Tesa experience?
- Thread starter dandam
- Start date
Calm Logic
Explorer
3 mL is my standard amount, basically every time.
With saline BAC, we saw more problems such as gelling and cloudiness when certain peptides were mixed at higher concentrations (meaning less BAC per mg). That's why I follow the same approach with regular BAC.
1mg nightly, 5 days in, and nothing stands out side-effect wise except the scale hasn't moved. That said, I started strength training at the same time, so I'm not reading too much into it. Injections go into alternating thighs, and there's a slightly noticeable ?burn? Honestly "burn" might be too strong a word — it's more of a sensation I'm aware of that fades after 10-15 mins. Baseline IGF1 z was -0.1, and I'll get it checked again in 3 weeks.
All of my lyophilized vials live in a plastic storage case, kept in a drawer of its own, with 2 frozen cold packs from a fresh food shipment on either side to keep temperature swings down.
Jayman1988
Explorer
From what I've read, you should dose it only after fasting for at least 2-3 hours following your last meal. If Reta is in the mix too, that window stretches to 5-6 hours. Personally, I'm holding off until my CJC/IPA cycle wraps up. That said, I keep hearing evenings are the better choice since sleep quality tends to improve. Here's hoping, because my sleep is a mess....
One more thing: if you go with a morning injection, hold off on food and drinks for 60 to 90 minutes, long enough for your GH pulse to fire and finish. The shot signals the pituitary to push out a surge of growth hormone; that surge typically crests somewhere around 15-45 minutes post-injection and largely winds down by the 60-90 minute mark. Even a splash of creamer in your coffee is enough to get in the way.
Symmetry
Explorer
I've been on Reta at 1mg weekly for 7 weeks, and during that stretch the scale was going down by roughly 1.5 pounds each week. Then I introduced Tesa at 1mg 5x per week, and I'm now finishing up week 5 of that. On top of it, I've been lifting moderate weights 2-3x per week.
What I'm seeing now is a clear reduction in bloating around my abdomen, pubic pad and waist. The number on the scale has stalled compared to before, but my guess is that's because the Tesa has my muscles/mass firing again.
What I'm seeing now is a clear reduction in bloating around my abdomen, pubic pad and waist. The number on the scale has stalled compared to before, but my guess is that's because the Tesa has my muscles/mass firing again.
Xono
Explorer
My Tesa has been sitting unused for a month while I weigh whether to start it. The main draw for me is visceral fat loss, plus the chance of better sleep. I've been on Reta for 6 weeks now, it appears to have leveled out for me, and my weight keeps going down steadily, which is what got me thinking about Tesa.
Just like with Reta, I looked into the pros and cons of Tesa before deciding anything, and it looks like allergic reactions to Tesa are pretty common. They seem to range anywhere from irritation at the injection site all the way to full blown anaphylactic shock.
I'm a 50 yr old guy, 350lbs, with a substantial beer belly. Last week my IGF-1 came back at 144.10 ng/mL. I used to be 400lbs and dropped 40lbs through diet and exercise, and once I hit 360 I began Reta and have lost 12lbs since.
My plan was to begin Tesa at a conservative 500mcg and get bloodwork done after 1 month to see where that leaves me. The problem is I'm too scared of having to handle the stronger side effects if they show up. Based on what I've seen though, it looks like some users may have gone too strong at 2mg, and on top of that they might be hyper responders.
Just like with Reta, I looked into the pros and cons of Tesa before deciding anything, and it looks like allergic reactions to Tesa are pretty common. They seem to range anywhere from irritation at the injection site all the way to full blown anaphylactic shock.
I'm a 50 yr old guy, 350lbs, with a substantial beer belly. Last week my IGF-1 came back at 144.10 ng/mL. I used to be 400lbs and dropped 40lbs through diet and exercise, and once I hit 360 I began Reta and have lost 12lbs since.
My plan was to begin Tesa at a conservative 500mcg and get bloodwork done after 1 month to see where that leaves me. The problem is I'm too scared of having to handle the stronger side effects if they show up. Based on what I've seen though, it looks like some users may have gone too strong at 2mg, and on top of that they might be hyper responders.
The combination of tesa and ipa at a 10/3 ratio worked well for me. My resting belly measurement went from 38 inches down to 34 inches over roughly 8 weeks. I'm a 53-year-old male, and my IGF-1 was 112 at the start.
Bioexplorer
Explorer
Seems sensible. When I ran 1mg of Tesamorelin as a 0.2ml daily injection, my IGF-1 climbed higher than I was comfortable with, even though I didn't get the usual side effects. To me, 1.5 to 2.0 looks like a saner range. Perhaps I'm overthinking that 'U' shaped IGF-1 mortality curve.
