Reader code SHAUN10 · 10% off at ZestyRat · why it's always ZestyRat →
A clear glass carafe and a glass sphere on a stone ledge in warm morning light
Curious looks
good on you
Notes from a woman who asked one too many questions

Peptides, perimenopause, and the small wins nobody explains to you.

I'm Tess. I'm in my forties, I read the studies so my friends don't have to, and I'll tell you what's real, what's marketing, and — because everyone asks — where a dozen of us actually order.

Start with your symptomWhere we order
Nothing sold no consults, no plan Every COA linked to its lot The misses published too
The question I get most
ZestyRat · SHAUN10

Same supplier for all of us. Not one problem to report. (The code is my husband's name — long story, short version here.)

Shop with 10% off
Start with what's bugging you

Not with a compound name.

Every guide on the internet is organised by molecule, which is useless if you don't already know which molecule you're looking for. Pick the thing that's actually happening to you.

The most-searched one

Energy & brain fog

NAD+, MOTS-c and the IV drip industry. What's actually been tested — and the expensive version that has zero outcome trials.

Read my notes
3 a.m. is a whole personality now

Sleep that broke

DSIP, CJC/ipamorelin, and why every 'sleep peptide' figure you've read traces back to eight men.

Read my notes
The confused one

Skin, hair & GHK-Cu

Topical vs. injectable copper peptide, settled — and who wrote most of the studies.

Read my notes
Where we order

Yes. ZestyRat. Again.

The one I trust completely, so I say so.

SHAUN10
10% off
Already on tirz? Start here

The weight thing

The one compound with real perimenopause data, the microdose question, and what 'what do I add' actually turns up.

Read my notes
Where there's a real approved comparator

Mood & libido

PT-141, Selank, and the difference between 'approved' and 'approved for you.'

Read my notes
Interactive

Vial math

How many draws in a vial, how long it lasts, what a week actually costs. Numbers, not opinions.

Open the calculator
BPC-157, honestly

Aches, recovery & gut

230 papers. Zero clinical trials. The 'human safety study' enrolled two people. Still the most-ordered vial in the chat.

Read my notes
A dozen women. Not one has stopped.

The dozen

What I've actually watched happen in a group of women who research together — boxes, seals, lot numbers, and who keeps ordering. Not reviews. On purpose.

Read the notes
30%of peptide vials on the market fail independent testing — which is why who you order from is the whole decision
Bring this to your appointment

Peptides & HRT

The questions I asked my doctor, and the one interaction no clinic protocol mentions.

The list
The honest version, fast

Pick a symptom. Get the part they leave out.

Three things for each: what I looked at, what's actually been studied in women, and what my friends and I concluded. Tap around.

Energy & brain fog

What I looked at

NAD+ (oral, and the IV drip everyone's aunt is doing), MOTS-c, and the growth-hormone secretagogues that get sold for 'clarity.'

What's actually been studied in women

Oral NR/NMN reliably raise NAD+ markers in blood and are well tolerated — 33 human trials say so. What they do to how you actually feel is, in the review's own words, 'often null.' The IV version has no outcome trials at all. MOTS-c has never been given to humans in a completed trial. A 2025 trial of tesamorelin shrank waists and did nothing for cognition.

The most-searched symptom on this site has the thinnest evidence behind it. I'm not going to dress that up.
Full notes →
The group chat's verdict

Still ordering. Nobody's switched suppliers. Nobody's stopped reading.

Where we order it
ZestyRat · SHAUN10

Batch COA linked on every product. Not one issue to report across a dozen of us.

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Affiliate link. Read the ZestyRat page for the joke and the fine print.

Sleep that broke

What I looked at

DSIP, CJC-1295 with ipamorelin, and the 'sleep stack' every clinic sells.

What's actually been studied in women

DSIP was the one peptide the FDA advisory committee voted against in July 2026. Ipamorelin's only human data comes from eight healthy men per dose. No human trial of CJC/ipamorelin for sleep exists — in either sex.

If a number for a 'sleep peptide' shows up in a protocol, ask which study it came from. It'll be a short conversation.
Full notes →
The group chat's verdict

Still ordering. Nobody's switched suppliers. Nobody's stopped reading.

Where we order it
ZestyRat · SHAUN10

Batch COA linked on every product. Not one issue to report across a dozen of us.

Shop with 10% off

Affiliate link. Read the ZestyRat page for the joke and the fine print.

Skin, hair & GHK-Cu

What I looked at

Topical GHK-Cu (serums), injectable GHK-Cu (the 'more bioavailable' pitch), and blends marketed as Glow.

What's actually been studied in women

Topical copper peptide is a reasonable, low-risk cosmetic with a long safety record — and most of the glowing reviews are authored by a man who owns a copper-peptide skincare company. Injectable GHK-Cu has zero published human trials. Women lose roughly 30% of skin collagen in the first five years after menopause, and nobody has tested GHK-Cu in that population.

