Which Peptide Is Right for Me? Peptide IQ Assessment for Women

I get some version of this question weekly now: “I’m interested in peptides — where do I start?”

And the honest answer is that the question, as asked, cannot be answered. Saying you are interested in peptides is like saying you are interested in pills. It describes a delivery format, not a goal.

So I built something that asks better questions.

Why “peptides” isn’t a category you can shop

A peptide is a short chain of amino acids. That is a size classification, not a function. Insulin is a peptide. So is oxytocin. So is semaglutide.

Which means the compounds sold under this heading have almost nothing in common with each other. One is being studied for tendon repair, another for skin collagen, another for insulin sensitivity, another has large randomized trials and FDA approval. Grouping them because they share a molecular shape is like grouping aspirin with chemotherapy because both are small molecules.

The practical consequence: a woman researching “peptides” encounters a wall of marketing that treats them as interchangeable, and has no way to tell which one relates to her actual problem — or whether any of them do.

The seven protocols, in plain terms

The Wolverine stack (BPC-157 + TB-500) is the repair pairing — the one people ask about for a specific injury, a stubborn tendon, or post-surgical recovery. For women, it comes up most often around joint pain that appeared out of nowhere in the forties, which has more to do with estrogen and connective tissue than most people realize.

The Glow stack adds GHK-Cu, a copper peptide associated with collagen synthesis. Worth knowing up front: for facial skin specifically, the topical form has better human evidence than the injection. I would rather tell you that than sell you the more expensive option.

The Klow stack adds KPV and is the one that fits when inflammation is the through-line — gut symptoms and reactive skin arriving together, which is more than coincidence.

CJC-1295 + Ipamorelin prompts your own pituitary to release growth hormone in natural pulses. Dosed at night, because that is when your largest natural pulse happens. Improved sleep is what women report first, usually well before anything else.

Epithalon is the pineal and circadian one, taken as short cycles a few times a year rather than daily. The research base is narrower than its marketing implies, and I say so in the assessment.

SS-31 targets mitochondrial membrane structure and is the one compound here with genuine human clinical trials — though those studied diagnosed mitochondrial disease, not everyday fatigue. That gap matters.

MOTS-c is a peptide your own mitochondria produce, studied for insulin sensitivity and metabolic flexibility. It maps onto the metabolic shift many women feel through perimenopause. It is not a weight-loss drug.

There is also a GLP-1 track — semaglutide and tirzepatide — which sits in a different category entirely, with large randomized trials behind it.

Anyone who can describe seven protocols without once telling you which is unproven is selling, not advising.

What the assessment does differently

Six questions, about two minutes. It asks what you are actually dealing with — recovery, skin, gut, energy, metabolism, or sleep — what else is going on, where you are hormonally, what foundations you already have in place, what you are realistically willing to do, and a short safety screen.

Then it shows your closest match and a runner-up, with the honest evidence picture for each.

Three things it does that I have not seen elsewhere:

It will refuse to show you a protocol. If you indicate pregnancy, trying to conceive, a cancer history, or certain thyroid cancer history, you get no match list at all — you get an explanation of why, and a conversation instead. Several of these compounds influence cell migration, blood vessel formation, or telomerase activity. A quiz that cheerfully recommends peptides to someone with a cancer history is a quiz you should distrust.

It checks your foundation first. If you mark that hormones have not been assessed, protein is not deliberate, or you are not strength training, the results lead with that — ahead of any protocol. Because a peptide layered on top of unaddressed hormones, inadequate protein, or untreated sleep apnea is a Band-Aid on something it cannot reach. I would rather lose the sale than watch that happen.

It collects nothing. No email, no name, no storage. You get your result on the screen and can save or print it. I built it that way on purpose.

The part I say to everyone

Peptides are downstream. Every one of these compounds works on tissue you already have, using machinery that is already running. If the machinery is under-resourced, the signal has nothing to act on.

Which means the order goes: assess hormones, thyroid, ferritin, vitamin D, and fasting insulin. Correct the foundations — protein, resistance training, sleep. Re-evaluate, because a meaningful share of what brought you here resolves right there. Then consider a peptide for what remains.

Women who do it in that order get results that hold. Women who skip to the peptide usually end up disappointed by an expensive intervention aimed at the wrong problem.

Important: Most peptides discussed here are investigational compounds that are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the uses described, and human clinical trial data for most is limited. They are available only as compounded medications through a licensed prescribing provider. I do not prescribe or dispense peptide therapies. This article and the assessment are educational only — not medical advice, and not a recommendation to use any product.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the assessment a prescription or recommendation?

Neither. It is educational, it collects nothing, and its most useful output is often telling you to address something else first.

What if I get a safety-gated result?

It means something in your history warrants a real conversation rather than a list. That is not a dead end — it means the right starting point is someone who can look at your whole history.

Can I take a peptide alongside hormone therapy?

Often they are considered together, and that combination should be designed deliberately by the provider managing both.

How do I know a peptide is legitimate?

If it is sold “for research use only, not for human consumption,” it sits entirely outside pharmacy regulation — no prescriber, no sterility requirement, no recourse. That disclaimer is the whole legal architecture that lets it ship, and it should tell you everything.