Human Growth Hormone (HGH) Homeopathic Gel - Is it Right for You?

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Being that I am a student homeopath, I get a lot of people telling me about this new Human Growth Hormone (HGH) homeopathic gel. It's all the rage right now!!!! One of the biggest red flags for me is the fact that it comes from an MLM (multi-level marketing) company. That may be a win for many, but after belonging to many MLM companies over the years, I feel they are severely lacking in education and training of their products. It seems to be all about sales, rather than educating and helping others. Other red flags, some of the ingredients have not proven according to homeopathic standards, or have no provings associated with it. Also, it isn't being used by any homeopath I know.

I am not here to bash anyone or any company. It would do no good and isn't my intent. As an aromatherapist, I know about 2 of the largest MLM companies out there selling essential oils. I used to belong to both. My HUGE problem with them is education, well lack of it. The companies themselves give out bad information which the sales people parrot and people become hurt. It is a relationship of sales people and their clients, not doctors and their patients. Anyone can sell this product without any knowledge of homeopathy. That is quite concerning to me as this could really affect your vital force negatively when used improperly. Nothing is benign, not even water.

Let's talk about one product in particular, Somaderm. This isn't the ONLY company, however it is one of the largest, therefore the easiest to obtain information about.

Somatropin in it's Material Substance

Before we get into homeopathy and this product, we need to talk about Material Substance. Material substance is either the substance in it's original form, or a dilution of it under Avogadro's number. We will talk more about Avogadro's number later on. Basically, there is original substance still left in the product.

Somatropin, in it's ORIGINAL form, is questionable healthwise. That is why many are turning to it's homeopathic counterpart. It is a SYNTHETIC USP growth hormone. According to the FDA, "Recombinant human growth hormone (somatropin) is a protein that is manufactured to be nearly identical to the main form of the naturally occurring human growth hormone. This hormone can stimulate tissue growth, linear growth (height), and protein, carbohydrate, lipid, and mineral metabolism. It has approved indications in both the adult and pediatric populations. In the United States, recombinant human growth hormone is used in the pediatric population to treat short stature due to growth hormone deficiency (including idiopathic [of unknown cause] growth hormone deficiency), Turner syndrome, Noonan syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, short stature homeobox-containing gene (SHOX) deficiency, chronic renal insufficiency, idiopathic short stature and children small for gestational age." (1)

So, I did a little digging. I found this article on the FDA website as well. "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is updating the public about its ongoing safety review of recombinant human growth hormone (somatropin) and possible increased risk of death. In December 2010, FDA issued a Drug Safety Communication to inform the public that it was reviewing results from a study conducted in France—the Santé Adulte GH Enfant (SAGhE) study—and other available information on this potential risk." (2)

And this, as well. "[12-22-2010] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is informing the public that results from a study conducted in France—the Santé Adulte GH Enfant (SAGhE) study—found that persons with certain kinds of short stature (idiopathic growth hormone deficiency and idiopathic or gestational short stature) treated with recombinant human growth hormone during childhood and who were followed over a long period of time, were at a small increased risk of death when compared to individuals in the general population of France.

The FDA is currently reviewing all available information on this potential risk and will communicate any new recommendations once it has completed its review. At this time, FDA recommends that patients continue their recombinant human growth hormone treatment as prescribed by their healthcare provider." (3) The FDA knows there may be a potential problem with somatropin, yet is not doing anything about it. This is actually quite common, sadly.

Why am I telling you this since this product is homeopathic, meaning it should not contain any somatropin in it? How do you as a consumer know it doesn't contain any of the original substance? I don't see this product being made by or approved by any HPUS accredited pharmacy. Homeopathy has a regulating body that is similary to the FDA but for homeopathy. Remember this is homeopathy - anything over a 12c or 24x potency no longer has any of the actual substance left in it. So, not real concerned about this substance in the homeopathic form being an issue, IF it is being made properly into an homeopathic substance. However, I could not find a proving (we will talk more about this in a bit) for somatropin (synthetic growth hormone). That is concerning. We could assume that since the actual substance is used for "short stature due to growth hormone deficiency (including idiopathic [of unknown cause] growth hormone deficiency), Turner syndrome, Noonan syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, short stature homeobox-containing gene (SHOX) deficiency, chronic renal insufficiency, idiopathic short stature and children small for gestational age" as indicated above, it may help these situations as well. However we don't have a proving, so we don't know for sure. If you don't have any of these issues, do you really need the gel? Some of the other ingredients of the gel are concerning as well.