The version with less evidence carries more risk. That's backwards, and it's the whole 'injectable is better' pitch.
Full notes →
The group chat's verdict

Still ordering. Nobody's switched suppliers. Nobody's stopped reading.

Where we order it
ZestyRat · SHAUN10

Batch COA linked on every product. Not one issue to report across a dozen of us.

Shop with 10% off

Affiliate link. Read the ZestyRat page for the joke and the fine print.

The weight thing

What I looked at

Tirzepatide and semaglutide (the GLP-1s), 'microdosing,' and the endless 'what do I add to my tirz' thread.

What's actually been studied in women

Tirzepatide is the only compound on this site with perimenopause-specific data: 2,542 women across the SURMOUNT trials, with a defined perimenopausal subgroup (23% reduction vs 3% placebo). Microdosing has no trial, no definition, and the big studies show the effect is dose-dependent. Compounded copies lost FDA enforcement discretion in 2025.

One compound has real data in women like us. Everything stacked on top of it is guesswork wearing a lab coat.
Full notes →
The group chat's verdict

Still ordering. Nobody's switched suppliers. Nobody's stopped reading.

Where we order it
ZestyRat · SHAUN10

Batch COA linked on every product. Not one issue to report across a dozen of us.

Shop with 10% off

Affiliate link. Read the ZestyRat page for the joke and the fine print.

Mood & libido

What I looked at

PT-141 (bremelanotide), Selank, Semax, and 'mood support' blends.

What's actually been studied in women

PT-141 is FDA-approved — for premenopausal women, with a label that says it is not indicated after menopause. The effect is modest; 40% of trial participants had nausea and 18% quit. Selank's trials are in diagnosed anxiety disorders in Russia, compared against a benzodiazepine you can't get here.

'Approved' and 'approved for someone in your situation' are different sentences. Read the second one.
Full notes →
The group chat's verdict

Still ordering. Nobody's switched suppliers. Nobody's stopped reading.

Where we order it
ZestyRat · SHAUN10

Batch COA linked on every product. Not one issue to report across a dozen of us.

Shop with 10% off

Affiliate link. Read the ZestyRat page for the joke and the fine print.

Aches, recovery & gut

What I looked at

BPC-157 (injectable and the oral capsules everyone sells), TB-500, and the 'Wolverine stack.'

What's actually been studied in women

BPC-157 has about 230 papers and not one indexed clinical trial. The study passed around as its human safety data enrolled two people. Oral BPC-157 — the most-sold form — has never been studied in a human. TB-500 borrows its credibility from a different, full-length molecule.

It's still the most-ordered vial in my group chat. Both things are true, and I'll only ever tell you the first one is evidence.
Full notes →
The group chat's verdict

Still ordering. Nobody's switched suppliers. Nobody's stopped reading.

Where we order it
ZestyRat · SHAUN10

Batch COA linked on every product. Not one issue to report across a dozen of us.

Shop with 10% off

Affiliate link. Read the ZestyRat page for the joke and the fine print.

A single unlabelled glass vial on cream linen beside blush peonies
Pure. Simple. Tested.
The running joke

Yes. It's ZestyRat. Again.

Here's the bit in my group chat. The website has a rat in the name and looks like it was designed for a guy who calls his garage 'the lab.' It was very clearly not built with a woman in her forties in mind. And every single one of us orders from it anyway.

Not because it's cute. Because it's the one thing in this whole category I trust completely. A dozen women, the same supplier, and I am still waiting for a story. No missing box. No cracked vial. No seal that looked wrong. No COA that didn't match the lot on the label. I check. We all check.

When I trust something completely, I say so. When I don't, I say that too — and half this site is me doing exactly that about things they sell.

So when the newest member of the chat asks 'where do you order from,' the answer comes back in about four seconds, from six people, and it's the same word. That's the joke. It's also the review.

What I won't tell you.Whether anything in a vial does anything for anyone. I can't, I won't, and anyone who does is selling you something. I'll tell you what's been studied, what hasn't, and where the boring, reliable, tested version comes from.
Reader code · my husband's name
SHAUN10
Shop ZestyRat — 10% offThe full story

Yes, that's a man's name. It's my husband's — he set up the account, I write the site. Long story, same 10% off.

Affiliate link — I earn a commission at no cost to you. It hasn't changed a single sentence on this site.

A dozen women. Not one has stopped.

Things I've watched happen.

These are not reviews and they are not evidence. They're what's actually happened in a group of women who research together, worded by me. The only claims here are about boxes, seals and lot numbers — on purpose.

