HCG half-life
HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) is a glycoprotein hormone given by injection, and it clears the blood in two stages: a faster early drop over roughly 6 to 11 hours, then a slower terminal phase with a half-life of about 24 to 36 hours that varies with the product and whether it is injected into muscle or under the skin. Because that terminal phase is fairly long, it is usually dosed every few days rather than several times a day, and injections repeated on a set schedule build to a steadier background level over about a week.
What a half-life actually means
A half-life is the time it takes for half of what is in your blood to be gone. It does not mean the compound is finished at that point. Half goes, then half of what is left goes, and so on.
That is why the last traces take so much longer to disappear than the first. Most references treat something as effectively cleared after about five half-lives, which for HCG is roughly 6.2 days.
How HCG clears
| Half-lives | Time since dose | Roughly left |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 hours | 50% |
| 2 | 2.5 days | 25% |
| 3 | 3.8 days | 12.5% |
| 4 | 5 days | 6.25% |
| 5 | 6.2 days | 3.125% |
These are round numbers from a single half-life figure. Real clearance shifts with dose, body composition, liver and kidney function, and what else you are taking. Treat it as a shape, not a schedule.
Why the timing matters
A short half-life means levels swing between doses, so timing and frequency do most of the work. A long half-life means levels build for days or weeks before they settle, so a change you make today might not show up for a while, and stopping does not clear things straight away.
HCG sits at about 30 hours, so it behaves like the medium end of that range.
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On a repeating schedule the amount in your body climbs until what you take in each interval matches what clears in it. That plateau is called steady state, and it arrives after roughly five half-lives whatever the dose. For HCG that is about 6.2 days of consistent dosing.
The typical starting schedule is 2x weekly, at 250 IU 2x/wk. Until that plateau, every dose lands on top of more of the last one than it will later, which is why the first weeks of a protocol can feel different from the same dose a month in.
Skipping doses resets part of that climb. One missed dose costs roughly one half-life of accumulation, so the shorter the half-life the more a gap matters.
Mixing and measuring HCG
Bacteriostatic water, as directed per brand
Store at 2-8°C (reconstituted). 30 days reconstituted.