The Homeopathic Pharmacoepia of the United States (HPUS), regulates homeopathic medicines. They decide when "A medicinal preparation of biological (animal or botanical), mineral, or synthetic origin which meets the "Criteria for Eligibility of Drugs for Inclusion in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States," is designated an "Official Homeopathic Drug" after inclusion in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia." (17) Without inclusion or approval of any product, how is a product safe?

Homeopathy

I think we need to get back to basics here before we discuss the ingredients in this gel. Homeopathy is an excellent natural health modality that can benefit any living being. People, animals, plants, basically anything and anyone. I want to give a brief history of homeopathy and explain why I love it, and how it fits here.

History of Homeopathy

Samuel Hahnemann was a German scientist, born in 1755 who first discovered the essence of homeopathy. Homeopathy means “similar suffering”. Dr. Hahnemann brought into theory “like cures like” which is the law of similars. If you have ever had too much alcohol and woke with a hang-over, you may understand how the “hair of the dog that bit you” works. You feel awful, so you have a bloody Mary or a shot of alcohol to help relieve the ill effects of the night before. That is the law of similars in action.

In 1795 Dr. Hahnemann was supplementing his income by translating medical books into different languages when he noticed something peculiar. He was translating Cullen’s Materia Medica and noticed that the herbal tincture of Peruvian Bark contained quinine which helped people with malaria. He was so excited about this finding he decided to take a diluted dose of this tincture to see if he could produce the same symptoms in himself, even though he was healthy. It worked! This is considered the first homeopathic proving.

A proving is when many healthy people take a dose, or doses of a homeopathic remedy in the hopes it will produce symptoms. Those symptoms are compared with all the people who took the remedy, then recorded for later use. It guides us into what the remedy may be useful for in the future to help people. When Dr. Hahnemann took the Peruvian bark, since he didn’t have malaria, he produced the symptoms of malaria in his healthy body without actually having the disease. He learned that by taking the remedy which produces certain symptoms in a healthy person, it will help heal or alleviate those same symptoms in a sick person.

Somatropin doesn't have a proving on it. How do we know why you need it? In medicine and homeopathy we don't just take a medication or remedy, "just because", we take it because we need it. If you don't know what it helps, how do you know if you need it?

What is homeopathy?

Homeopathy can be used for almost any imbalance in the body, whether that be physical, mental, emotional or even spiritual. It is available in many formats such as pellets, liquid, creams, chewables and even lozenges. It is regarded as generally safe and non-toxic. It is also generally free from any direct contraindication with medication above the Avogadro constant in chemistry. We will talk about the Avagardo constant below in how remedies are made.

Remedies can be made from plants, animals, minerals, environmental toxins (pesticides, plastic and more), diseased tissue, healthy tissue, medication, vaccines and even the black hole. The homeopathic school I attend did a proving on the black hole, it was very cool. Homeopathy can be used in constitutional treatments, which is a way to focus on the entire being to improve the general health of the whole person. There is also acute care which is used when there is an injury, cold or sickness which doesn’t generally last that long.

How are homeopathic remedies made?

One of the laws in chemistry is the Avogadro constant. This states that there is a limit to the dilution that can be made without losing the original substance altogether. Any remedy below a 12c or 24x can have minute particles of the original substance left in it, much like an herbal tincture. So please consider that when choosing a remedy. Anything above a 12c or 24x should not have any partials of the original substance left.

An x dilution is 1 drop of herbal tincture or triturated substance in 9 drops of water and alcohol solution making that a 1x. Then it is shaken or succussed and 1 drop of that is taken and added to another bottle with 9 drops of alcohol and water solution. Now that is a 2x. It can be done 50,000 times or more.