01
The friend who said she'd 'just get one vial to look at' has reordered more times than anyone. She still reads every COA.
Ordered. Reordered. Reads the COA.
02
Someone made a spreadsheet of lot numbers and purity results. It has tabs. It has colour coding. We have never once needed it, which is the point.
Nobody has ever needed the spreadsheet.
03
Two of them asked their doctors first. Both were told 'I can't advise on that.' Both went home and read more. Neither switched suppliers.
Asked first. Read more. Same supplier.
04
The most-asked question in the chat is not 'does it work.' It's 'did yours come yet?' The answer is always Tuesday.
The box always comes.
05
Not one of us has switched. Not once. In a category where a third of vials fail testing, that's the only review that means anything to me.
Zero switches. Zero issues.
06
Every new person gets the same welcome: the disclosure, the 'talk to your doctor,' and a link. Same link. Every time.
Same welcome, same link.

Nobody is named, nobody is photographed, and nothing here is a health outcome. If you want the part that is evidence, that's what the symptom pages are for. Read the longer version →

What it should cost

Same molecule. Two very different invoices.

Clinics aren't lying to you. They're bundling a prescriber, labs and follow-ups into the number. Research-grade is the molecule and nothing else — you carry the sourcing risk yourself, which is exactly why the supplier matters more when you go this route, not less.

Run your own numbers
$250–600
Clinic & telehealth, per month
Before labs ($150–400), intake ($200–500), follow-ups ($75–200). 'From $149/mo' usually means a membership on top.
$25–50
Research grade, per month
The same compound, third-party COA, no prescriber, no hand-holding. You do the reading. That's what this site is for.
~30%
The catch
Roughly a third of vials on the open market fail independent testing. The supplier is the decision.
Vial math · interactive

How long does a vial actually last?

The question nobody answers in plain numbers. Put in the vial size, the amount per draw and what you paid, and it does the arithmetic. Research math only — it recommends nothing.

20draws in the vial
4.0weeks it lasts at that pace
$8.00cost per week
$1.60cost per draw
Want units on a syringe?The full page adds reconstitution volume and insulin-syringe units.
Open full vial math

This is arithmetic, not advice. It doesn't know you, your history or your medications, and it isn't suggesting an amount of anything. For research planning and budgeting only.

The runner-up

Amino Club, when you want the pretty one.

If ZestyRat is the one that looks like it was built for someone else and works for all of us, Amino Club is the one that looks like it was built for us — soft branding, clean packaging, ISO 17025 third-party COAs, US shipping. It's the group chat's second vote, and a couple of the women prefer it for exactly the reasons you'd guess. It's number two for one reason: ZestyRat has never given me a story to tell.

Affiliate link. You'll be asked to confirm you're a researcher at their door; that's them, not me.

House rule

Two suppliers on this whole site. Both tested, both disclosed, both ordered from by real women I know. No list of twelve 'top vendors' I've never used.

Straight answers

The questions I get in DMs.

Sourcing info gets traded privately in this world because nobody publishes it plainly. I'm publishing it plainly.

Do you sell anything?

No. Nothing is sold here, there's no consult and no plan waiting at the end. I write what I read, I link two suppliers with affiliate links, and I say so on every page. The disclosure has the details.

Are these for people?

The suppliers I link sell research materials, labelled as such, and I write about them that way: what's been studied, in whom, and what wasn't. I don't tell anyone what to put in their body and I'm not qualified to. What a dozen curious women do with their reading is their business and their doctor's.

Why is it always ZestyRat?

Because it's the one thing in this category I trust completely, and when I trust something completely I say so. A dozen of us, same supplier, no story to tell. Here's the whole bit.

Can I look at this stuff if I'm on HRT?

That's a doctor question, and it's a better one than most people realise. Oral estrogen blunts growth-hormone signalling in the liver, which is directly relevant to an entire category of what's sold. I wrote down the questions I asked mine.

What about the FDA vote in July 2026?

An advisory committee voted in favour of six peptides for the compounding list — against the FDA's own scientists, and DSIP was rejected. It is advisory only. Nothing became legal to compound that day, whatever the headlines said. Start here has the plain-English version.

Why is the discount code a man's name?

Because it's my husband's. He's the one who set up the affiliate account with ZestyRat, and honestly the one who got me reading the studies in the first place. The site is mine; the code is his; the 10% is yours. The long story is short.

Who are you?

Tess. It's a pen name; the rest is real. My husband is the Shaun in SHAUN10. About me.

Why this exists

I couldn't find the site I needed, so I'm writing it.

Somewhere in my forties my body changed the rules and forgot to send the memo. When I went looking for something solid on peptides, I found two things: studies I needed a dictionary for, and beautiful websites that all ended at a 'book a consult' button.

I wanted the thing in between. Plain English. What's been tested, what hasn't, what it costs, who actually checks the vials — and the negative results, because nobody prints those. So I started reading, then I started taking notes for my friends, and then the notes got long enough to be a website.

I won't tell you what to do. I'll show you what I found and trust you to decide. You're perfectly capable of reading the evidence yourself; most of the internet seems to have decided otherwise.

Tesswrites every word on this site · the longer version
One honest letter a month

No hype. No protocol. No selling you a plan.

What I'm reading, what changed price, what the group chat is talking about — and the things that turned out to be nothing.

Everyone asks. ZestyRat · code SHAUN10
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