Drug Tests for Steroids, Trenbolone Ethyl Ester, Long-Term Oxandrolone Cycle, Long-Term Androgen Replacement Therapy and Fertility, Trenbolone and Cardiovascular Risk

World-renowned anabolic authority, William Llewellyn has written and rewritten the definitive book on steroids. His series of ANABOLICS books have become the most trusted steroid and performance drug reference book of its kind. For over 15 years Llewellyn has uncovered and compiled cutting-edge insider's information from actual drug manufacturers, dealers, and users from all over the world, guaranteeing up-to-date information.

Occupational Drug Tests for Anabolic Steroids

Q: I realize that I'm probably not being tested for steroids but I make too much money to lose my job just to get big.... Anyway... Recently I've been prescribed Androgel for my low testosterone levels. Knowing that I have a prescription I was wondering if I could add some Sustanon or testosterone enanthate to that. I pretty much want to know if you can tell the difference in testosterone on a drug test? Cause I know they have slightly different esters and molecules. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

A: Let me start off with a little background first. There is a way to identify synthetic testosterone on a test, but it is not simple. Typically what happens during an IOC steroid screen is that they will first look at the ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in the urine, another natural hormone normally made in the body with testosterone in a 1:1 ratio. If this ratio fails because it is abnormally high (> 4:1), a second (much more thorough) carbon isotope test is conducted to see if the testosterone in your body was actually of natural origin or if it is the result of a synthetic drug. It is the complexity of this test that has kept it from being used as a first line of defense. All of the drugs you mentioned including Androgel would come up as synthetic during this test, and cause a failure.

I think the main issues here are IF you are going to be drug tested, and IF you fail will your prescription cover you for your job even if taking other forms of testosterone. The reality is, your job will not be able to tell if you are using Sustanon, enanthate, or your prescribed Androgel. So in this regard you are safe. If you are taking a sufficient dose of any, however, they might be able to tell that you are using some form of synthetic testosterone in high amounts. With such a scenario, an extremely high T/E ratio would be hard to explain, even with a prescription. Realistically, however, the practice of testing for anabolic steroids in the workplace is extremely rare. The level of testing required would also have to be on par with the very costly and lengthy testing procedure of an Olympic or top competitive athlete. In this case you do have a script as well, which can probably be used as an explanation for any potential failure due to synthetic testosterone, provided your employer is not the IOC, or is not outright trying to catch you using gear.

Practicality and Effectiveness of Trenbolone Ethyl Ester

Q: Trenbolone Ethyl Ester? Ok, so they esterify creatine, arginine, and a few other things. So could you esterify fina pellets to produce a fairly decent oral tren? If so, how do you do it?

A: It would be possible to produce an ethyl ester of trenbolone, however, it would probably not be a worthwhile project. While esterification may effect to oral bioavailability of some (far from all in spite of marketing claims) supplements, with steroids this modification actually has only a minor effect on oral potency. This technology is most applicable with a drug like Andriol, which uses a long-chain ester to solubilize testosterone in oil so that some drug can be absorbed by the lymphatic system, bypassing the liver. A short chain ethyl ester will have little effect on oil solubility, and likewise will give you little boost on oral activity, even if you were to combine it with oil first. In fact, the acetate ester already present on the steroid will probably have about the same (minimal) effect.

But that is not to say you are without hope in your search for “oral tren”. The fact is that trenbolone, regardless of its ester, is a hormone fairly resistant to breakdown in the liver. This has to do with its other structural modifications (its ring dehydrogenation mainly), which make the steroid a less attractive substrate for certain metabolizing enzymes. As such, some active drug will get through the digestive tract intact and into your blood. So you can indeed take trenbolone orally. The result will be qualitatively very similar to the injectable, albeit the oral will require a much higher dose to reach an equivalent level of effect. Often several pellets per day (minimum) are used in place of a moderate injectable dose (100-200mg per week). What dose any one person actually needs to find a comfortable tradeoff of side effects and results will have to be determined with some personal experimentation.

Relative Risk of Long-Term Oxandrolone Cycle

Q: How long can I stay on a low dose (25mg) of Anavar? I cannot find a correct legitimate answer anywhere! 6-8-10-12 weeks?? I know Anavar is used in treating AIDS patients from muscle wasting...so what is the max for "healthy" males and females?

