TweetIm wondering if there is anyone on this board that has ran HCG during a cycle attempting to have it act like LH, and causing the testicles to produce testosterone just as if LH were present. I have heard that it is useful for avoiding testicular atrophy during the cycle, how true is this?

Lets say that you were to attempt, or you guys that have, ran HCG throughout your cycle, what would the negative affects be and how you run it?

TweetPosted by Blade on Cuttingedgemuscle. This is a pretty good summary of the link above.
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I'll cut and paste from a previous thread which I think will give you my relevant thoughts on the matter:

Blade: "LH returns quickly post-cycle. The problem is that after a prolonged HPTA suppression, your testis may have experienced atrophy and won't respond to LH input. Using HCG intermittently during the cycle or just prior to the post-cycle recovery period would ensure that your testis are responsive to LH input. HCG will upregulate testicular aromatase, and hence estrogen levels will increase (along with Test levels), so use of an anti-e concurrently is adviseable - especially if you choose to use HCG post-cycle without the "masking" effect of supraphysiological androgen levels. It's important to avoid continous HCG use, which has shown to desensitize the testicles to LH input. Concurrent Nolvadex may reduce this desensitizing effect to a certain extent.

The anti-e's work at the hypothalamus and pituitary to suppress estrogen's negative feedback on the GnRH pulse generator and LH output respectively. They also have a role in elevating SHBG levels, which Nandi has proposed will improve post-cycle recovery by binding to free test, thus preventing it from exerting negative feedback while total test increases."

Question: So how useful is HCG when LH levels are apparently restored without it?

Blade: "Because the lack of LH input during the cycle has desensitized the testicles, thus the longer response time. If you keep them sensitized during the cycle, or rather prevent atrophy, they will respond faster. If you introduce HCG before exogenous androgens have cleared from the body, you will mask the negative feedback of the test/estrogen surge, while reducing the time lag for endogenous LH stimulation of steroidogenesis in the testicles."

Question: So you're basically suggesting HCG during the cycle to keep the testis in working condition. But how necessary is HCG compared to Nolva only?

Blade: "It depends on cycle length and degree of testicular atrophy. The longer your cycle, the more your testicles will atrophy, the longer the time lag from cessation of androgens and the endogenous LH surge, and hence the need for HCG during the cycle to take up the "slack" of this time lag increases. You can probably get by without HCG on an 8 week cycle, and occasionally a 10 week cycle - anything longer than that and I can guarantee you will suffer a long time from low test levels if you don't use HCG. Recovery will happen, it's just a slower process when you force your testicles to regain function from the post-cycle endogenous LH input only."

Nolva/Clomid improves the LH surge, but the response on Test production is delayed until your testicles are normalized. My main point is that you can reduce this delay by using HCG. Increased LH levels will happen and endogenous T production will restart with no intervention - it just happens faster with the proper HCG and anti-e strategy.

Considering your relatively mild cycle of such a short duration, I doubt you will notice any difference with HCG. If you want to experiment with it, I think the range of 500-1000IU every 5 days will suit most purposes, and you could wait a couple of weeks into the cycle to start HCG. Nolva post-cycle.