HGH Testing

When you think of testing for human growth hormone, the image that most readily comes to mind is that of an athlete at a sporting event, getting their blood drawn on suspicion that they are using illegal injections of the hormone.

This image is generally due to the fact that there have been so many athletes that have injected synthetic forms of the hormone into their body in order to recover from injuries faster and build more muscle in response to their workouts.

However, many people are tested for their levels of human growth hormone even outside the sports arena. This is because so many people suffer from deficiencies of the vital hormone that can cause huge problems in their daily life.

What Do HGH Test Reveal?

Growth hormone tests identify the measurement of the level of growth hormone and gives the severity of the deficiency to your doctor. This measurement  helps in finding the causes for abnormal hormone production. There are 2 test Stimulation or Suppression to track growth hormone:

Stimulation Test: It is used to diagnose hypopituitarism. In this test you have to fast for 10-12 hours and then a sample of blood is taken out from you. In medical supervision you are given a intravenous solution of insulin or arginine. Then blood samples are taken at a regular interval to see that the pituitary gland is stimulated to produce the require amount of growth hormone.
Suppression Test: In addition to diagnose hypopituitarism, it can identify and locate pituitary tumors. It has same process as in stimulating test but after the blood is drawn they give the patient to drink glucose. After that blood samples are taken at regular intervals and then we see if your pituitary gland is sufficiently suppressed by the dose of glucose.

There are other tests which reflect pituitary functions, since the pituitary gland is primarily responsible for the production and secretion of HGH, which should be taken before growth hormone test.

Children’s Deficiency of HGH

The growth hormone test is taken when a child has following symptoms:

The child’s growth rate slows down in early childhood and looks small compared to others.
X-rays show delayed bone development.
Low thyroid levels can also cause slow growth rate.

There are also certain factors that affect growth hormone testing :

Stress, blood sugar level and exercise
Drugs  that increase growth hormone eg. arginine, dopamine, estrogen
Drugs  that decrease growth hormone eg.. orticosteroids and phenothiazine
Exposure to radioactive radiation before test.

When a deficiency in human growth hormone is found, a doctor generally prescribes injections of the hormone if the deficiency is severe. However, if there is simply a minor lack of HGH, supplements might be a good option to explore.

HGH supplements work to give your body what it needs so that its natural production of human growth hormone is stimulated and more is secreted into the blood stream. Although this is usually a slower way to increase your levels of HGH, this method of supplementation has been proven to be very effective with time.