Sermorelin vs. Testosterone: Understanding the Critical Differences

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Curious about peptides versus testosterone? Wondering which might be right for your health goals? This deep-dive comparison could save you from serious complications down the road.

Nurse practitioners Kelli White and Nicole Baldwin break down the essential differences between Sermorelin (a peptide) and testosterone replacement therapy, addressing widespread confusion between these distinct hormone treatments. Whether you're an athlete concerned about doping tests or someone seeking better energy, sleep, and body composition, understanding these crucial distinctions is vital before making health decisions.

The episode methodically compares these treatments across multiple factors: their basic hormone types (peptide vs. steroid), mechanisms of action, primary clinical uses, various formulations, onset timing, fertility impacts, side effect profiles, and dependency risks. For athletes and competitive individuals, Kelli emphasizes a critical point—Sermorelin is not an anabolic steroid, making it fundamentally different from testosterone regarding performance testing.

Perhaps most compelling is Nicole's personal story about her extremely fit husband who developed a life-threatening blood clot after just months of testosterone therapy. Despite his regular exercise routine and otherwise excellent health, he now requires lifelong blood thinners and medical monitoring. This real-world cautionary tale highlights why understanding the full risk spectrum matters when considering hormone optimization.

The hosts provide actionable insights about practical considerations too—from testosterone's risk of transfer to children through skin contact to the slower but potentially safer gradual effects of Sermorelin. They've included a helpful comparison chart in the show notes for listeners seeking a visual reference of these differences.

Have questions about which approach might work best for your situation? Reach out to the team through hamiltontelehalth.com, where you can call, text, or email for personalized guidance on navigating these important health decisions. Dont forget to like and subscribe!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of
Tattoos and Telehealth.
I'm Kelly White, nursepractitioner.
This is my great colleague,nicole Baldwin, and, as always,
our lawyers make us say thispodcast does not constitute a
patient provider relationship.
This is by no means medicaladvice.
We're just two gals chatting itup and we previously recorded

(00:22):
some information about samoralinand all about that peptide,
because peptides are the newthing, and so for those of you
that have listened to thatepisode, this is a great one to
kind of tag along.
We're going to chat about thebig differences between
samoralin, the peptide, andtestosterone, because those two
things really do go hand in hand, but there is a huge difference

(00:42):
between the two and we wantedto be sure that we kind of
touched on that.
So if you haven't listened tothe podcast about peptides,
samoralin, stop, go back, take alisten to Samoralin and then
come back and listen to this one, so it'll kind of make more
sense, it'll flow a little bitbetter for you.
But so, as you guys know, ifyou've been listening, I shoot
archery.
Nicole is very health conscious,her and her husband work out,

(01:06):
and so the world of testosteronecomes up a lot.
In my world it's considereddoping for the professional
archers, they do get tested andso it's a sensitive subject.
When they come to me and say,hey Kelly, if I start some more
and you know, I know that that'sa growth hormone and is it an
analog to testosterone and am Igoing to get tested, is it going

(01:27):
to come up?
You know what's the dealBecause there's a lot of
information out there abouttestosterone.
You know there's testosteronesupplement, right, nicole, for
people that are like lowtestosterone, and then there's
like doping testosterone andthere's like this whole gamut in
between.
And so, as healthcare providers, I especially, um, especially,
with hormone replacement therapy, we do a lot of testosterone

(01:51):
replacement as and in women.
I do it, you know, uh, in biobioidentical hormones compounded
in a cream from my ladies thatare perimenopausal or menopausal
need that little extra, likethere's a whole world of
testosterone out there, butthere's a big difference, right,
between the samoralin peptideand synthetic testosterone.
So kind of explain to us whatthose differences are and why it

(02:12):
matters.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Sure, and we can put this chart, this side-by-side
chart, in the comments and onour page for you to download it,
because there is some pros andcons to both, and so we're just
going to go over those.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
What's that?
Can we put those in the shownotes for everybody?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely Absolutely.
So let's just go, we're goingto go comparison.
So the type of hormone thatSamorlan is it's a peptide
analog of growth-releasinghormone, where testosterone is a
steroid hormone and that's theandrogen.
So two different types ofhormones.
For the mechanism of action,how this works in your body

(02:50):
Samorlan simulates the naturalgrowth hormone production via
the pituitary gland andtestosterone directly replaces
low testosterone levels.
So very two different thingsthere.
The primary use for samorilinetypically is age-related growth
hormone deficiency, bodycomposition, sleep, energy.

(03:11):
Testosterone's primary use isfor low testosterone or
hypogonadism, libido and musclemass.
So some more land age relatedum deficiency, body composition,
lean muscle mass, sleep andenergy.
Testosterone Um primary use islow testosterone treatment, uh,

(03:33):
libido and muscle mass.
So for the formulation forSamorlan it is typically an
injection, usually under theskin.
Testosterone is can also begiven an injection.
It's also a gel or a creampatch or a pellet.
So the main formulationdifference that that that I like

(03:56):
specifically for this is thatif you have young family or you
use the cream or the patch, orif another family member even
touches it, it can have greatrepercussions.
So for those who have smallchildren or grandchildren, or
just around the elderly, or whenyou have the cream on you have
to be very, very, very carefulbecause it will transfer to

(04:19):
another person very, very easily.
So for the formulation ofsamoriline, it's injection,
usually subcutaneous, whichcannot be transferred, and for
the testosterone the injectioncan't be transferred but if
you're using the gel or thecream or the patch it can be.
So we just want to make surethat you understand the
difference in the two.

