Why HCG causes anxiety?

[Trt909]

I feel very anxious when adding 250iu HCG 2x week, my E2 is in good range, total test on top normal range. Can HCG causes anxiety due effect on thyroid?

 

[DS3]

I feel very anxious when adding 250iu HCG 2x week, my E2 is in good range, total test on top normal range. Can HCG causes anxiety due effect on thyroid?

Nope. HCG possesses unique effects on the central nervous system (brain) that results in anxiety for some men.

 

[McBeavy]

Not sure about effect on thyroid but when I added hCG, I, too, experienced some mild anxiety. I'm using 150iu daily Monday-Friday (750weekly total). I lowered my T cyp dose from 50mg 2X/week to 40mg 2X/week and that did the trick. In secondary hypogonadism, hCG will allow your testicles to produce some natural testosterone.

My theory was the 100mg a week plus the hCG was taking my T levels too high. My .02 cents.

Also I prefer to call if a reference range, rather than "normal" range. Each person is different. One person's ideal total T may be 750ng/dL...while someone else's can be higher or lower.

 

[Systemlord]

HCG increases other hormones, including progesterone and cortisol. HCG is good for people with adrenal fatigue, and or those with TRT induced low cortisol that already have adrenals on the brink.

Also, LH is pulsatile and HCG isn’t.

 

[t_spacemonkey]

i never exp. HCG anxiety even on high doses. I am currently doing 0.5ml 3x week HCG + 200MG/week test cyp.
i battled chronic anxiety for a long time, and am extremely sensitive to most things. so I know a thing or 2 about anxiety.
if you never had anxiety problems and HCG causes it....it is pretty clear case. but if you do have a history - IMO it is very hard to distinguish what causes what. your mind will play all kind of trick on you, and you might end up even blaming eating too much kale for anxiety spikes.

 

[Trt909]

I never had anxiety, and HCG give it to me, I think it's due some effects on thyroid or dopamine D2 receptor.
I see in google much such situations, that HCG gives anxiety.

 

[Ryan474]

HCG also gives me anxiety.

hCG is closely related to TSH. High amounts of hCG, often seen in pregnancy and probably in injection (5,000 - 10,000 IU), can cause hyperthyroidism (increase in T3, T4 and shutdown of TSH) although not at the level seen in Graves disease.

I don't think the anxiety for me has any relation to HCG's potential influence on thyroid levels, because 1) as noted above it requires extremely high dosages to cause hyperthyroidism, and 2) the hcg anxiety feels very different than when my t3 dosage was too high. In addition, 3) every time I've tested my hormones on and off hcg, my thyroid levels are pretty much identical. I've been on t3-only thyroid replacement, TRT, and other hormones for 17 years. That being said, I haven't come across why hcg causes anxiety. Of course it's probably related to the cascade of hormonal changes... DS3 noted in one of the first posts here it is due to unique effects of HCG on the CNS.

I've played around with the dose of HCG and it seems any dose gives some anxiety, but there is a sweet spot where side effects are minimized. It seems 350 iu 3x/week is best for me. Day 1 mild anxiety but very tolerable. Day 2 anxiety is gone if I sleep well.

500iu was too much- spiked T and estrogens too high and ruined sleep. Doing the shot in the AM, day 1 anxiety was very high, short term memory issues, cognitive and mood issues (tolerable, but very noticeable). Day 2 I would feel amazing with T accelerating probably. Day 3 quite good still. At that dose, I felt overall pretty good the first month due to sky high T levels and estrogens that hadn't caught up to me. Then they caught up by the 2nd month and I cut back the dose to 350.

250iu was too low of a dose. I just felt crappy all the time. Sort of low mood persistently.

So 350 it is for now. For me at least, the response is quite different at the different dosage levels. Not just a linear change in anxiety or mood with dose. A very different effect altogether.

I will say I unexpectedly learned that HGH (genotropin or norditropin in my case) reduces anxiety. So when doing the 500 iu hcg, doing 1.8 units norditropin helped offset the anxiety. However, it was not sustainable due to cost and the fact it was dramatically increasing my blood pressure.