$50.00
Cialis (tadalafil) is the only medication in its class that treats both erectile dysfunction and enlarged prostate symptoms. You can also take it on a regular basis, which can allow for more spontaneity.
Cialis (tadalafil) is a phosphodiesterase-5 enzyme (PDE-5) inhibitor, meaning it blocks PDE-5. This relaxes certain muscles and blood vessels, which increases blood flow to the penis to help with an erection. Cialis (tadalafil) also treats enlarged prostate symptoms.
How long does it take for Cialis (tadalafil) to work?
Cialis (tadalafil) will kick in about 30 minutes after taking it, though it may take longer for some people. On average, it can take up to 2 hours for full effect.
Pros and cons of Cialis (tadalafil)
A first-choice medication for treating erectile dysfunction
Can be taken either as needed, or on a regular basis for those who need it more regularly — this means you can be more spontaneous about the timing of sex.
Lasts longer than Viagra (sildenafil)
Can’t be taken if you’ve had a heart attack in the past 3 months, or a stroke or heart failure in the past 6 months
Can’t be used if you’ve recently taken nitrates like Isordil, Imdur, or nitroglycerin (Nitro-BID, Nitro-Dur, Nitrostat)
Could have more side effects for people who are 65 or older — use this medication with care
Cialis (tadalafil) can be dosed in two ways: (1) taken on a daily basis, or (2) only when you need it. If you’re taking Cialis (tadalafil) on a regular basis, take it at the same time every day.
If you get muscle or back pain with Cialis (tadalafil), it should get better in about 2 days. Talk to your doctor if your symptoms don’t improve.
If you have an erection for more than 4 hours, go to the emergency department (ED) or call your doctor immediately as this can lead to damage to the penis.
Cialis (tadalafil) does not stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like herpes or HIV. Be sure to practice safe sex.
Anadrol (commonly called by athletes “A50” or “A-bombs”) was initially developed as a compound to help people with anemia, and has since been used very successfully to aid people who are suffering from many other diseases where weight loss is a concern. Thus, it is clearly an effective agent for promoting weight gain, increasing appetite, gaining strength, and increasing Red Blood Cell count. And, as with most Anabolic/Androgenic Steroids (AAS), it has its downsides as well. Anadrol 50 will inhibit your body’s natural production of hormones (testosterone, etc ), will negatively affect your blood lipid profile, can cause water retention, is notorious for causing headaches, and is also highly liver toxic (in fact, it has the worst reputation for hepatoxicity out of all steroids). Paradoxically, although one the benefits touted by its original manufacturer (Syntex) is that it can be used to stimulate weight gain through increasing appetite, taking too much may actually inhibit your appetite!
I think, in order to gain a complete understanding of the Anadrol 50 effects on body, we need to take a look at its advantages contrasted with its disadvantages. Anadrol is a DHT-derived compound, and is 17-Alpha-Alkylated steroid, meaning that it has been altered at the 17th carbon position to survive oral ingestion. Most oral steroids are 17aa, and this helps them make it through your liver in a useful form. Sounds great, right? Lets 17alpha-alkylate everything! Well as you can imagine, there’s a down side.
This 17aa alteration, which makes it possible for Anadrol to survive its first pass through your liver, also makes it very taxing on your liver. How taxing is Anadrol and how much weight can you gain from its use? Well, there was a 30 week study done on Anadrol and, as you can expect, a reasonable amount of side effects were noted. The fact that Anadrol causes some side effects has really never been in debate. But how effective was the drug? Well, first it should be mentioned that this study was done on people with AIDS related wasting, and they actually gained weight (8+kg) while the control group lost weight, and had increased mortality rates. (1). I suppose, if you’re in a study because you have a wasting disease which is also a terminal illness, you don’t want to end up in the control group. Anyway, weight gain in this study peaked at 19-20 weeks, though, so the last 10 weeks weren’t very productive in this respect. Clearly, you wouldn’t want to run Anadrol 50 for 20 weeks, given its toxicity, but after that, any effect in terms of weight and strength gains would be negligible. So, with regards to sides from Anadrol, and the sheer fact that this study lasted so long (30 weeks), it should be apparent that they can be kept under control and the drug can be used safely. People are commonly told to limit their intake of Anadrol to 4 weeks or less I’m a bit less conservative and think you can easily run Anadrol for 6 weeks or more.