(04:39):
The onset of action for thesamorilin it is gradual over
time, usually 30 to 60 days,supports natural feedback loop,
whereas testosterone does have afaster onset and it gives you
that immediate hormone boost.
So that's the difference of theum, how long it takes to work.
Um.
For the effects on fertility uh, some more land preserves or

(05:03):
may even improve fertility,whereas testosterone may
suppress sperm production and ummake fertility difficult.
So um, very, very different umside effects for that and um
Samorlan is not FDA approved Um,it's used for off-label for
anti-aging and the growthhormone deficiency, and

(05:24):
testosterone is FDA approved forhypogonadism, which is low
testosterone.
Um, it is a controlledsubstance, um, whereas the uh
Samorlan is not a controlledsubstance Um.
Common side effects for samorlanare injection site redness,
flushing, headache and I saycommon, but those are the most
common.
But they don't happen commonly.

(05:45):
So if you're going to have aside effect, it's super rare but
it's going to be injection siteredness, flushing or maybe a
mild headache, but that itselfis very rare.
Common side effects withtestosterone is acne, grumpiness
, mood changes, the gynomastica,where the men start to have a
little bit of extra breasttissue, and increased red blood

(06:07):
cells you have to go give bloodoften and also hair loss as well
.
So with that testosterone,probably the biggest difference
that people will this is why oneover the other is the acne, the
mood changes, the increasedbreast tissue and having to go
give blood on the testosteroneas well as hair loss, whereas

(06:27):
some Moreland doesn't have anyof that.
And we talked about risk tofamily members.
There's none, with the someMoreland high risk with topical
forms for risk of transfer towomen and children, and then the
Each of them have their owndifferent monitoring needs.
And the last thing I want totalk about is the dependency

(06:48):
risk.
Simoralin comes with a lowdependency risk.
It stimulates naturalproduction, whereas testosterone
has a moderate to high risk fordependency and it actually may
suppress your own ability tocreate what testosterone you are
creating.
So those are the maindifferences with these two
create what testosterone you arecreating.

(07:09):
So those are the maindifferences with these two.
And we'll have this, uh, thischart, this side-by-side chart,
for you guys to uh take a lookat, so that you can actually
visualize it, see it in yourhands and print it out if you
want.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
And I think the big thing to remember or to take
away, at least for me and thesesituations is testosterone.
Natural testosterone is asteroid.
It is an anabolic, androgenicsteroid.
So oftentimes when you hearpeople use the term anabolic
steroids, they are generallyreferring to a synthetic, in

(07:38):
other words, made in a lab,variation of testosterone that
is injected in your body.
That is not samoriline.
Samoriline is not an anabolicsteroid.
So that is the biggestdifference that I think we need
to hit home is where one canactually be considered.
This is an anabolic steroid.
This is a synthetic steroid.
That is not some more Lynn.
So that is a huge takeaway forpeople that are athletes, people

(08:01):
that are bodybuilding, that arecompeting, people that are
going to be tested, people thatare going to need to know can I
use this and not worry about,you know, getting tested or
getting in trouble?
That's a huge difference.
So I think that that's animportant thing to take away is
that there's a huge differencethere and, like Nicole said, a
lot of that has to do with thefact that the dependency level

(08:21):
right.
So there's a, there's a,there's a dependency over here
that's pretty strong for oneversus the other and that also
draws the line there betweensteroids.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Sure, and I also want to say important close to home,
is that my spouse was ontestosterone and he ended up
with a blood clot.
Very healthy, like super, likegym, six to seven days a week,
super health conscious Um, hehasn't always been, but over the

(08:52):
last couple of years he's soyou know he has been was in the
best shape of his life.
Um got on some testosterone,was on it for a few months and
got a blood clot in his leg.
Because of his activity levelhe was a at a extremely low risk
for a blood clot.
We went to the, to the ER.
We've been to hematologyoncology I'm sorry, not

(09:15):
hematologist, oncologist, buthematology where they tried to
figure out exactly why he gotthis blood clot and it came down
to testosterone use.
And I don't know how much youguys know about a blood clot,
but once you get one you aremore prone to them and it can be
life changing, life altering.
Um, blood clots can go to yourbrain, they can go to your lungs

(09:36):
, they can go to your heart,they can be fatal and um, it is
not something to uh play aroundwith.
So, uh, some Moreland does notcome with that uh risk, and that
was the big thing for us andwhy we're really big on some
Moreland because we want to makesure the benefit always
outweighs the risk of any typeof therapy and because

(09:57):
testosterone does come with thistype of risk.
It's definitely concerning andyou know it hit close to home,
he.
He had a blood clot for several, several months and he's on a
blood thinner for the rest ofhis life because of testosterone
.
That's crazy, but he's doingmuch better now.
He is.
He is.
He is doing much better now.
But still frequent follow-upswith hematology labs.

(10:18):
I mean, they ran so many labson him trying to find what else
it could have been, um, and itit all came back.
It all came back totestosterone.
So, yeah, so there's a no forus.
So, um, if we can, if someoneelse can learn from us and and
and avoid, avoid that type of,uh, medical issue, then it's,
you know, definitely want to putthat out there.
So we just wanted to make surewe talked to you guys about that

(10:40):
and if you guys have anyquestions, let us know.
You can find us athamiltontelehealthcom, you can
text us, you can call us, youcan email us.
All that information is on thewebsite and we hope you have a
fabulous week.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
All right, you guys, take care, we'll see you next
time.
Bye, bye.