I.U., mg,mcg,ml,cc, "what does all this mean?" Tutorial rev.2 A more in depth guide to data conversion. This will be helpful to people who have trouble converting their units, or understanding things such as I.U., ml, cc, and other terms associated with chemical enhancement use.
Lesson 1: Units and their definitions
i.u. (IU) = international unit. This is a unit used to measure the activity (that is, the effect) of many vitamins and drugs. For each substance to which this unit applies, there is an international agreement specifying the biological effect expected with a dose of 1 IU. Other quantities of the substance are then expressed as multiples of this standard. This also means that this measurment is not based on sheer volume or weight of the substance, but rather the effect.
ml = milliliter. This is a VOLUME measurement. it is 1/1000 of a liter. when talking about water or similar liquids, it is equivelant to one cubic centimeter.
cc = cubic centimeter. This is also a VOLUME measurement. Most syringes measure their capacity in cc's. If you have a 5cc syringe, it will hold ~5ml of liquid in it.
mg = milligram. This is a WEIGHT measurement. It is 1/1000 of a gram. the amount of chemical substance is often measured in milligrams. For injectable solutions, this will be reported as a concentration of weight to volume, such as mg/ml (milligrams per milliliter). In the case of orally administered substances, the weight of chemical is labeled, athough the actual weight of the pill/capsule may be much higher, because of the use of filler substances. This means that a small pill may be much more potent than a large pill, so don't judge a pill based on its size, but the actual amount of substance for which it is labeled as.
mcg = microgram = 1/1000 of a mg (milligram) There are one thousand micrograms in one milligram.
Conversion factors:
1000 mcg (microgram) = 1 mg (milligram)
1000 mg (milligram) = 1 g (gram)
1000 g (gram) = 1 kg (kilogram)
1000 ml (milliliter) = 1 liter
1ml (water) = 1cc (water)
1ml (oil) ~ 1cc (oil) (~ denotes approximately equal to)
Lesson 2: Examples putting it all together
Say a user has some Nandrolone Decanoate from two different companies. One is 'Deca 300' from QV, and one from BM which is 'DecaDubol 100'. Both of these are Nandrolone Decanoate, but they have different concentrations. What this means is....
for the QV Deca 300:
if you take 1 ml (one milliliter) of this solution, it will take up ~1cc (one cubic centimeter) of space in the syringe. There will be 300mg (three hundred milligrams) of Nandrolone Decanoate in this dosage.
for the DecaDubol 100:
if you take 1 ml (one milliliter) of this solution, it will take up ~1cc (one cubic centimeter) of space in the syringe. There will be 100mg (one hundred milligrams) of Nandrolone Decanoate in this dosage.
If you put the syringes side by side, they appear the exact same, so what is the difference? the QV Deca 300 has a concentration of 300mg/ml, while the DecaDubol only has a concentration of 100mg/ml. This means that the syringe with QV Deca has three times (3x) the amount of nandrolone decanoate in the same exact volume as the syringe with DecaDubol.
A drug's effectiveness has nothing to do with the concentration. If you take three milliliters (3ml) of the DecaDubol, it will have the same effect as one milliliter (1ml) of QV Deca 300.
I have seen concentrations for testosterone labeled as high as 600mg/ml. And these basic standards apply to all substances measured by weight.
Lesson 3: How do I work with substances labeled with I.U.'s (International Units)
Dosages for substances such as HCG, HGH, and insulin are measured by their respective IU values.
For example, Organon makes HCG under the brand pregnyl in 1500i.u. and 5000i.u. concentrations. The drug comes with two vials. One with the powder of actual HCG powder, and one with a liquid to reconstitute the powder into an injectable soltuion.
If you have a 1500i.u. vial of HCG which comes with a 1ml vial of sterile water, once you mix the vials together, you will now have 1500i.u. of HCG in one milliliter (1ml) of solution. If you do not have the proper syringe, it would be quite tricky to break this down into small dosages such as 500i.u. If all you have available is larger syringes such as 3cc or 5cc, a good trick would be to mix the HCG with your own USP grade water. To make it very easy, if you mix three cc's of water with your vial of 1500i.u. HCG, you will now have a nice concentration of 500i.u. per milliliter (500iu/ml). This was calculated by dividing the units by the volume, so 1500i.u. divided by three milliliters (1500iu/3ml) is equal to 500i.u. per milliliter.
The same applies for HGH.
Be very careful with insulin syringes that are labeled by how many i.u.'s they hold. They are only accurate for insulin, and will not be accurate for substances such as HCG or HGH.
