Steroid Side Effects for the Newbies - Must Read

[eddymerckx]

fantastic post tat--a must read for all

 

[Tatyana]

Very good info,just one thing i'd would have liked to know is the"solutions u offer as an exemple for the kidneys,are they for prevention or is it more a once the sides are there solution?

Another question i have,its regarding smoking and steroids...I have a freind at the gym that restarted smoking cigarettes and he is doing orals,i was telling him about problems with hdl/ldl related sides from orals and telling him that since his ldl is probably low he's getting even more plaque in his artherys but i'm not shure about that....Am i right?And until he stops smoking what could he do to prevent plaque?Take fish oil?Thanks!

I just posted this as I found it, I probably should have edited a few bits.

With regards to kidney stones, it looks like some people are stone formers or they are not, it is still a bit of a medical mystery.

I have written a paper on it, I just found it so boring I don't remember a lot to be honest.

I think the majority of stones contain either urea or uric acid, urea is from the breakdown/deamination of protein and amino acids, uric acid is from the breakdown of DNA, which would mean limiting your protein intake.

I will have a look for the paper and have a quick read again.

As far as smoking goes, the issue is that smoking generates a lot of free radicals in the body.

These free radicals attack certain molecules in the body, and the oxidisation of LDL cholesterol seems to be one of the favs. This oxidised LDL also attracts a lot of the immune system cells or white blood cells, and they do their job releasing even more reactive oxygen species (very similar to free radicals), they die and stick to this whole reactive fatty mess, which then can stick to the vessel walls in areas called fatty streaks.

BTW, even infants have fatty streaks in their blood vessels, it does seem to be something we just have.

Fibrinogen in the blood is also activated by all of the cytokines etc that the immune sytem cells are releasing and fibrin is incorporated or covers the plaque.

It becomes an issue when one of these gloopy, reactive masses is stuck in one of the veins that supply the heart.

If the plaque is stable, it is not a big deal, except if it blocks a lot of the vessel, and then this can result in angina.

If the plaque leaks at all, more is added to it. If it ruptures, there is a HUGE rush of immune system cells to the area and the entire vein can be blocked off again, causing a heart attack.

So this whole process is worse when we have

- higher levels of LDL cholesterol (diet and exercise related)

- a lot of free radicals

Smoking not only generates free radicals, but it uses up huge amounts of the anti-oxidants in our bodies (vitamin C, vitamin E for example, there are a lof of them).

Even if the vitamins keep up with the smoking, our immune system generates free radicals/reactive oxygen species to kill stuff (our immune system is a nasty tough little beast), and these free radicals could oxidise LDL.

The solution is not as simple as taking more anti-oxidants either. In one really long term study called the Framingham, it was found that men who smoked and took vitamin E (maybe another vit as well) had a higher incidence of lung cancer).

It is tough to quit smoking, but get him to think about how much money he will save (and can spend on cycles or supps), and how much less he will wrinkle, and how he won't stink of fags and the girlies won't want to kiss an ashtray.

 

[Huge_Dmax]

Great read for this newby! Learning so much here.

 

[aquatic_glories]

for the hairloss part, it looks like if you are already prone to MPB and certain parts o my head already has thin or weak hair, they usually fall out with AAS use. the strong genetically unprone parts dont go anyway.
also looks like topical androgen blockers such as Ketoral or Nizoral really helps a lot, a lot!!

that brings another debate back... trenbolone is very androgenic however if we link hair loss to DHT then it shouldnt cause hair loss.

what do you guys think?