CJC-1295 + GHRP-2
The harder-hitting cousin of CJC + Ipamorelin: a bigger bedtime growth hormone pulse and real hunger. Built for people who need to eat more.
What it is
This pair gives you a bigger burst of your own growth hormone at bedtime than the usual CJC-1295 + Ipamorelin stack, and it makes you hungry. For a skinny lifter who cannot finish his meals, that is the point. For someone trying to lean out, it is the wrong vial.
The person this suits trains hard, struggles to eat enough and sleeps badly: the hard gainer who leaves food on the plate, or the older athlete who found ipamorelin too subtle and wants to feel the pulse. CJC-1295 (the short-acting, no-DAC kind) primes the pituitary to release growth hormone. GHRP-2 pulls the trigger, harder than ipamorelin does, and because it works through the receptor for ghrelin, your hunger hormone, it brings real appetite about an hour later. If you are cutting, anxious, or have ever had prolactin problems, this is the wrong partner; ipamorelin is the cleaner one.
What you notice: a warm flush and sometimes a light head in the first ten minutes. Dose at bedtime and you sleep through the hunger that arrives 45 minutes to an hour later; dose in the morning and you eat a big breakfast. Sleep deepens in the first week. Recovery between sessions improves by weeks two to four. Some puffiness and water weight in the first couple of weeks is common. Any lean mass change is an eight to twelve week project, and it only happens if you use the appetite to eat protein and train. On its own the pair does not add muscle or burn fat.
Inject fasted right before bed: nothing for at least 30 minutes before, ideally two hours, because carbs and fat shut the pulse down. Start on Gentle, 100 mcg of each, and most people should stay there. GHRP-2's growth hormone response tops out at about 100 mcg and CJC-1295 without DAC is close to full at the same dose, which is why the blend is one to one. Standard (150 mcg of each) is a small step up. Higher (300 mcg of each) mostly buys more hunger, cortisol and prolactin, not more growth hormone; if you want more, add a second fasted shot in the morning instead, which is how some people run it two or three times a day. Check the vial label for the split: on an even 5 mg + 5 mg vial with 2 ml of water, 100 mcg of each is 4 units and the vial lasts 50 nights. Run 8 to 12 weeks; the GHRP-2 half loses some punch with steady use, so when the sleep and recovery gains flatten, 2 to 4 weeks off brings them back. The classic mistake is a vial or a protocol built on CJC-1295 with DAC, which lasts about a week and should never be dosed nightly.
This is one of the better-documented pairs on the site, but only for the hormone. GHRP-2 has been given to adults and children in clinical studies for months at a time, and it is an approved diagnostic test for growth hormone deficiency in Japan. The GHRH-plus-GHRP synergy, a pulse several times bigger than either alone, was shown in people decades ago. What nobody has trialed is the outcome you want: muscle, sleep or recovery in healthy adults on this pair. We give the blend no formal grade. The pulse is proven; the benefit is inferred.
For most people CJC-1295 + Ipamorelin is the better first buy: nearly the same sleep and recovery with almost no hunger, cortisol or prolactin. If you want control, buy CJC-1295 no-DAC and GHRP-2 as single vials; then you can hold GHRP-2 at 100 mcg, add a morning GHRP-2 shot for appetite, or swap in ipamorelin when you start a cut, none of which a fixed vial allows. Belly fat is a tesamorelin job. If you will not inject nightly, MK-677 hits the same receptor as a pill, with more water and a blood sugar cost. With a cancer history or uncontrolled diabetes, skip the whole growth hormone family.
What people use it for
Growth hormone release
Some evidenceHuman studies show GHRP-2 produces a large growth hormone pulse within 15 to 30 minutes, that the response tops out near 100 mcg, and that pairing it with a GHRH analog gives far more than either alone. CJC-1295 without DAC is the short-acting GHRH that keeps this a nightly pulse. The release is not in doubt; what it does for a healthy adult over months is not measured.
Appetite and gaining weight
Some evidenceGHRP-2 works through the ghrelin receptor, so the hunger an hour after a dose is the mechanism, not a side effect. In studies it increased food intake. That is why this pair helps hard gainers and why it fights you on a cut.
Sleep and recovery
Early daysDeeper sleep in the first week is the most common report, consistent with a bigger nighttime growth hormone pulse. No trial has measured sleep or recovery in healthy adults on GHRP-2 or on this pair, so this rests on mechanism and experience.
Safety over months
Some evidenceGHRP-2 has been given to adults and children for months in clinical studies without serious adverse effects, with modest rises in cortisol and prolactin above about 100 mcg. Those were supervised medical settings, not healthy adults dosing nightly at home, and the CJC half has no comparable long-term record.
How people use it
Safety, in brief
Things people sometimes notice
- Hunger 45 minutes to an hour after the shot, strong enough to plan meals around
- A warm flush or light head in the first ten minutes
- Puffiness and water weight in the first couple of weeks
- Heavier sleep and vivid dreams
The full picture — stop signs and who should talk to a doctor first — is on the dosing guide.
Sources
This blend's research is on each compound's own page, with its sources: