Tesamorelin and Joint Pain - Experience?

SoCalGirl

SoCalGirl

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Alright, tonight's the night I begin Tesamorelin. I'm already on Reta-Cagri. My meniscus is completely torn up and I've got knee OA. I've come across a lot of reports that Tesamorelin can bring on joint pain from fluid retention and swelling, and that it's typically an early side effect lasting around 3 weeks. I've also seen incredible accounts about sleep (and I am desperate for sleep). I tried searching the forum and came up empty, (maybe I messed up the search). 😉

So, could you tell me:

Were your joints painful?

How long did that go on for you?

Planning to begin at .5mg and see how it goes. If I show up here tomorrow yelling about the pain, please reply, "I TOLD YOU SO!!" 🤣🤣
 
For the last 7 days I've taken 1mg of Tesa each morning alongside 300mcg Ipa. I'm also on 3mg Reta, which I've been using for several months now.

At first, sleep on Reta was fairly bad, but it appears to be improving. It feels like I wake up about once per night and drift back off after a few minutes. Whether Tesa plays a role in that, I can't say — it could just be that I'm adapting to Reta. So far, no joint pain.

I also put on 1-1.5 lbs once I began Tesa. I'm chalking it up to water retention, though I don't actually know.
 
Great, thanks for posting this. So a single gallon comes to roughly 8 pounds, and 3 cups would be around 1.5 pounds... Yikes, that's a huge amount of fluid collecting near the joints. I realize the knees aren't where all of it goes. Was that added weight something you kept for a week, or did it stick around for a month? LOL - ideally I'd hear it's just ONE DAY! Thanks again for the info, cheers!
 
Sorry, I can't offer much help here. I'm only a week in, so I'm still working out how this all goes. Before starting, I was dropping roughly a pound each week. Whether that keeps up won't be clear until another week or so.

My plan is an 8-week run only. I'll be traveling in August, and I'm not going to do daily jabs. After I finish, I'll get IGF-1 tested again to check whether the fluids go down.
 
SoCalGirl said:

Great, thanks for posting this. So a single gallon comes to roughly 8 pounds, and 3 cups would be around 1.5 pounds... Yikes, that's a huge amount of fluid collecting near the joints. I realize the knees aren't where all of it goes. Was that added weight something you kept for a week, or did it stick around for a month? LOL - ideally I'd hear it's just ONE DAY! Thanks again for the info, cheers!
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What was your experience like with the Tesa? I placed an order for some and I'm feeling anxious about starting it.
 
limy845T4RD said:

What was your experience like with the Tesa? I placed an order for some and I'm feeling anxious about starting it.
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Honestly, it's a solid choice. I never had any water retention issues - though - I increase my dose very slowly. And it does exactly what it's supposed to: it strips fat from the midsection! I take it before bed. One month on, one month off.
 
SoCalGirl said:

Honestly, it's a solid choice. I never had any water retention issues - though - I increase my dose very slowly. And it does exactly what it's supposed to: it strips fat from the midsection! I take it before bed. One month on, one month off.
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That's the outcome I'm after. I use the smallest amount I can, and starting something unfamiliar made me uneasy, but once it shows up I'll give it a go.
 
SoCalGirl said:

Honestly, it's a solid choice. I never had any water retention issues - though - I increase my dose very slowly. And it does exactly what it's supposed to: it strips fat from the midsection! I take it before bed. One month on, one month off.
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Am I right in thinking you're still on 500 mcg?
 
@limy845T4RD Make sure the COA is in hand, and run it through a filter as well. There was a time I figured anything over 99% purity was good enough, but these days I filter all of it. And yes, 500 mcg is still my dose.
 
SoCalGirl said:


Ok, I'm ready to start the Tesamorelin tonight. Already doing Reta-Cagri. Already have torn to shreds meniscus injury and knee OA. I've read tons about Tesamorelin causing joint pain because of water retention/swelling, this is initial, three weeks or so side effect. Also have read amazing sleep stories (I SO NEED TO SLEEEEP). I searched the forum and didn't find any posts, (may be user error). 😉

So, would you mind sharing:

Did you experience painful joints?

How long did this last for you?

Going to start at .5mg and see what happens. If I come back here tomorrow screaming about the pain, please post, "I TOLD YOU SO!!" 🤣🤣

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For a few months I ran Tesa at 2mg on training days, 5 days per week. Wrist pain showed up, and my joints ached in general. When I later stacked in Ipamorelin, the discomfort escalated to the point that I stopped both compounds. A couple of weeks passed, I gave Tesa another try, and the same pain returned. So I quit it once more, waited 1-2 weeks, and then switched to CJC-1295 combined with Ipamorelin at 1mg on workout days. Wrist pain is creeping back now, though at this lower dose it isn't as severe.

