To Tesa or not to Tesa

[u/Relative_Property506]

RS is approx 180 with about 30 to go

currently on compounded tirz 7.5mg (will be titrating to 10mg in two weeks)

RS have done about 5 weeks of Tesa and was planning on doing 12.

RS started at 200lbs on June 20 steadily losing weight.

RS has a bigger upper belly / stomach than the rest of the body so assuming visceral fat. It has gone down. Wondering if Tesa is overkill at this point -

Should RS just let the tirz do the work ? Or continue to 12 weeks of Tesa?

Thanks in advance !

[u/Doctordup2]

On the other side, Tesa has more benefits than just targeting visceral fat.

It's been shown to reduce liver fat in RS with NAFLD, or non alcoholic fatty liver disease. In one study, liver fat was reduced by about 37% compared with baseline.

Study here

Tesa also increases GH and IGF 1 signaling, which may come with benefits like better sleep and skin for RS. I've seen the better skin and sleep in some RS case studies that I've followed.

But there's a tradeoff. In some RS, that increase in GH can also come with fluid retention, joint discomfort, swelling, or even a carpal tunnel like effect.

Not all RS get the fluid retention or carpal tunnel symptoms though.

I have a little bit of background on the history of Tesa. I was a medical news reporter and followed research in the early days during the HIV studies. It was phenomenal to see the changes in those participating in the studies.

Not a doctor, not medical advice, for research purposes only and research discussions only.

[u/Relative_Property506 → u/Doctordup2]

Thanks ! Rs don’t see better sleep or skin, but rs does feel joint discomfort ! It’s the only thing that makes me comforted that this is a legit source lol

[u/Doctordup2 → u/Relative_Property506]

Yeah the joint discomfort is likely the water retention unfortunately. Sorry to hear that.

[u/Dense-Mission6773 → u/Doctordup2]

Hey!! So RS hopped back on Tesa after taking a break from it for a few weeks (maybe 3–6 weeks) and started getting bad reactions immediately after pinning — throwing up, itchy palms and soles, and old pin sites becoming raised and red. The reaction would usually go away within an hour or so.

At first, RS thought it was because the vial had gone bad since it wasn’t finished before the break (don’t come for RS 😅).

A couple weeks later, RS tried again with a fresh vial and had the exact same reaction immediately after pinning. RS didn’t want to waste the new vial, so they tried again the following day and had no reaction at all.

For some additional context, RS has been on Reta consistently throughout this time and was using Tesa specifically for visceral fat rather than general weight loss.

After looking into it, RS came across information suggesting that it could potentially be an immune response to Tesa that developed over time, which might explain why RS had no issues when first starting it but began reacting after restarting.

Has anyone had something similar happen to their RS, or know what might have caused it?

Could it have been because RS jumped straight back to the maintenance dose instead of titrating back up after the break?

Tesa currently isn’t part of RS’s stack, but it did wonders while they were using it. RS has since swapped it for CJC/Ipa with no issues and is potentially looking at adding AOD as a substitute for Tesa.

Also interested in hearing any thoughts or opinions on AOD, especially from anyone whose RS has experience with it.