A c dilution is 1 drop of herbal tincture or triturated substance in 99 drops of water, then succussed. That is a 1c. 1 drop of that is added to 99 more drops of water and alcohol solution in another bottle and shaken or succussed and becomes a 2c. Again, this can be done thousands of times.

Think about how much of the actual substance is left in even a 1x dilution (which I have never seen in a retail location, only a homeopathic pharmacy). You will generally find single or combination remedies that are 3x, 6x, 12x, 30c, or 200c on store shelves. Anything more than a 200c generally needs to be obtained from a homeopathic pharmacy as they are VERY potent and need to be used by a properly trained homeopath. It isn’t that they can poison you, it’s that it may elicit physical or mental symptoms that you are not prepared to handle. The smaller the number, the weaker the potency. The higher the number, the stronger the potency.

For home use, I don’t advise going over a 30c. This will help avoid issues that you may not know how to handle. We want to use the smallest potency and the least number of doses to initiate a healing response in the body so it can do what it’s meant to do. The human body is an amazing thing and can heal itself if given the opportunity and the ability.

Ingredients in the Gel

Glandula suprarenalis suis 6x - Porcine adrenal gland (5)

Thyrodenum 8x - Dried Thyroid Gland of Sheep (6)

Somatropin 30x - Synthetic Human Growth Hormone (4)

Purified Water, Aloe Vera Leaf, Green Tea (Leaf), Licorice (Root), Chaste Tree (Fruit), Epimedium (Leaf), Ginkgo (Leaf), Velvet Bean (Seed), Wild Yam (Root), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)

Phenoxyethanol - preservative

Caprylyl Glycol - emollient (9)

Sorbic Acid - preservative (10)

Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer - synthetic ingredient used as a thickening agent, texture enhancer, film-forming agent, and emulsifier in cosmetics and personal care products (7)

Peg-33 - binder (13)

Peg-8 Dimethicone - skin conditioning agent (11)

Peg-14 - skin conditioning agent (12)

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice

Tocopherols (Soy) - soy form of vitamin e

Disodium EDTA (chelating agent) (14)

Natural Plant Extract

Sodium Hydroxide - pH adjuster - highly caustic (15)

Potassium Sorbate - preservative (16)

Some of the ingredients are not considered the best by EWG.org standards. Not that I love EWG, but it is a great place to start looking at ingredients. I would rather see a product with homeopathic pellets rather than a cream like this with all the "extra" ingredients we don't really want.

Provings

What is a proving? Provings are a way for homeopaths to understand what a substance can do for you or the ailments it can help. I have done a proving and it is VERY interesting. Healthy people volunteer to be given a substance and then they work with a supervisor to record information. We document EVERYTHING. Every feeling, thought, emotion, physical sensation and more. We document it ALL, over generally 1-3 months. We also keep a journal. Then all the people who took the substance in a double blind way (no one knows what the remedy is, not even the proving master) turn in their information where the proving team will put it all together and publish for the public to see and use. Any issue that is consistently recorded in multiple people that are healthy can be used to help a sick person with that same symptom.

I am sharing the proving for Glandula suprarenalis, which is porcupine adrenal gland that does contain some of the actual substance as it is a 6x potency.

Read the proving.

Glandula suprarenalis

Important Proving Symptoms and Themes Noted by the Investigators

Fear, especially at night. Cramping abdominal pain before or with diarrhea. Stiffness of the lumbar region and hip joints. Heart palpitations. Oppressive or constricted feelings in the chest. Tingling in the extremities. Desires milk and yogurt. Sensation or flushes of heat. Trembling. Improvement of painful menses. Scanty menses. Head pain especially in the eyes, right forehead, and right temples. Pressing or shooting pains. Difficulty in falling asleep, or sleepiness. Appetite that is either diminished or easily satisfied. Nausea.

