misconceptions regarding the dangers of it but with long acting insulin you can feel your body start needing carbs before you go hypo, you would have to be a true idiot not to eat during the active window. also if you are in the states you can get cheap metformin prescribed online if you are going to do it, but i dont recommend unless you are cutting.
And for muscle growth I know a lot of people are saying to take your whole dose at night. Do not do that if you’re taking more than 4iu. If you’re taking more than 4IU split it up a.m. and p.m. and if you’re taking more than 10iu split it up a.m. pre-workout and then p.m.
You don’t need metformin and reta is way better than met if you needed. Even if your blood sugar gets a little elevated while you’re on GH it’s not gonna kill you. It’s not a big deal. When I’m in peak off-season, my blood glucose is in the mid 90s fasted in the morning and then when I tap her down, it goes back to normal.
I'm on 6 iu, split AM and PM, currently for about 3 months. I've not noticed any blood glucose changes yet and I've been eating like shit the past two months. Soda, candy, etc. I am taking Berberine just to be on the safe side.
If you take your entire dose at night you shouldn’t have any issues with insulin sensitivity and shouldn’t need metaformin or anything like that. Aside from better glucose control this also seems to be the best strategy with GH when the goal is muscle growth. Also, it lasts a long time in your body so if you take it right before bed it’s still in effect 8ish hours later when doing your fasted cardio. Way more so than if you took some first thing in the morning and did cardio after. It takes 3hrs for GH levels to peak after IM injection (not IGF-1, serum GH levels), and even longer with subq.To have any effect on fat burning with a morning dose you’d need to wait close to 2hrs before doing fasted cardio, and 3-4hrs before eating to avoid issues with insulin resistance. I know I can’t wait that long to do cardio and especially to eat. I’m starving when I wake up.
The insulin sensitivity issues I think were more of a problem when common GH protocols involved multiple small day time doses. There was just no way to avoid eating carbs when the GH was active. I had issues with it years ago when I was taking it 3x a day in smaller doses. I just switched to taking it all at night after realizing that morning dose before cardio was doing nothing good for me.
People take GH IM?
Yup
Thank you, your input is super valuable. I was planning on running it all before bed anyways, but I didn't know that it takes that long to take effect if used before fasted cardio. I definitely don't have the time for that entire process every morning either lmao
I was considering setting an alarm like 3hrs before I have to wake up to take it and go back to sleep. Then wake up and do cardio and eat after but I just don’t think it’s worth disrupting my sleep over. But that’s about the only way to do it and get the fat burning effects and not fuck up insulin sensitivity.
That alarm would take some serious dedication, like you said though I think the sleep is worth more at that point.
How long after eating your last meal until you ideally take GH by the way?
I’d give it an hour. The idea is to not have just eaten a bunch of carbs when the GH is active and lipolysis is in full effect. If you’re taking it subq that takes a good few hours to start working, and by then your foods digested. Even IM it’s still about an hour for serum GH levels to start rising and about 3hrs for it to peak. My last meal is pretty low in carbs and fat and high in protein and I eat it about an hour before bed and I take my GH right before I get into bed.
I’ve been taking my gh at night and don’t think I’ve had any glucose issues. 5iu. I don’t have like actual proof it isn’t but I don’t think so. Maybe the night time thing makes sense