Sleep was not improved by any of these. The 3am cortisol spike still jolts me awake. If I can't fall back asleep in roughly 20 minutes, I reach for Selank nasal spray, which appears to do the trick.
 
For a bit over 2 months I've been using tesamorelin, mainly chasing better sleep, recovery, and a reduction in visceral fat. My dose was usually 1mg daily, taken first thing in the morning while fasted. After my IGF-1 came back high at a 2.7 z score, though, I dropped the dose. Right now I take 1mg on lifting days and 0.5mg on the other 4 days. I haven't had CTS or any ankle swelling.

What I did notice is that my knee pain and swelling got worse once I started Tesa, but I chalked it up to harder training and adding weight each session, plus PT on every non-lifting day.

Now I'm second-guessing that. AI tells me the extra pain is probably from additional fluid in the knee irritating my healing quad tendons. Knee swelling is a common side effect of tesamorelin. Ugh. After my next blood test I'll take several weeks off from all GH secretagogues and report back.
 
Currently in my third run of tesamorelin stacked with ipamorelin. My nightly tesamorelin dose topped out at 2 mg, taken every day of the week, paired with roughly 250 mcg of ipamorelin. Recent labs showed my IGF-1 had climbed, so roughly 2 weeks into the most recent cycle I cut out the ipamorelin.

When I started, the aim was visceral fat loss to add onto my retatrutide weight-loss stack. These days I care more about the fat surrounding my organs and heart, because keeping that in check appears to help with longevity. Nearly 2 months passed before that “wow” moment hit and I understood it was genuinely doing something.

Since I sleep on my side, I've also had my arms go numb or fall asleep during the night, which jolts me awake frequently.

I ran the original tesamorelin protocol past AI, and the data still supports strong outcomes from tesamorelin by itself (without ipamorelin). So I'm fairly confident that removing the ipamorelin will still deliver comparable results over time.

Hoping this is useful to someone.




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Bioexplorer said:

For a bit over 2 months I've been using tesamorelin, mainly chasing better sleep, recovery, and a reduction in visceral fat. My dose was usually 1mg daily, taken first thing in the morning while fasted. After my IGF-1 came back high at a 2.7 z score, though, I dropped the dose. Right now I take 1mg on lifting days and 0.5mg on the other 4 days. I haven't had CTS or any ankle swelling.

What I did notice is that my knee pain and swelling got worse once I started Tesa, but I chalked it up to harder training and adding weight each session, plus PT on every non-lifting day.

Now I'm second-guessing that. AI tells me the extra pain is probably from additional fluid in the knee irritating my healing quad tendons. Knee swelling is a common side effect of tesamorelin. Ugh. After my next blood test I'll take several weeks off from all GH secretagogues and report back.
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Has giving your knees a break from heavy loads crossed your mind — say, pushing reps up past 13 — to check whether the ache and puffiness calm down?

Compared with muscle, tendons build resilience far more gradually. So if the weight keeps climbing while your reps stay put, the likely culprit is muscle getting ahead of what the tendons can currently handle.
 
aepower2016 said:

Has giving your knees a break from heavy loads crossed your mind — say, pushing reps up past 13 — to check whether the ache and puffiness calm down?

Compared with muscle, tendons build resilience far more gradually. So if the weight keeps climbing while your reps stay put, the likely culprit is muscle getting ahead of what the tendons can currently handle.
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Roughly every 2 weeks I switch up the workout, altering reps and intensity. Because of my tendon history, 1 week out of each month is devoted purely to slow eccentric sets. Those are hands down my favorite. I'll keep adding resistance for as long as I'm able. As far as pain goes, I haven't seen a meaningful difference when comparing high loading versus high volume sets.

In the past, my tendon problems came from overuse, not from overload failure. If only I'd heard about Dr. Keith Baar a few years back.🤷
 
Male, 53 years old. My protocol has been a tesa / ipa blend at 2mg/0.6 mg, run on a 5/2 schedule. Around the 2 week mark, water retention showed up, but it resolved and had returned to baseline by week 6. Joint pain never occurred for me. Results were quite strong in my case: my resting belly measurement dropped roughly 3.5 inches, going from 37 inches to 33.5 inches. My training is heavy lifting, 1 set per body group, 4-6 reps to failure. Over time, elevated growth hormone/ IGF-1 should support recovery of your connective tissue.
 
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