From personal experience, however, I can tell you that gains from Anadrol are quite dramatic for the first 3 weeks and then quickly level off. Unfortunately, I find that the side effects experienced from Anadrol (which include a headache, bloating, elevated blood pressure, and a general “unwell” feeling for me) remain for the entire duration of use. But I find as usual, side effects for this drug are pretty much half legend and half truth. Since Anadrol 50 is derived from DHT, it cant actually convert to estrogen (via the aromatase enzyme), and its not a progestin or a compound with progestenic activity so the estrogenic (?) side effects produced by it are of a very mysterious nature. It has been speculated that perhaps it can stimulate the estrogen receptor without actually being converted to estrogen and that’s about as plausible an explanation as Ive heard. However, things really get strange, when Oxymetholone has been used in studies to alter the female reproductive/menstrual cycle; in those cases, it has lowered plasma progesterone levels! (7)One would expect that an AI (aromatase inhibitor) wouldn’t be of much use with this drug, but many have found that Letrozole (which has, in some cases been shown to reduce estrogen in the body to an undetectable amount)(6) can greatly reduce or even eliminate many of the more noticeable side effects of Anadrol, such as the bloating.
As I’ve stated, however, the sides from this drug are certainly no joke, but are easily preventable, and controllable. One study even showed very few sides for subjects using up to 100mgs of Oxymetholone (2). In the original UnderGround Steroid Hand Book, Dan Duchaine states that he used it at doses up to 150mgs/day. Clearly, Anadrol’s hepatoxicity has been a bit exaggerated, in some circles. Be that as it may, my suggestion is still to limit Anadrol’s use to 6 weeks, at a maximum even if just to err on the side of caution. Of course, I have personally run this drug for much longer..
How should we use Anadrol? Id probably be willing to include Anadrol in a cycle including injectable steroids, but not other 17aa compounds. Id make any 6-week-run of this compound begin at the start of a cycle, as a form of “jumpstart” towards seeing gains quickly. The quick gains you will get from Anadrol (up to a pound per day for the first 2 weeks are not uncommon in Steroid.com members) are also just as quick to disappear upon cessation of use .unless you are simply using it as a kickstarter, while waiting for your other compounds to kick-in. Ill go out on a limb here and say that utilizing Anadrol as a “Jumpstart” is the most popular use of this drug for athletes and bodybuilders today. Ill also say that this drug is immensely popular with strength athletes who dont have to worry about weight classes (Field athletes and strongmen), and with powerlifters in the heavier weight brackets. Its also important to note that in one study by Schroder et. Al (2) Anadrol showed that it has the ability to lower serum SHBG (Sex Hormone Binding Globulin which binds to your free test and makes it no longer useful for anabolism, among other things) concentrations by 54.9 25.8 and 45 16.2 nmol/l in the 50- and 100-mg treatment groups. This means there will be more free test circulating around your body when you take this drug and clearly, this would produce some synergy when stacked with other steroids. Given the large amounts of weight and strength which can be gained in a relatively short time span on this drug, I’m sure this comes as no surprise to many.
Another important and often understated characteristic of this compound is that Oxymetholone doesn’t bind well to the androgen receptor (Relative Binding Affinity = too low to be determined) (3) which is the lowest Ive ever read about. Basically, what this tells me is that there are a lot of non-receptor mediated effects from this steroid, making it a very potent addition to ANY BULKING stack, because it wont be competing for the receptor sites with the other steroids you’re using. Its also, as you may have guessed a very poor choice for a cutting stack.
What is an Anadrol Cycle? How much should you use? Well, this is actually one of the most interesting facts about Anadrol 50. You see, most steroids produce what we call a “dose respondent curve” which is a fancy way of saying “the more you use, the more you gain.”