Mind

Irritability with difficult concentration or intolerance. Fear, worse at night and on waking, of falling, of something bad happening. Anxiety, worse on waking. Delusion she is floating in air during dream. Absent-minded in the morning or forgetful. Anger that is violent, with cursing and the desire to hit. Indignation. Cheerfulness. Aversion to company and aversion to being touched. Improved confidence. Confused as if in a dream. Sad and discouraged in the evening. Dreams: of rescuing children, fog, vivid, swimming, and remembered or unremembered. Dullness especially in the morning on waking. Deep meditation. Changeable mood. Persistent thoughts at night making it difficult to fall asleep.

Generalities

Decreased energy. Faintness, weakness, and trembling at 3 a.m. Weariness. Desires warm milk, ice cream, coffee, carbonated beverages, fish, sausage and hot dogs, and salt. Aversion to cheese and spices. Flushes or sensation of heat. Rapid pulse. Aggravation from smoke.

Vertigo

Dizzy or light-headed.

Head

Sense of constriction of the head as if it were in a rubber band. Forehead pain in the eyes or behind the eyes or on the right side of forehead. Dull pain in the forehead. Occiput pain that extends to the neck. Right-sided temple pain. Pressing pain like a cap or in the morning on waking. Headache worse on motion in the car. Shooting sensation to the side of the head or extending from temple to temple. Squeezing sensation in the forehead. Stabbing or throbbing pain in the temples.

Eye

Heaviness of the eyes and lids. Burning eye pain. Aching pain in the sockets. Vision Acute in the daytime.

Ear

Itching of the ears. Pressing pain in the ears.

Nose

Clear discharge. Thick, viscid discharge. Sneezing. Pinching pain. External soreness. Smell Sensitive to strong odors.

Face

Eruptions of boils on the chin or pimples on the forehead. Relaxation of the jaw muscles. Dryness of the lips with thirst. Relaxed.

Mouth

Tingling sensation in the mouth and lips. Ulcers on the inner lip. Taste Bitter taste at the root of the tongue. Teeth Toothache, worse in the teeth of the lower jaw and worse with pressure.

Throat

Mucus in throat necessitates clearing the throat.

Stomach

Nausea worse with motion of the car, or with fear something bad will happen. Appetite that is diminished, capricious, or is quickly satiated after a few bites.

Abdomen

Cramping abdominal pains that are worse in the morning on waking. Cramping abdominal pains before and with diarrhea. Flatulence especially after eating. Pressing abdominal pain in the lower abdomen after dinner. Pain as if diarrhea would come on. Rumbling of the abdomen. Distension in the lower abdomen.

Rectum

Pain, worse after stool. Constipation with straining. Flatus that is offensive or during stool. Diarrhea. Full sensation with constipation. Burning pain during stool. Urging for stool that is ineffectual, before as well as after stool. Stool Frequent stools. Green to greenish-black stools. »Glittering« stools. Soft, loose, watery, or even hard stool. Small or tenacious stool. Offensive like rotten eggs.

Bladder

Frequent urging to urinate at night or after drinking. Sensation of weakness of bladder muscles. Urine Urine has a strong odor. Copious amount.

Genitalia

Female Painful menses improves. Decreased menstrual flow. Yellow vaginal discharge. Strong odor of the menstrual blood. Pain in the left ovary. Respiration Difficult respiration with tight chest during exercise.

Cough

Dry cough in conjunction with sneezing. Cough with chest congestion.

Chest

Heart palpitations with burning or pinching heart pain or with anxiety and fear. Congestion with tightness. Constriction. Heaviness and oppression as from a weight. Stitching chest pain on the left side. Tickling sensation.

Back

Back pain shooting up the back from the coccyx to the upper back. Painful back stiffness, worse in the lumbar region, improves. Aching back pain in the cervical neck and extending to the head and right shoulder. Back pain during menses.

Extremities

Tingling in the upper limbs or right foot. Stiffness of the hip improves, or aching pain in the hips. Chilliness of the feet at bedtime. Heaviness in the upper limbs.

Sleep

Very sleepy in the afternoon at 3 p.m. or sleepiness that is overwhelming. Difficulty in falling asleep from thoughts, or falling asleep early.

Perspiration

Sweating during sleep that wakes her from her sleep. Perspiration smelling like peaches.