A: In the context of this discussion, “maximum” and “risk” are going to be relative terms. It is really an individual decision as to what is acceptable and what is not. In the case of an HIV+ patient, preventing body wasting can be a life-saving treatment. The risks are, likewise, easy to weigh in light of the potential for death if treatment is not given. For a healthy individual, however, technically “no Anavar” would be the answer, as any substantial use will present some risks to the user. What you need to do is put these risks in perspective, and decide for yourself what is OK for you and what is not.

With Anavar, you are talking about a slightly to moderately liver toxic oral steroid with a pronounced effect on cholesterol balance (as all oral c-17 alkylated orals do). While liver toxicity is admittedly not as pronounced with this steroid as with many other orals, the risk for hepatic injury cannot be excluded, especially with long-term use. So in this regard, one should keep an eye on liver enzymes during use, especially during longer durations. The cholesterol issue is also a measurable one. For almost the entire time you are going to take the drug, you are likely to endure some fairly unfavorable lipid profiles. Your good (HDL) cholesterol levels will decline, and your bad (LDL) levels will likely increase. On the short term, this is highly unlikely to put you at serious cardiovascular risk, unless of course you have underlying cardiovascular disease. The longer you take the drug (total cumulative on-time), however, the longer the imbalanced cholesterol levels will be left to deposit plaque on your arteries. This doesn’t just instantly vanish once your levels return to normal (post cycle). As the months become years and the years become decades, the risks to your health are going to be greatly amplified. If you do one-day die early from heart disease, your death will be deemed just that too, “heard disease”. Steroids will never be blamed, even though they were a root-contributing factor.

OK, so I am jumping ahead here I know. Your question was much more narrow. You asked what was best, 6,8,10, or 12 week cycles. This is something I can’t really answer, as in all cases the acute (short-term) risks of use are going to be very low. I seriously doubt you would run into much trouble between weeks 6 or 12. The real issue, again, is the total cumulative time (in your life) you plan on using oral steroids like this. If this is something you are going to do 12 weeks every 6 months, or 24 weeks out of every year, you better take care! It is also important to remember that these risks are not isolated to orals. Increased cardiovascular disease risk is noted with esterified injectable steroids as well. It is just that these risks are significantly greater with the orals. With injectable drugs such as testosterone, nandrolone, boldenone, and methenolone, the impact the steroid will have on HDL/LDL is lighter. Also, there is often a “comfortable” range (usually 400mg per week give or take) where the cholesterol ratio is not excessively shifted, in many cases remaining in the boundaries of what is considered “normal”. Using injectable anabolic steroids like these (in reasonable doses) exclusively, and avoiding all orals, might pay dividends long-term with reducing the harm associated with these drugs.

Long-Term Androgen Replacement Therapy, Testicular Atrophy and Fertility

Q: I am a 38 y/o male, and I have hypogonadism. I have been taking either testosterone cypionate or enanthate for 8 years to treat the condition. My endocrinologist has had me on 400mg every 3 weeks with no time off, and it has "removed" my "boys". I live in a rural area of Alabama, and no other doctors here know anything about any of this. I can't afford to travel too far, but I'd like to be able to still have children if it isn't too late with the way I've been prescribed the testosterone IM's for so long. I need advice as to an HCG - human chorionic gonadotropin/testosterone regimen, hopefully to restore my "boys", and remain fertile. Basically, I need any suggestions on how to take these two together to stay fertile if it is not too late. Even if it is too late for fertility, I'd like to add the HCG anyway because of shrinkage and have my sack drop back, ;-)

A: Jim. Your complaints are not uncommon. These are the things you have to deal with very often with long-term androgen replacement therapy. You actually have two very common issues going on here that you want to address.

On the one hand is fertility. This is going to be an issue, as long-term testosterone administration generally reduces fertility. In fact, the drug is a fairly reliable as a male birth control option. This is due to the fact that you are flooding your blood with androgens from an outside source. This interrupts the normal hormone production cycle, a part of which involves the stimulation of spermatogenesis. If you want to have children, I suspect you are going to have to change your medical focus from androgen replacement to hormonal recovery and fertility. I know you had low androgen levels to begin with, but this doesn’t necessarily mean you are infertile, nor that normal hormone levels cannot be restored. In many cases a physician will initiate androgen as a fast way to alleviate the symptoms of low testosterone. Often an approach to endogenous (internal) hormonal recovery is still very viable. I would look into it.