Anadrol is one of the few steroids where the dose respondent curve flattens out very quickly. When you take 50mgs of Anadrol, you’ll make some very good gains. When you take 100mgs of Anadrol, you’ll make even more gains. However, it has been found that 100mgs/day is as effective for weight gain as 150mgs/day but produces less side effects and was less toxic (4). I feel that the jump from 50mgs to 100mgs constitutes an acceptable rise in benefit vs. cost, but this is not the case as dosages get over 100mgs. Now, lets see how 50mgs and 100mgs of Oxymetholone actually effect strength, when compared with each other:
Relative (%) changes in strength are shown for the groups receiving placebo (filled bars), 50 mg/day oxymetholone (open bars), and 100 mg/day oxymetholone (gray bars). Nos. above bars represent relative change (%) from baseline to week 12 for the 1-repetition maximum tests of strength. Error bars represent 1 SE from the mean. * Significant difference from placebo, P < 0.05; significant difference from placebo by Wilcoxon test, P < 0.02. See text for additional statistical analyses.
As you can see, in this study, doubling the dose of Anadrol 50 nearly doubled the strength gains of the test subjects. Now, when we look at changes in body composition from Oxymetholone (chart below) we can see that although the guys taking the 100mgs (vs. the 50mgs group) had more fat lost and more Lean Body Mass gained, it wasn’t as dramatic as the differences in strength gains between the two groups:
Changes in body composition are shown for the groups receiving placebo (filled bars), 50 mg of oxymetholone per day (open bars), and 100 mg per day (gray bars). Numbers above the bars represent the mean absolute changes and the error bars are 1 SE. For total lean body mass (LBM) and total fat, differences among the 3 groups were significant (P < 0.0001, one-way ANOVA). * Significant differences from placebo, P 0.001.
Although I am usually not inclined to posit speculations on why a particular drug does or doesn’t do something, in this case I will. Im guessing that the higher doses of Anadrol cause enough appetite suppression (at least anecdotally) to make eating rather difficult. It can also increase insulin resistance and glucose intolerance (5). This has the effect of making macronutrient absorption more inefficient, and could also be a factor in reducing gains when the dosage goes over 100mgs/day. Unfortunately, Anadrol also has a reasonably profound effect on your body’s natural hormonal system, on par with most other oral steroids, but not as bad as most injectables, and its certainly not as harsh on your lipid profile as many anabolics are
(2). As an interesting side note, some of the medical literature on this compound suggests a dose of 1-5mgs per kg of bodyweight. Ill pause a second here for you to figure out how absurdly high of a dose that would translate to for the average bodybuilder!
Viagra is used to treat erectile dysfunction (impotence) in men. Another brand of sildenafil is Revatio, which is used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension and improve exercise capacity in men and women. This page contains specific information for Viagra, not Revatio.
Do not take Viagra while also taking Revatio, unless your doctor tells you to.
Some medicines can cause unwanted or dangerous effects when used with Viagra. Tell your doctor about all your current medicines, especially riociguat (Adempas) and nitrates.
Do not take Viagra if you are also using a nitrate drug for chest pain or heart problems, including nitroglycerin, isosorbide dinitrate, isosorbide mononitrate, and some recreational drugs such as “poppers”. Taking sildenafil with a nitrate medicine can cause a sudden and serious decrease in blood pressure.
Contact your doctor or seek emergency medical attention if your erection is painful or lasts longer than 4 hours. A prolonged erection (priapism) can damage the penis.
Stop using Viagra and get emergency medical help if you have sudden vision loss.
You should not use Viagra if you are allergic to sildenafil, or:
Do not take Viagra if you are also using a nitrate drug for chest pain or heart problems. This includes nitroglycerin, isosorbide dinitrate, and isosorbide mononitrate. Nitrates are also found in some recreational drugs such as amyl nitrate or nitrite (“poppers”). Taking sildenafil with a nitrate medicine can cause a sudden and serious decrease in blood pressure.
To make sure Viagra is safe for you, tell your doctor if you have ever had:
Viagra can decrease blood flow to the optic nerve of the eye, causing sudden vision loss. This has occurred in a small number of people taking sildenafil, most of whom also had heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or certain pre-existing eye problems, and in those who smoked or were over 50 years old. It is not clear whether sildenafil is the actual cause of vision loss.
