PGF2a: Painful, Poo inducing, but Promising?

Key take-aways:

* PGF2a's notorious side-effects can be nearly eliminated by using it in a thick "hydrogel" vs. standard water-based carrier.

* Gut micro-biome may be adversely affected leading to diarrhea and reduced nutrient uptake- especially if sensitive to fluctuations- i.e. individual results may vary.

* The benefits may be too subtle to appreciate visually at 16% more tissue growth.

* The risks to heart health may outweigh the benefits.

* Bottom line, less awful when prepared properly.  But, jury is still out on real-world muscle building benefits overall.

PGF2a (Prostaglandin F2 alpha) is one of the most notorious bodybuilding drugs: It shows great promise for myogenesis/hyperplasia in studies/on paper. But, when taken by gym rats the results have been... shit frankly. Actually, shit literally as it causes your smooth muscle tissue (stomach) to contract uncontrollably evacuating everything in your bowels right after taking it. Oh yeah, it also has the reputation for being horribly painful on injection.

    I've been hearing about it for over 20 years and have stayed away due to horrible sounding experiences AND the fact that I've never heard anyone I believed in say "It works!" All I hear is "It gave me horrible cramps and shits and I felt like I had the flu!" No thanks.

    I think the creeping thought in the back of my mind has been "IF there was a way to reduce side effects, could it really grow new muscle?"

    Recently a buddy of mine was talking about his experiences with it, how he reduced sides, his methods etc. And, stated there was some site specific growth in his personal experience. I was intrigued, and he was kind enough to donate a bottle my way to play with. What I received was an animal drug called Lutalyse. 5mg/ml in a sterile water base.

    You might imagine that I can't really have nice things because I always find a way to customize them- cars, clothes etc. Lutalyse was no different. I fooled around with it for a night and was able to put it into a very (very) thick hydrogel solution for injection. 

This should solve the two main issues by slowing down the release of the drug/solvents. Many times side effects are due to the quick spreading of the solution in your body- i.e. you get all the "oomph" at once vs. spread out over 12 hours. Also, shots are less painful the slower they spread. Anyone that's shot water based gear vs thick oil based knows this. Water leaves the site almost instantly. Why that's MORE painful I don't really know, but it is.

    I made a hydrogel solution that is so thick that it would take a minute and a half to drip out of a bowl if you turned the bowl upside down. And, 1/3rd the potency- being extra careful as it's my first time with it.

Here's what happened with it:

    I took a 0.5mg shot subcutaneously into some fat for slowest release and was careful not to inject close to even a small blood vessel. How do you do that? If you poke and it hurts at the surface, that's a sign you're near blood vessels. At least in my experience. So, find a tolerant area in some fat if you go this route. I did this two days in a row and gauged my results.

Side effects: I didn't notice much of anything until after I took a very hot bath- I like to soak and research stuff, don't make a big deal of it, lol. After my bath my stomach was very mildly upset in an unfamiliar way. Not horrible, we're talking maybe a 1 out of 10 in stomach upset. I was still able to eat whatever I wanted, didn't have to run to the can or anything. Went to bed, got up the next day, fine. Still just slight residual "eh, maybe a little tiny bit queasy" feeling remained. No big. Same thing the following day. I would guess that sitting in 100 degree F water with the shot location submerged ended up helping the shot dissipate faster, hence the noticeable bump in stomach "feel" after. That's it. No drama.

Benefits: After doing some reading I concluded that pgf2a assisted with the later stages of myogenesis. So, I used it during the part of my little rotation where I expect that part of myogenesis to happen- when I'm resting and eating/recovering. Did I grow more? Not that I could tell. And, reading some again I saw that some reports show a 16% increase in fiber size. Now, usually when I do this little bit of growing over the course of a few days I end up with 0.6-1 lb. of new muscle tissue as near as I can tell. I.e. on a "good run" I gain a legit pound (and the accompanying water, carbs etc). This time I stayed tighter than usual, actually lost 2 lbs (water? glycogen?).

    Now, my personal opinion is that flat muscle doesn't grow quickly. And, while I wasn't flat flat, I was less full than when I was on my keto phase! Personally, I don't consider this a benefit when trying to gain.

Residual sides: This is subjective, but the following keto phase (I currently do a 3 day low carb/3 day recover high carb) was constant state of pissing out my ass. It sucked. I usually have some diarrhea from going low carb, but it's usually once or twice at the beginning of the transition, then done- if at all. This was all 3 days.

    My hypothesis is that in the days following my Lutalyse/hydrogel injections, my stomach was in a continual, slow emptying state from the excess smooth muscle stimulation. I suspect that my gut microbiome was affected, somewhat "cleared out" if that makes sense. I've experienced something similar before when I had candida yeast overgrowth episode over a decade ago- tired, lots of "the runs" etc. Basically, without that good micro biome in the gut, the nutrients aren't getting taken up.

    Now, here I am several days later on day 2 of my carb up and I still can't get carbed up. I'm still going to the can, not the runs, but making more trips for sure. So, I'm pretty sure my guess about clearing out the guts is accurate. The good news is that I've got abs (top 4 anyway) at nearly 230 from being "dry" but also, can only seem to get 50% carbed up- i.e. I'm looking flat still.

    I have not tried site injections yet. I may still try next round. But, I did further studying and found that one of the main ways that pgf2a exerts its effects is through a protein that blocks cell death in the muscle - https://www.nature.com/articles/cdd200890 "BRUCE" is the name they use for this in animals, the human equivalent is "Apollon." Great study to read through. But, my takeaway was this:

    Just because pgf2a assists with the later stages of myogenesis, "Bruce" or "Apollon" works by protecting the cells from apoptosis- similarly to deep quiescence- so they survive the growth/differentiation process. It's not the only mechanism. But, if it turns out to be more effective/pertinant than the other mechanisms to our goals of bigger muscles, then pgf2a should conceivably be injected BEFORE the later stages of myogenesis- i.e. towards the end of the deep quiescent/keto phase. I may give it a go using this timing- perhaps along with some digestive enzymes and lots of extra soluble fiber!

    Also, and most concerning to me, is that pgf2a can cause heart growth/hypertrophy! Don't sleep on this side effect! i.e. as much as it can grow muscle, it can also grow heart tissue making it less efficient. You don't want to end up like Dallas McCarver, Rich Piana et al. Links to studies below. All worth reading through if interested in this topic.

https://www.nature.com/articles/cdd200890

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2172881/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5495271/