What Is Saizen Growth Hormone Prescribed For?

Saizen® is the prescription human growth hormone (HGH) made by EMD Serono. Saizen is prescribed as a form of growth hormone therapy used to treat patients with growth hormone issues. It stimulates skeletal growth, increases the number and size of skeletal muscle cells, influences the size and function of internal organs, and has important effects on metabolism. In this way, it aids in catch-up growth in children failing to reach growth milestones and treats issues associated with age-related growth hormone loss in adults.

What Is Saizen Growth Hormone Prescribed For?

Saizen is Serono’s brand name for the prescription medication somatropin. Like all brands of somatropin, it treats growth hormone deficiency (GHD) in children and adults. In patients with GHD, Saizen can replace the growth hormone that the body isn’t making on its own due to pituitary disease, trauma, or other conditions. In clinical studies, Saizen has been shown to stimulate linear growth and protein synthesis. In children with GHD, that means it can stimulate catch-up growth and help them become healthy adults of full stature. While it will not influence height in adults, its proven effects can increase strength, help build lean muscle, improve sexual performance, increase bone density, and more.

Saizen is also prescribed for people with growth failure due to Prader-Willi Syndrome, pituitary disease, Small for Gestational Age, Turner Syndrome, and Idiopathic Short Stature. It is also indicated for adults with growth hormone disorders such as age-related GHD and may also be used to prevent severe weight loss in people with AIDS or to treat short bowel syndrome.

Can You Use Saizen for Bodybuilding?

Saizen is indicated for patients with growth hormone disorders. However, HGH injections like Saizen have become popular among the bodybuilding and weightlifting communities because of their known ability to help build muscle and burn fat. However, you must understand that Saizen’s ability to increase lean muscle is mainly in people who have lost muscle mass due to growth hormone deficiencies or other “muscle-wasting” conditions such as AIDS.

The ability of HGH injections to increase muscle mass in otherwise healthy individuals with normal growth hormone levels is negligible. However, that has not stopped people from expecting significant results when using HGH for bodybuilding. For the most part, such beliefs are unfounded, and in fact, using Saizen or any other HGH product strictly for bodybuilding is not only illegal, it can be hazardous to your health.

Unless a doctor prescribes it for GHD, those with normal levels of HGH should not use Saizen due to the risks of side effects, as well as the fact that its impact on “bulking up” for bodybuilding is negligible.

Saizen: Administration and Dosage

Saizen is taken by injection only. The injection is subcutaneous, which means the medication is delivered into the fatty tissue that lies just below the skin. Saizen can be administered via needle and syringe or via one of several propriety injection devices provided by the manufacturer.

Dosage*

The daily dosage of Saizen® varies by age, weight, and the condition it is being prescribed for. According to the Prescribing Information provided by the National Institutes for Health, Saizen® should be administered subcutaneously as follows:

Pediatric GHD: In children experiencing growth failure, the recommended dose is 0.18 mg/kg/week, divided into equal doses given either on 3 alternate days, 6 times per week, or daily

Adult GHD: Either a non-weight-based or a weight-based dosing regimen may be followed, with doses adjusted based on treatment response and IGF-1 concentrations

• Non-weight-based dosing: A starting dose of approximately 0.2 mg/day (range, 0.15-0.30 mg/day) may be used without consideration of body weight and increased gradually every 1 to 2 months by increments of approximately 0.1 to 0.2 mg/day
• Weight-based dosing: The recommended initial dose is not more than 0.005 mg/kg/day; the dose may be increased as tolerated to not more than 0.01 mg/kg/day after 4 weeks

Injection sites should always be rotated to avoid lipoatrophy.

Saizen Benefits

The documented benefits of Saizen HGH include:

• Increased skeletal and cell growth
• Increased ability to build lean muscle
• Weight loss and a reduction of body fat.
• Increased protein metabolism
• Improved carbohydrate metabolism
• Improved Lipid Metabolism
• Improved Mineral Metabolism – particularly increasing bodily potassium and phosphorus levels
• Improved tissue metabolism – particularly an increase in collagen production

Saizen: Warnings, Side Effects and Contraindications

Side Effects

According to the manufacturer, the most common adverse effects or potential risks of Saizen are:

• An injection site reaction such as pain, numbness, redness, and swelling
• Abdominal pain
• Muscle and joint pain, particularly knee pain.
• Dry mouth
• Tingling and numbness
• Ear pain
• Unusual skin sensations
• Headache
• Adults also commonly report swelling associated with fluid retention, especially in the legs, arms, and face.
• Complaints of hip pain have occurred in adult patients.

Some of the potentially severe, though less common, side effects of Saizen include:

• Tumors or cancerous growths
• High blood sugar (hyperglycemia), which can include symptoms of increased thirst and urination, tiredness, trouble concentrating, and weight loss
• Headaches, changes in vision, nausea, or vomiting that require immediate medical attention
• Serious allergic reactions that require immediate medical attention.
• The curvature of the spine or backbone in children (scoliosis)
• Pain and tenderness in the abdomen, which could be a sign of a problem with the pancreas

See your medication’s insert or prescribing Information for a complete list of potential side effects.

Your prescription for this drug will be tailored to meet your particular goals and lifestyle best.