Viagra is not expected to harm an unborn baby. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.
It is not known whether sildenafil passes into breast milk or if it could harm a nursing baby. Tell your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby.
Do not give this medicine to anyone under 18 years old without medical advice.
Take Viagra exactly as it was prescribed for you. Follow all directions on your prescription label. Do not take this medicine in larger or smaller amounts or for longer than recommended.
Viagra is usually taken only when needed, 30 minutes to 1 hour before sexual activity. You may take it up to 4 hours before sexual activity. Do not take Viagra more than once per day.
Viagra can help you have an erection when sexual stimulation occurs. An erection will not occur just by taking a pill. Follow your doctor’s instructions.
During sexual activity, if you become dizzy or nauseated, or have pain, numbness, or tingling in your chest, arms, neck, or jaw, stop and call your doctor right away. You could be having a serious side effect of sildenafil.
Store at room temperature away from moisture and heat.
Since Viagra is used as needed, you are not likely to miss a dose.
Seek emergency medical attention or call the Poison Help line at 1-800-222-1222.
Drinking alcohol with this medicine can cause side effects.
Grapefruit and grapefruit juice may interact with sildenafil and lead to unwanted side effects. Avoid the use of grapefruit products while taking sildenafil.
Avoid using any other medicines to treat impotence, such as alprostadil or yohimbine, without first talking to your doctor.
Get emergency medical help if you have signs of an allergic reaction to Viagra: hives; difficulty breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat.
Stop taking Viagra and get emergency medical help if you have:
Call your doctor at once if you have:
Anadrol (commonly called by athletes “A50” or “A-bombs”) was initially developed as a compound to help people with anemia, and has since been used very successfully to aid people who are suffering from many other diseases where weight loss is a concern. Thus, it is clearly an effective agent for promoting weight gain, increasing appetite, gaining strength, and increasing Red Blood Cell count. And, as with most Anabolic/Androgenic Steroids (AAS), it has its downsides as well. Anadrol 50 will inhibit your body’s natural production of hormones (testosterone, etc ), will negatively affect your blood lipid profile, can cause water retention, is notorious for causing headaches, and is also highly liver toxic (in fact, it has the worst reputation for hepatoxicity out of all steroids). Paradoxically, although one the benefits touted by its original manufacturer (Syntex) is that it can be used to stimulate weight gain through increasing appetite, taking too much may actually inhibit your appetite!
I think, in order to gain a complete understanding of the Anadrol 50 effects on body, we need to take a look at its advantages contrasted with its disadvantages. Anadrol is a DHT-derived compound, and is 17-Alpha-Alkylated steroid, meaning that it has been altered at the 17th carbon position to survive oral ingestion. Most oral steroids are 17aa, and this helps them make it through your liver in a useful form. Sounds great, right? Lets 17alpha-alkylate everything! Well as you can imagine, there’s a down side.
This 17aa alteration, which makes it possible for Anadrol to survive its first pass through your liver, also makes it very taxing on your liver. How taxing is Anadrol and how much weight can you gain from its use? Well, there was a 30 week study done on Anadrol and, as you can expect, a reasonable amount of side effects were noted. The fact that Anadrol causes some side effects has really never been in debate. But how effective was the drug? Well, first it should be mentioned that this study was done on people with AIDS related wasting, and they actually gained weight (8+kg) while the control group lost weight, and had increased mortality rates. (1). I suppose, if you’re in a study because you have a wasting disease which is also a terminal illness, you don’t want to end up in the control group. Anyway, weight gain in this study peaked at 19-20 weeks, though, so the last 10 weeks weren’t very productive in this respect. Clearly, you wouldn’t want to run Anadrol 50 for 20 weeks, given its toxicity, but after that, any effect in terms of weight and strength gains would be negligible. So, with regards to sides from Anadrol, and the sheer fact that this study lasted so long (30 weeks), it should be apparent that they can be kept under control and the drug can be used safely. People are commonly told to limit their intake of Anadrol to 4 weeks or less I’m a bit less conservative and think you can easily run Anadrol for 6 weeks or more.