Secondly, regardless of your state of fertility you would like advice on restoring “your boys” not normal size. Testicular atrophy, again, is a common side effect of androgen replacement therapy. This is also due to the hormonal disruption caused by exogenous testosterone, as I am sure you already know. For a long time, the advice had been to use HCG for only brief periods of time, usually isolated to the post-cycle window. This was done for fear that the drug may over stimulate the testes and cause desensitization to LH/HCG (interfering with recovery). Indeed, there is a great deal of support for this side effect of HCG use in the medical literature. More recently, however, successful protocols for the use of HCG regularly during hormone replacement therapy have been proposed. The most notable work in this area comes from Dr. John Crisler, who, after a long period of testing with pateints, had discovered that a low dose of HCG (250-350IU most commonly) twice per week could maintain testicular volume without desensitizing the cells to HCG. These protocols are now used by many testosterone recipients for dealing with the often very troubling cosmetic issue of testicular atrophy. I would point your physician to Dr. Crisler’s website for more information. An exact link to the HCG paper is below:

http://www.allthingsmale.com/word_docs/HCGupdate.doc

Trenbolone, Total Androgen Load and Cardiovascular Risk

Q: I am 56 years old, in great shape and very fit. After reading ANABOLICS 2006/7 I am very careful. I started a cycle of trenbolone enanthate. I chose this product because of the low risk and have done three cycles so far of eight weeks on and 16 weeks off. I have used this with a low dose of Testosterone topical gel daily. The gains were not as great as I would have liked, but I have managed to keep much of gains between cycles. I used 1-2cc's per dose weekly. I have two questions. Could I safely stack another product with this to increase my gains? If trenbolone enanthate becomes difficult for me to obtain, what would you recommend I use instead bearing in my mind my low risk preference but desire to see results? I should add I have had tests done after each cycle and the results were all fine.

A: I am certainly glad to hear that my books have had some impact on your preference for safety. As you clearly understand, these drugs are not without risk. At the same time, however, these risks can be reduced with a little bit of care and forethought. I think this is an understanding that all (steroid user or not) should have. You asked a couple of questions pertaining to safety, so I will first address your concern about adding another drug to your stack. Here, you need to keep in mind that the total weekly dose is going to be a key factor in dictating risk, even if you are elevating the dose with a fairly safe drug. The mildest drugs, which probably include testosterone and nandrolone, can still dramatically shift the cholesterol balance if a sufficient dose is taken. So if you are presently in a low-dose range with trenbolone and finding it “not too harsh” on your lipids, care should be taken as a new drug is added, as it may easily push you to a zone where cardiovascular disease risk (assessed by HDL/LDL balance) is significantly increased.

Next, you asked about a replacement for trenbolone. This is perhaps not the worst idea even if it is still available to you. While trenbolone may be far from the worst steroid, it is not quite the safest either. While it does lack significant liver toxicity and may be weaker on your lipids than many orals, it remains extremely potent and readily capable of increasing risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In addition to being very strong, trenbolone is also non-aromatizable. This means that androgen to estrogen activity is going to shift in favor of the former even more profoundly than it would otherwise. This is important because estrogen helps to mitigate some of the negative health effects of elevated androgen levels. Studies with testosterone, for example, have shown that the drug can have a significantly greater negative impact on lipids if the hormone is taken with an aromatase inhibitor compared to without. Trenbolone is, for lack of a better example, like taking a strong dose of testosterone combined with an aromatase inhibitor. Not the most ideal situation for your lipids, obviously. Safer non-methylated injectable drugs would probably include testosterone, nandrolone, boldenone, and methenolone. Given a dose of equivalent potency, an injectable testosterone is perhaps the safest of all anabolic/androgenic steroids; at least as far as cardiovascular disease risk is concerned.

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About William Llewellyn

William Llewellyn is a recognized authority on anabolic substances, and author of the bestselling steroid reference book series ANABOLICS, soon entering its 6th edition with ANABOLICS 2007.  Llewellyn has been featured in ESPN Magazine (Cover Story), The Washington Post (Front Page Story), Discovery Channel, Fox News Channel, ESPN Television, NPR news, ESPN radio, and other television and radio programs. He also publishes Body of Science magazine, a quarterly publication dedicated to the “understanding of sports enhancement”, with a focus on the athletic use of performance-enhancing pharmaceuticals. Llewellyn also writes a monthly column for Muscular Development magazine on the subject of anabolic steroids, and has authored numerous articles for other bodybuilding publications.