Great results! You are certainly walking the walk.
I would not have expected you to have any worsened insulin on the amount you are taking. I mean my own fasting insulin has been as low as 3.5 before and the only bodybuilders who seem to get that side effect are taking huge dosages that far exceed the healthy amount.
I am very jealous of your Free T3. Are you taking any thyroid medication? Did you ever get that level checked prior to starting HGH? HGH improves conversion of T4 to T3 so I am wondering if there is a correlation in your case.
That is a huge increase in FT3. Higher FT3 levels (but not too high) are linked with reduced all cause mortality. 2.89 is lower than optimal, and now it is optimal. That is very interesting to see the contrast. Mine doesn’t jump as high as yours, but I got mine up from 2.8 to 3.3, which I’ll gladly accept.
I would recommend to determine your naive T cell count and check against your age.
It’s being done by flow cytometry and most labs should be able to do it.
Otherwise you really don’t know if you are succesfully rejuvenating your thymus.
Best would be of course to determine naive T cell count before starting HGH.
r. Greg Fahy’s thymus regeneration studies (like the TRIIM study) investigated a protocol aiming to increase thymic output and reverse epigenetic aging. While the studies focused on the effects of the treatment on thymus function and epigenetic age, rather than defining a “normal” IGF-1 range for the thymus itself, there are some relevant data points to consider:
Exclusion criteria related to IGF-1 levels: One of the studies listed exclusion criteria including IGF-1 levels < 90 ng/ml or > 300 ng/ml.
IGF-1 levels during treatment: IGF-1 levels were kept within physiological levels in studies involving GH and IGF-1 supplementation.
Studies with exogenous IGF-1: Other research shows that administering exogenous IGF-1 can enhance thymic function and thymic output, even increasing peripheral naive T-cell and recent thymic emigrant populations.
In summary, Dr. Fahy’s research involved the study of the thymus regeneration and observed the levels of IGF-1 within specific ranges to ensure patient safety and assess the effectiveness of the protocol. There isn’t a single, universally accepted “normal” IGF-1 range for the thymus in isolation, as IGF-1 levels are complex and influenced by various factors including age and overall health.
Dr. Fahy says his rejuvenation/fat clearing can be every 3 to 5 years in his various podcast. Or, maybe after 1 year on 3.3 iu daily, I go on a much lower dose - say 1 iu every other day?
He has newer trials going on and stated he has his first participant that was from the original trial joining in for a top up. Look forward to hearing the results as this may elucidate how much involution occurred during the break.
I have a feeling if you stopped, you’d want to start back on fast. I don’t see a compelling reason why stopping and starting again would be better than just staying on. At the end of the day, it’s still hormone replacement/optimization.
Yes, according to Fahy the TRIIM protocol optimizes CD4/CD8 ratio and not IGF-1 levels. A certain IG-F1 levels is only indicative for thymus repsonse but does not necessarily correlate with thymus repsonse according to Fahy.
To my knowledge the protocol looks like this:
4 weeks of starting dose of HGH 3-4x week with Vit D, DHEA, Metformin and Zinc.
Then adjust HGH dose according to individual repsonse and side effects to achieve IGF-1 levels high enough for anticpated thymus repsonse.
Then adjust IGF-1 levels according to CD4/CD8 ratio response.
Ask for your z-score along with your igf level next time, it’s the least the lab can do. It will help contextualize the score. 450 seems very high, but if you feel fine and your markers are within range, then I guess there’s not much to worry about.