You will be carefully monitored over the course of your HGH therapy, so any chance of side effects should be kept to a minimum.

Tell your doctor if you are experiencing any of these or other side effects while taking this medication.

Interactions

According to its manufacturer, Saizen should not be used in children after the growth plates have closed.

Saizen® should not be used in children and adults with any of the following medical conditions because serious side effects can occur:

• A critical illness from surgery, serious injuries, or a severe breathing problem
• Prader-Willi syndrome patients who are severely overweight or have a history of breathing problems, including sleep apnea
• Cancer or other tumours
• Chronic kidney disease
• Ear infections
• Allergies to growth hormone
• Eye problems caused by diabetes

Warnings

This medication could be contraindicated in patients with a history or family history of several medical conditions. Before accepting a prescription for Saizen®, patients diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency should tell their doctor:

• If you have active cancer or had cancer as a child. There is an increased risk of getting another tumour if you are a childhood cancer survivor.
• If you have recently had abdominal surgery or heart surgery.
• If you have diabetes, a family history of diabetes, or have blood sugar levels that are higher than normal. New cases of type 2 diabetes have been reported in patients taking Saizen.
• If you are allergic to growth hormone or other ingredients such as benzyl alcohol, sucrose, phosphoric acid, sodium hydroxide, or metacresol.
• If you are nursing, pregnant, or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if Saizen passes into your breast milk or could harm your unborn baby.

In addition, tell your healthcare provider about any medicines you are taking, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Saizen® may affect how other medicines work, and other medicines may affect how Saizen® works.

Since GHD may be an early sign of the presence of a pituitary tumour or brain tumour, the presence of such tumours should be ruled out before the initiation of treatment.

Patients with Turner syndrome, chronic renal insufficiency, and Prader-Willi syndrome may be at increased risk for the development of intracranial hypertension (IH).

Saizen should not be used for growth promotion in pediatric patients with closed epiphyses.

See your medication’s insert for a complete list of potential drug interactions.

In most patients, the potential benefits of growth hormone replacement therapy outweigh the risk of adverse effects.

Do I Need a Prescription for Saizen?

Saizen, like all brands of growth hormone therapy, is only available in the US with a legal prescription from a licensed healthcare provider. Getting a legitimate prescription for HGH is not hard. In fact, it only takes these five simple steps.

• Step 1 – Fill out our online medical history form – Once you fill out this form, it will be evaluated by our healthcare counsellors, and if they feel you meet the initial prescribing criteria, you will be contacted to move on to the next steps.
• Step 2 – Intake visit – If your online medical history form indicates that you are a good candidate for HGH therapy, the next step is to visit one of our healthcare professionals. Depending on your geographic area, this could be an in-person or telemedicine visit.
• Step 3 – Laboratory hormone testing – Once you have completed your initial consult with a healthcare professional, you will need to have your growth hormone levels in your blood tested.
• Step 4 – You will obtain a prescription for a program of HGH injections –  If the results of your laboratory tests show that your HGH levels are low, we will prescribe a dosage of growth hormone injections to suit your needs and lifestyle. You will then be directed to our Products Page to fill your prescription and buy your HGH online.
• Step 5 – Your Saizen HGH will be delivered to you – Your Saizen HGH and all your injection supplies will be delivered right to your door.

Can I Buy Saizen Online?

You can buy Saizen online, but only from a licensed and authorized seller of HGH injections like Nexel Medical. The only way to safely and legally buy HGH online is to make sure you are purchasing from a site that complies with all government regulations for filling prescriptions for HGH online via telemedicine. These guidelines include:

• The patient being prescribed and purchasing the drug online must have a health condition requiring HGH that has been diagnosed by a healthcare provider with whom there is a legitimate doctor/patient relationship.
• After an initial consultation, a preliminary blood panel is required.
• Documentation that the doctor and patient have discussed the risks and benefits of HGH based on the patient’s lab results, medical history, and symptom profile.
• The physician and pharmacy operating online must be based and licensed within the United States. Some states additionally require that the physician prescribing testosterone be licensed in the same state that the patient is ordering from.

Nexel Medical meets or exceeds all of these requirements for buying HGH online.

What Is the Best Way to Get a Prescription for Saizen HGH?

HGH injections are not a “quick fix” for GHD but are designed to be a long-term treatment.

Any doctor or licensed healthcare professional can provide you with a prescription for Saizen or any brand of HGH, for that matter. But that certainly doesn’t mean that you should go to just any doctor for HGH. HGH therapy is more than just a prescription for injections; it is a continuum of care that should be provided by medical professionals who are experts in treating age-related hormone issues in men and women. Those are the kinds of practitioners you will find at Nexel Medical.

Our doctors and entire staff have decades of experience in prescribing HGH and other hormone replacement therapies. We are very skilled in diagnosing adult-onset GHD and prescribing Saizen and other growth hormone injections as part of an overall treatment plan designed to get you looking and feeling your best ever.

If you want to learn more about Saizen or any other growth hormone treatment or hormone replacement therapy, please Contact Us today. We would be happy to answer any questions and help you on a journey to a healthier, happier, more youthful you!

*Dosing information is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as any kind of instructions for use. Consult your physician or pharmacist for guidance regarding your particular dose of Saizen.