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HGH treatment is a form of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and just like any other hormonal medication, it is not available for purchase without a prescription.
What is more, purchasing and possessing HGH without a prescription is illegal due to its high potential for abuse.
Healthy adults who do not have the medical indications may consider abusing HGH with the aim to improve their physique, body composition, physical performance, and recovery.
Illegal use of HGH by healthy individuals comes with potential risks that outweigh the benefits. Combined with the lack of monitoring by a specialist, HGH abuse can lead to water retention, edemas, carpal tunnel syndrome, joint pain, and insulin resistance, with the latter being a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
How legal is HGH in the US?
In the US, HGH is legal only as a prescription medication. HGH is not available over-the-counter because treatment with growth hormone requires close monitoring by an experienced specialist.
There are strict FDA-approved indications for HGH prescription, which include:
- pediatric patients with disorders causing growth failure or short stature
- adults with growth hormone deficiency
- HIV/AIDS patients with wasting and cachexia
- Short-bowel syndrome (SBS)
Thus, you may purchase HGH legally only if you are diagnosed with one of these conditions by a licensed medical professional and they have offered you a medical prescription.
Other possible indications, such as increasing fertility in women undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF), are still currently under investigation.
Yet, researchers are still uncertain regarding the effectiveness of such practices, and HGH has not been approved for this use.
HGH is also a popular form of illegal anti-aging therapy, especially amongst individuals who may experience rapid aging, such as women who have undergone hysterectomy with salpingo-oophorectomy.
Unfortunately, there is no evidence to recommend HGH as an effective medication for reversing aging.
Is HGH usage allowed in sports?
HGH use in sports is illegal because it may give unfair advantages to the athletes who are taking it, such as improved body composition. That’s why HGH is listed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee as a performance-enhancing drug.
Is buying HGH online legal?
If you have the proper medical indications and a prescription, you may purchase HGH in person or order it online. Buying HGH online is legal, as long as the clinic or the pharmacy requires you to show a medical prescription and offers FDA-approved medications only.
Currently, there are several FDA-approved brands. Each of them contains somatropin – a recombinant form of HGH, which is identical to the growth hormone naturally produced in healthy individuals:
- Accretropin
- Genotropin
- Humatrope
- Norditropin
- Nutropin
- Omnitrope
- Saizen
- Serostim
- Zomacton
All of these are available only as HGH injections. Other forms of HGH cannot effectively and reliably increase your serum growth hormone levels. That’s why some of the forms of HGH which you may stumble upon on the internet such as HGH gels are ineffective and possibly unsafe.
When it comes to real HGH, almost all countries require an HGH prescription before you are allowed to legally purchase the medication.
However, some countries including Mexico, Thailand, and Turkey do not control the distribution of HGH as strictly as the US, and thus it is much easier to obtain both the prescription and the medication itself.
But keep in mind that such practices carry a high risk of receiving non-FDA-approved brands of HGH or counterfeit products instead of genuine HGH.
Is HGH legal in the military?
Any performance-enhancing drug including HGH is illegal and prohibited for use in the military. That is because the US Department of Defense has adopted the World Anti-Doping list of banned drugs.
Using such drugs in the military is considered an offense and it is subject to prosecution by the military criminal justice system.
Furthermore, patients taking prescription HGH are not allowed in the military. According to Army Regulation DOD 6130.03, pituitary dysfunction is a condition that does not allow the affected individuals to join the military unless it is a case of growth hormone deficiency resolved during childhood.
What are the penalties for buying illegal HGH?
While possessing HGH without a prescription is illegal in the US, you are unlikely to be prosecuted if the amount you possess is for personal use only.
However, selling growth hormone without a prescription or possessing it with the intention to sell can lead to a jail sentence of 5 years and a $250,000 fine.
These risks as well as the high prices in the US have pushed many individuals to attempt purchasing HGH from other countries such as Mexico, where it is much easier to obtain a prescription.
However, there is no guarantee that you will receive a genuine HGH product. This is why the FDA advises U.S. citizens not to import prescription drugs from Mexico, including HGH.
Nevertheless, you can import drugs from Mexico such as HGH, as long as you can prove that they were purchased with a valid prescription and you are bringing only a personal supply – no more than 3 containers.
Prescription medications should be in their original boxes with the doctor’s prescription printed on or attached to the container.
How to get HGH legally
The only way you can be certain that you’re purchasing legal, safe and effective HGH medication is to obtain it from licensed pharmacies in the US that require a prescription.
In order to do so, you must first obtain a prescription. Keep in mind that your doctor will offer you an HGH prescription only if you have valid medical indications such as GHD, SBS, or wasting due to AIDS.
If you have GHD, then HGH is the only effective therapy that your doctor may prescribe to successfully manage your symptoms. That’s because HGH therapy is currently the only scientifically proven method to manage symptoms of GHD.
But getting an HGH prescription for GHD may not be as easy as performing a simple blood test. That’s because HGH has a pulsatile secretion and it is often very low in-between its peaks even in healthy individuals.
The golden standard for GHD diagnosis is provoking an insulin-induced HGH peak. The test is called Insulin Tolerance Test (ITT) and involves injecting insulin in medical settings to induce mild hypoglycemia and a spike in growth hormone levels.
A normal HGH peak should be over 7 ng/ml. If your GH levels remain lower than this value during the test, this is sufficient for your doctor to diagnose you with GHD and provide you with an HGH prescription.
Sometimes your results may be borderline and do not prove a deficiency, despite the fact that you are experiencing symptoms. If your doctor has declined a prescription but you are certain that your symptoms are due to GHD, then it might be worth it to visit another HGH specialist who may repeat the tests and offer you a prescription.
