GHRP-2 vs ipamorelin, is the extra GH pulse worth the cortisol and prolactin hit?

Posted by fasted_scientist in GH & Growth Peptides - 1 points, 6 comments.

Been looking at this again because people keep recommending GHRP-2 as the "stronger" option when stacking with a GHRH. And yeah, the GH release is supposedly more potent, the profile on /peptides/ghrp-2 says it's among the strongest GHRPs. But it also bumps cortisol and prolactin, and ipamorelin supposedly doesn't (or at least much less).

Here's my thing. If you're running this for recovery or body comp, chronically elevating cortisol seems like you're shooting yourself in the foot. Cortisol breaks down muscle, messes with sleep quality, raises blood sugar. Prolactin can kill libido and mood. So even if GHRP-2 gives you a bigger GH spike, are you net worse off?

I tried GHRP-2 at 100mcg with CJC-1295 without DAC for about three weeks a while back. Felt the hunger for sure (ngl it was intense, almost distracting). Sleep seemed deeper the first week but then I started waking up at 4am wired, which could've been cortisol or could've just been stress at work. Hard to say. Switched to ipamorelin and the wired feeling went away, though the "pump" feeling in the gym felt less pronounced.

Reckon most people just chase the bigger number without thinking about what the trade-offs actually feel like day to day. Anyone done a proper side-by-side? Curious if anyone actually got bloods showing cortisol differences between the two.

Comments

• sleep_coastal: Anecdotally I went through the same flip-flop and landed on ipamorelin for exactly the reason you said. The cortisol thing is real for me, or at least the 4am wired thing matched what I got on GHRP-2 too. Switched to ipamorelin and it just felt cleaner. Less hunger, less gym pump, but I could actually sleep. For me the sleep quality matters more than a slightly bigger GH spike because if you're wrecking sleep you're probably negating half the recovery benefit anyway. One thing I'd add, I tried
• raj_j: Honestly the 4am wired thing is what made me drop GHRP-2 too, thought it was just me. The smaller dose idea is interesting tho, did you try keeping the GHRH side the same when you split it down? Wondering if that changes the pulse timing enough to matter or if you're just getting a weaker overall stack at that point.
• labrat_vik: The 4am wired thing is exactly why I stopped messing with GHRP-2 too, and I tried the same micro-dose approach you did, 50mcg, even 30mcg, and yeah you're right, it just waters everything down until there's not much point. Ipamorelin gives a smaller pulse but you actually sleep through it and that's where recovery happens anyway.
• fasted_scientist: Yeah the micro-dose route is a dead end, you end up with neither the pulse nor the clean profile. Interesting you went as low as 30mcg though, I never bothered dropping below 50 because it felt pointless. Did you run ipamorelin at the same sort of dose as the GHRP-2 or did you find you needed more to get a comparable effect sleep-wise?
• fasted_scientist: Nah I didn't get that far with splitting it, I just dropped it entirely and switched to ipamorelin. But you're spot on that the GHRH side timing matters, reckon keeping CJC at the same dose and just halving the GHRP-2 could either give you two smaller synergistic pulses or just dilute the whole thing. Reckon it's worth testing but I'd want cortisol bloods before and after to actually know if the lower dose keeps it in range. Might give it a go at 50mcg if I can be bothered with the hassle.
• fasted_scientist: The 50mcg split thing is interesting, reckon that lines up with the idea that the cortisol response is dose-dependent. Did you keep the CJC at the same dose when you dropped the GHRP-2 to 50, or scale that down too? Wondering whether the wired feeling was the GHRP-2 alone or the combo amplifying it. The "less gym pump" on ipamorelin is a fair tradeoff ngl, I'd take actual sleep over a slightly better pump any day.

Community discussion - research and educational context only. Not medical advice.