I've mentioned this in other threads before, but it's worth saying again. The 2mg/2ml standard dose from the Egrifta trials doesn't reflect how we actually run Tesa, and it isn't prescribed anymore. These days the equivalent dose is 1.28mg daily in 0.16ml. In 26 weeks, that dose response pushed z score above 3.0 in more than a third of subjects. Assuming your pituitary is functioning properly, tesamorelin is a potent GHRH. Morning or night.
Xono
Explorer
I'll definitely begin looking into this, thank you.
Xono
Explorer
From the anecdotal feedback, that matches what I've noticed too. For certain people, 2mg could be excessive, since they might already carry a fair amount of IGF-1, or they respond very strongly, or both. In my honest opinion, a starting dose of 200 - 500 mcg could be the safer route, with your IGF-1 monitored closely the whole way.Bioexplorer said:
Seems sensible. When I ran 1mg of Tesamorelin as a 0.2ml daily injection, my IGF-1 climbed higher than I was comfortable with, even though I didn't get the usual side effects. To me, 1.5 to 2.0 looks like a saner range. Perhaps I'm overthinking that 'U' shaped IGF-1 mortality curve.
I've mentioned this in other threads before, but it's worth saying again. The 2mg/2ml standard dose from the Egrifta trials doesn't reflect how we actually run Tesa, and it isn't prescribed anymore. These days the equivalent dose is 1.28mg daily in 0.16ml. In 26 weeks, that dose response pushed z score above 3.0 in more than a third of subjects. Assuming your pituitary is functioning properly, tesamorelin is a potent GHRH. Morning or night.
As for the other reports of people getting harsh sides after a couple of months, my guess is that their IGF-1 may have climbed without their awareness. The data is quite unclear though, because duration, dosage, and IGF-1 test results tend to be absent, so tracing what is actually going on isn't really possible.
woundcarping
Explorer
Setting sleep aside, I don't see much point in stacking Tesa when you could supposedly drop around 40% of the weight you're carrying now — it comes across as fairly "meh" to me. From what I've seen, reta on its own handles visceral fat perfectly well. Taking off 1% per week is not hard to achieve. Beyond that, anything aimed at squeezing out small extra gains is largely, if not entirely, noise.
At this point I can fit into 32, 36, 40, and 44" pants all at once, repeated DEXA scans back up the VAT drop, and my 800mg of Tesa hasn't even been opened. My Z score tends to sit slightly above 0. Over 41 weeks I've lost 34%, with perhaps another 3-4% or 10lb left to go.
King Sully
Explorer
Got it, I'll remember that! That's a new one on me. There's some Dandelion tea in my cupboard, though I doubt it comes from the root — probably the greens instead. Is a supplement how you get yours?
Bioexplorer
Explorer
In my case, the main reason I used Tesa was to protect against muscle loss during Reta, and possibly to add a bit of muscle too. Because I was coming back from a serious injury and surgery that had wiped out my strength, I was advised not to try losing weight at the same time. Over and over I came across claims that it is basically impossible to shed pounds without losing some lean mass.
That advice seems doubtful to me now, given that I dropped 35 lbs while my max lift went up by more than 20%. Before I introduced GH secretagogues, my strength had actually been falling once I started reta.
Xono
Explorer
Are you running just Reta by itself? That's really promising to hear. What was your starting weight when you began Reta? Congrats, by the way.
I really wanted Tesa to work for me, but my body didn't handle it well. My routine was 1 mg at 11 pm, with my last food at 8 pm, and I'm additionally taking a low dose of reta (1.5). In just 2 days the scale climbed 8lbs — obviously water weight — my face looked puffier, my stomach was bloated, my neck area felt stiff and heavy, my sleep started getting broken up, and my sleep apnea worsened, which I figured was because of the fluid buildup. I pushed through 5 doses during the first week, M-F.
The following Monday I dropped to 0.5 Tesa and stacked 0.1 Ipa with it. The same sensations came back and sleep was still poor. By Tuesday my sleep had gotten so bad that my oxygen kept dipping overnight, so I called it quits.
It looks like the water retention really did a number on me.
The following Monday I dropped to 0.5 Tesa and stacked 0.1 Ipa with it. The same sensations came back and sleep was still poor. By Tuesday my sleep had gotten so bad that my oxygen kept dipping overnight, so I called it quits.
It looks like the water retention really did a number on me.
woundcarping
Explorer
Back in June I introduced .25mg of Sema, then last month I replaced that with 2.5mg of tirz, and I also brought in 1mg of Elora.
Sticking with Reta alone would have been fine too, since my loss has stayed very linear.
Starting GLP weight was 282lb at 6’2”, my ATH was 304lb, and I’m at 187lb right now. My goal is abs, which will probably land somewhere in the 170s.
To address my low test and help hold onto lean mass, I went with TRT, since the research-based evidence for preserving lean mass is stronger for that than for Tesa.