I am new to this group but have enjoyed reading many of the posts.
This has been very informative.

I am 53 years old and am considering going back on HGH after a
layoff. I felt so much better while using about 1 IU per day, 4-5
days a week.

Long story short is that I have become a little concerned about
the prevailing thought in the medical community about the
association between high IGF-1 levels and cancer.

Ellis: {There is no association between high IGF-1 levels and
cancer. There is only THE FEAR by certain anti-HGH doctors that
MAYBE there MIGHT BE an association between high IGF-1 levels
and cancer.

In nearly 9 years and 10,000 posts on Rejuvenation, I have not
yet heard of a single case of cancer caused from taking HGH...
(there was somebody who BLAMED his cancer on HGH... but that
person was HGH deficient, and had not used HGH for about 6
years when he got cancer... so I argued that he got cancer
because he had NOT taken HGH in 6 years.}

I have one of the highest IGF-1 levels of anybody that
I know of, at about 550, and I assure you that I am healthier
than ever.

The way I figure it, cancer strikes about one in three persons
on Planet Earth at some time in their life. In nearly 10
years and 10,000 posts, cancer should have been expected to
have hit at least a few persons subscribed to Rejuvenation...

It hasn't... I have asked for subscribers to Rejuvenation to
tell all of us about any side effects, and there have been a
few, usually carpal tunnel (pain in the wrists, reversed by
lowering the dose) or increased blood pressure (reversed by
lowering the dose, caused by increased water retention) and
increased water retention, (reversed with a diuretic and lowering
the dose...) But there has been no case of anybody taking HGH
and then reporting it caused their tiny unknown tumor to grow
out of control. And CANCER is the big side effect that none
of us wants to get.


>A number of articles on Medscape have spoken to this concept. Having
said that, I realize that an association and a cause and effect are
two different things. Additionally, I have found some medical
articles that say the exact opposite. They claim that there is no
evidence, and one interesting article on children with brain tumors
implied that HGH had a protective effect.

Ellis: {I agree with the doctors who have written this article to say
that HGH does not cause cancerous tumors, and that the exact
opposite seems to be correct: HGH seems to be protective of
cancer. It makes the immune system stronger, which protects us
from tiny unknown tumors or cancerous cells, at a time in which
the immune system can still erase them from the map. - Ellis}






Still, because there are potentially such serious consequences,
doubts linger in my mind.

Ellis: {There is also a serious consequence and a very serious
side effect of NOT taking growth hormone, and other important
hormnes: you grow OLDER much faster. Your body gets tired more
quickly, and your skin gets wrinkled and flabby... You lose
muscle and you gain fat... Your metabolism slows down, and you
become scared of living, less creative, more scared of starting
new projects, more negative, less positive... you get colds
more often and you go to the doctor for more medicines... you
get diabetes, and heart attacks and strokes kill 50% of the
population, and cancer kills one out of every six. Average
expected lifespan is about 74 years for men, and 77 for women,
and many wish they were dead sooner. - Ellis}


Many questions come to mind. What is a "high level"? What comes
first, cancer, which then triggers IGF-1 production, or IGF-1
production that triggers cancer?

Ellis: {15 iu per day for 3 months is the recommended dose
for persons who are HIV+... 15 iu per day for 6 or 8 months
starts to cause carpal tunnel syndrome and acromegalia, which
is something that some body builders want to happen, so that
they can look like Arnold Schwartzenneger... they actually
want to look a bit like Toy Soldiers... square jaw, etc...
8 to 10 iu per day has been reported on Rejuvenation to
cause pain.

NOBODY knows which is the OPTIMUM DOSE... the best dose "according
to Ellis" is whichever dose you can afford that gives you good
benefits and NO SIDE EFFECTS in the LONG RUN... that is probaby
about 2 or 3 iu... but bodybuilders say the best dose STARTS at
4 iu per day... I am happy to be able to take 2 iu per day, and
I get very good results with that, but maybe I would get better
results with 1 iu, or with 3 or 4 iu... I don't know, because I
didn't take 1 iu for 9 years, or 3 or 4 iu for 9 years... I have
taken first 1 then 2 then 3 iu then mostly 2 iu every day for 9
years, so I know what happened with 2 iu. Maybe if I am richer
in the next 10 years I might try 3 iu or 4 iu per day, every
day, and see if I get better physically, but I already am very
happy with the results of 2iu plus testosterone, DHEA, melatonin,
EPO, and insulin. I am not sure which is helping me the most,
but the whole team together is doing a great job. I also do
moderate exercise, and I also usually try to avoid high carb
foods, except when I chocolate ice cream or potatoes or bread.

But even when I eat chocolate ice cream or potatoes or bread,
which is not very often, I don't eat a lot of that... and I
also inject a small dose of insulin to bring down the high
glucose levels caused by my mis-eating... That is not a good
solution for a bad habit, but it is better than eating the high
carbs and not injecting insulin.

So decide which is your dose. Right now, you have decided that
zero iu is better than 1 iu 4 or 5 days per week. That is a
strange decision because you admit that you felt so much better
with that dose than with zero. But you have listened more to
the doctors who are growing old than to the doctors who are
staying young, so I would say, listen to your body more than
to the doctors who scared you away from feeling better. - Ellis}



And what are other ways that people get high IGF-1 levels, such
as eating a high glycemic diet (the way most Americans eat).

Ellis: {You can take testosterone, and that will raise
your IGF-1 a little also... but that has real side effects, and
growth hormone has none that is truly serious, except when the dose
is excessive.

Eating a high glycemic index diet is definitely NOT a good way
to increase your IGF-1, if it does indeed raise IGF-1. You
cannot get good results from doing bad things.

You can raise your red blood cells by smoking cigarrettes, but
smoking is definitely not a good thing to do. Don't do bad things
to your body to try to get good results, because you will be doing
bad things to your body which you will regret later. - Ellis}

If anyone knows of research or explanations that can explain this
relationship, it would be great to hear from you. Thanks!

Ken

Ellis:{ Ken, it makes sense that you are scared of cancer.
It also makes sense that you should be scared of letting your
body deteriorate because of lack of hormones. So travel the
middle road. Take blood tests and medical physical exams to
try to detect cancer while it is still curable, and take sane
doses of hormones that we know go down in our body. Try to
prevent the signs of aging before they happen in your body,
and try to reverse the signs of aging that happen when they
happen in spite of your best effort... but do your best effort.

Believe it or not, the only sign of aging that I have not been
able to stop entirely in 9 years of taking growth hormone and
other hormones, is a few more grey hairs... I "reverse" that
with some hair coloring and a colored pencil. Big deal.

Otherwise, I am like I was when I was 45 years old, physically
and mentally maybe even younger... I am still like a little boy
in many ways: I am playful, and I like to joke around, and I am
studying marketing, and I am writing new pages and I am still
creative...

I like to debate with doctors, and I like to learn from doctors.
But I would never listen to doctors or to anybody who is not
using growth hormone if they tell me to stop taking a hormone that
my body tells me makes me feel and look healthier than them.

They are scared that maybe what if perhaps it might cause a bad
side effect... so they are not using growth hormone because they
are scared of it.

Those who do not agree that we can stop aging should not
interfere with those of us who have stopped and reversed aging.

Thanks for writing. - Ellis}