I am Allergic to HCG

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

Been on trt for nudging a year now and have used hcg throughout. 2 months ago starting breaking out in hives in the evenings at 80iu hcg daily which then subsided. Twice now I’ve tried to increase to 100iu daily and the hives come back in the evening and at night really severe. If I drop to 80iu again the hives do gradually reduce but I can’t get them to disappear completely.

So I’m allergic to a key part of trt. Is it worth trying another brand or are they all the same? Why would I be fine all that time then suddenly develop an allergy.

2

HCG is by no means a key part of trt. It is only to retain fertility. If you’re planning on having a child later, you can try HCG at that time, or getting off TRT and do a restart at that point.

3

Let’s just say my balls are on the small side to start with due to medical history, so they will literally disappear without it. Not cool.

4

You almost have no choice but to stick with 80iu. EOD instead. Why increase to 100iu if 80iu is keeping your balls from shrinking any more?

5

I would suspect it’s something else in the HCG, but never know.

Regardless of what anyone thinks, I wouldn’t mess around with this one. From someone hospitalized from a drug allergy, it’s not a good time.

6

What else is in hcg other than freeze dried hcg? That’s all that’s listed.

7

Do you have any of the bacteriostatic water left? If so, you could inject that and see if you have a reaction.

While not unheard of, allergic reaction is pretty rare. I’m wondering if the water, or hCG, is contaminated?

8

Sorry to hear that HCG is causing you problems. I consider it an important part of my TRT protocol and would hate to give it up too. While it is possible that you are allergic to the HCG glycoprotein, I’d consider a more likely source of the allergen before jumping to that conclusion.

Can I assume you are using MERK branded PREGNYL? It’s the most common, but there are others out there. In the USA, PREGNYL comes in a kit with a vial of preserved sterile injection saline. The preservative in the saline is Benzyl Alcohol, which is a known weak sensitizer. See the article below.

I would consider ordering some non-preserved sterile injection saline and using that to reconstitute the HCG instead of the preserved saline that comes with the kit. See if you can go to the higher doses of HCG without causing an allergic reaction.

9

Don’t do it daily. Stop it for 2 weeks, and do a single shot of 250iu and see what happens? Also do the shots before you sleep and not early in the morning.

Also are you sure you doing it SubQ correctly by injecting into the pinch and not accidental IM?

10

This has happened with 3 different packs of hcg, the brand is ovidac by bayer. Also both with the water provided with the hcg and a separate new vial of bac water. I have used this brand for a few months before the allergy started.
There is benzoyl alcohol in testosterone cyp, enth and prop all of which give me no issues. Why would subq or IM of hcg make a difference?

usual irritated lump if injecting prop or enth subq