hCG is dosed in international units rather than milligrams, which is where most mistakes happen. This calculator handles the reconstitution and returns the exact units to draw on an insulin syringe for the dose you want.
Educational tool only. Not medical advice. Always verify doses independently before use.
Human chorionic gonadotropin closely mimics luteinising hormone, the pituitary signal that tells the testes to produce testosterone. Because exogenous testosterone shuts that signal down, hCG is used to maintain testicular function and size during therapy, or to prime the testes before post cycle therapy begins.
Used on cycle or on TRT, hCG is typically run continuously at a low dose alongside testosterone. Used for recovery, it is run during the ester clearance window and then stopped before SERMs start, because it suppresses the same axis that post cycle therapy is trying to restart. Running it into a SERM protocol works against the goal — see the PCT Protocol Builder for the correct sequencing.
hCG arrives as a lyophilised powder and is reconstituted with bacteriostatic water. The concentration depends entirely on how much water you add, so the same vial can require completely different injection volumes depending on your mixing. Refrigerate after reconstitution. The same backwards-solving approach used here powers the Peptide Reconstitution Calculator for every other injectable in a protocol, and the TRT Dose Calculator for the testosterone side of it.
Add bacteriostatic water slowly down the side of the vial and swirl gently rather than shaking. The volume of water you add determines the concentration and therefore how many units you draw per dose, so decide the mixing volume first and calculate from there.
On-cycle or TRT support commonly runs a few hundred IU two to three times weekly. Priming before post cycle therapy typically uses higher doses over a shorter window. Higher is not better, and excessive dosing can desensitise the testes.
Refrigerated, reconstituted hCG is generally considered usable for several weeks. Keep it cold, avoid repeated temperature swings, and use sterile technique with every draw.
It should be finished before SERMs begin, not run alongside them. hCG suppresses the pituitary axis through negative feedback, which directly opposes what post cycle therapy is trying to achieve.
It can. By stimulating testicular testosterone production it also increases aromatisation, so estradiol may rise. Monitor with a sensitive assay rather than assuming.
