Should You Stop Peptides Before Bloodwork?
Research & education purposes only. Not medical advice. Not intended for human consumption. One of the most common questions I get: "Should I stop my peptides before bloodwork?" If your goal is to see how your body is actually responding while you're actively researching — the answer is usually yes, but only briefly. Not weeks. Not a full washout. Just 24–48 hours for most peptides. Here's why — and exactly how to do it. Why You Shouldn't Stay On Them The Morning Of Labs Most peptides have short plasma half-lives. They clear from your bloodstream pretty quickly — often within hours. But if you administer the night before or the morning of labs, you can get acute signaling effects that skew certain markers: - Lipids - Glucose - Insulin - Liver enzymes - CRP - IGF-1 At that point, you're not seeing the steady-state effect anymore — you're seeing the immediate spike response. That's not useful data. Why 24–48 Hours Is The Sweet Spot By stopping just 1–2 days before labs: ✅ The peptide itself is largely cleared from circulation ✅ Acute signaling effects calm down ✅ You still see how your body is responding overall ✅ You avoid artificially inflating or suppressing markers This gives you a clean "on-cycle" snapshot — which is exactly what you want. Think of it like this: You don't want to test your cholesterol 2 hours after a cheeseburger. You also don't want to test it 5 weeks after you stopped dieting. You want the normal operating environment. What Peptides Does This Apply To? For most research compounds, 24–48 hours is sufficient before routine health panels: - GLP-1 agonists - GH secretagogues - IGF-related peptides - Mitochondrial peptides (SS-31, MOTS-C, etc.) - Immune-modulating peptides When You'd Want To Stop Longer Only if your goal is a true baseline — meaning natural physiology with zero peptide influence. That's a different goal entirely, and it requires: - Several weeks for GLP-1s - 3–4 weeks for GH/IGF signaling to fully normalize