Skin

Painful cracks in the skin of the knuckles. Painful boils on the skin. Sensation of heat. Softness and smoothness of skin. (5)

This was an entire proving for Glandula suprarenalis. All of the symptoms listed are what it can help you with.

If you are not dealing with many of these issues, why would you take this product? This is ONE of the homeopathic substances. There are symptoms for the other 2 homeopathic ingredients in this gel. If after looking at all of the symptoms, if they don't apply to you, would you still use it?

Homeopathy is an energy medicine. Energy in that we are trying to find ONE substance that is going to help you heal on all levels, including, mental, physical, spiritual and emotional. This product it already outside the realm of classical homeopathy. To me that isn't generally a problem because I recommend the pain reliever T-Relief. My thought is, if using a product that isn't fully proven, or proven together in it's entirety that doesn't seem to make you feel good when you stop using it, is it really doing it's job? In my opinion, no it isn't. It is just palliating the issue, which is great as long as you can afford to keep using it.

Would I use this product?

The short answer is a BIG FAT NO! It has many red flags for me.

• Only 2 of the ingredients have been proven in a homeopathic way. Without a full proving, how do we know just what a substance can help with?

• Homeopathic provings for “HGH” do not appear in the medical literature; consequently, clinical use of the substance does not have broad agreement among homeopathic experts. (4)

• "The substance called Homeopathic Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is not an official homeopathic drug, as it is not included in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS). As such, there are no identity or quality standards for starting material, nor standardized processes for the manufacture of a homeopathic dosage form. Therefor, there are no official safety levels (OTC, Rx, HPN) for “HGH” determined by independent review. (4)

• There are no homeopaths that I know, which the list is extensive, that use or back this product.

• There are too many "iffy" ingredients. You should be able to get the desired effect from one homeopathic remedy.

• There is no understanding of what the combination of ingredients help with or reduce/remove over time.

• What happens when you stop using it? Do the symptoms reappear? If yes, which I have asked many about and they say yes, then it isn't truly helping is it? That is not homeopathy, but allopathy where you need to keep using the substance to gain the effects you want.

• It is expensive, $169.99 for 3.5 ounces. A vial of homoepathic remedies is under $20.

• You have to join an MLM to get it or buy from someone in the MLM. You should need to join any company or pay a fee to get a good product.

• Constitutional care would be a MUCH BETTER option and help to get to the root of the issue for which you are trying to help by using this gel.

• No homeopathic pharmacy sells this combination of homeopathic remedies.

I am sorry if I took the wind out of your sales by writing this article. I have been researching this product for sometime but didn't understand homeopathy well enough to be able to explain it to you all.

Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy article. I am on the board of directors of the Minnesota Homeopathic Association, where members of the organization had a discussion regarding this gel. The question was asked amongst all the members, what they thought of it. No one uses it, no one believes it is a good product and everyone believed that you could do better by using constitutional homeopathy.

As always, should you have any questions, please feel free to email me at melissa@sweetwillowspirit.com. Have a wonderful day!!!!!

Love and light,

Melissa

(1) https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm237839.htm

(2) https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm265865.htm

(3) https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm237773.htm

(4) https://www.theaahp.org/position-statements/homeopathic-human-growth-hormone-hgh/

(5) D. S. Riley, Materia Medica of New and Old Homeopathic Medicinces, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-25292-1_30, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012 HOMEMateria_Medica_of_Newandoldhomeopathicmedicine.pdf

(6) https://www.homeopathycenter.org/remedy/thyroidinum-0

(7) https://thedermreview.com/acrylates-c10-30-alkyl-acrylate-crosspolymer/

(8) https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/704811/PHENOXYETHANOL/

(9) https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/701067/CAPRYLYL_GLYCOL/

(10) https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/706224/SORBIC_ACID/

(11) https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/704663/PEG-8_DIMETHICONE/

(12) https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/721430/PEG-14/

(13) https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/721683/PEG-33/

(14) https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/702146/DISODIUM_EDTA/

(15) https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/706075/SODIUM_HYDROXIDE/

(16) https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/705225/POTASSIUM_SORBATE/

(17) http://www.hpus.com/what-is-the-hpus.php