From personal experience, however, I can tell you that gains from Anadrol are quite dramatic for the first 3 weeks and then quickly level off. Unfortunately, I find that the side effects experienced from Anadrol (which include a headache, bloating, elevated blood pressure, and a general “unwell” feeling for me) remain for the entire duration of use. But I find as usual, side effects for this drug are pretty much half legend and half truth. Since Anadrol 50 is derived from DHT, it cant actually convert to estrogen (via the aromatase enzyme), and its not a progestin or a compound with progestenic activity so the estrogenic (?) side effects produced by it are of a very mysterious nature. It has been speculated that perhaps it can stimulate the estrogen receptor without actually being converted to estrogen and that’s about as plausible an explanation as Ive heard. However, things really get strange, when Oxymetholone has been used in studies to alter the female reproductive/menstrual cycle; in those cases, it has lowered plasma progesterone levels! (7)One would expect that an AI (aromatase inhibitor) wouldn’t be of much use with this drug, but many have found that Letrozole (which has, in some cases been shown to reduce estrogen in the body to an undetectable amount)(6) can greatly reduce or even eliminate many of the more noticeable side effects of Anadrol, such as the bloating.
As I’ve stated, however, the sides from this drug are certainly no joke, but are easily preventable, and controllable. One study even showed very few sides for subjects using up to 100mgs of Oxymetholone (2). In the original UnderGround Steroid Hand Book, Dan Duchaine states that he used it at doses up to 150mgs/day. Clearly, Anadrol’s hepatoxicity has been a bit exaggerated, in some circles. Be that as it may, my suggestion is still to limit Anadrol’s use to 6 weeks, at a maximum even if just to err on the side of caution. Of course, I have personally run this drug for much longer..
How should we use Anadrol? Id probably be willing to include Anadrol in a cycle including injectable steroids, but not other 17aa compounds. Id make any 6-week-run of this compound begin at the start of a cycle, as a form of “jumpstart” towards seeing gains quickly. The quick gains you will get from Anadrol (up to a pound per day for the first 2 weeks are not uncommon in Steroid.com members) are also just as quick to disappear upon cessation of use .unless you are simply using it as a kickstarter, while waiting for your other compounds to kick-in. Ill go out on a limb here and say that utilizing Anadrol as a “Jumpstart” is the most popular use of this drug for athletes and bodybuilders today. Ill also say that this drug is immensely popular with strength athletes who dont have to worry about weight classes (Field athletes and strongmen), and with powerlifters in the heavier weight brackets. Its also important to note that in one study by Schroder et. Al (2) Anadrol showed that it has the ability to lower serum SHBG (Sex Hormone Binding Globulin which binds to your free test and makes it no longer useful for anabolism, among other things) concentrations by 54.9 25.8 and 45 16.2 nmol/l in the 50- and 100-mg treatment groups. This means there will be more free test circulating around your body when you take this drug and clearly, this would produce some synergy when stacked with other steroids. Given the large amounts of weight and strength which can be gained in a relatively short time span on this drug, I’m sure this comes as no surprise to many.
Another important and often understated characteristic of this compound is that Oxymetholone doesn’t bind well to the androgen receptor (Relative Binding Affinity = too low to be determined) (3) which is the lowest Ive ever read about. Basically, what this tells me is that there are a lot of non-receptor mediated effects from this steroid, making it a very potent addition to ANY BULKING stack, because it wont be competing for the receptor sites with the other steroids you’re using. Its also, as you may have guessed a very poor choice for a cutting stack.
What is an Anadrol Cycle? How much should you use? Well, this is actually one of the most interesting facts about Anadrol 50. You see, most steroids produce what we call a “dose respondent curve” which is a fancy way of saying “the more you use, the more you gain.”
Anadrol is one of the few steroids where the dose respondent curve flattens out very quickly. When you take 50mgs of Anadrol, you’ll make some very good gains. When you take 100mgs of Anadrol, you’ll make even more gains. However, it has been found that 100mgs/day is as effective for weight gain as 150mgs/day but produces less side effects and was less toxic (4). I feel that the jump from 50mgs to 100mgs constitutes an acceptable rise in benefit vs. cost, but this is not the case as dosages get over 100mgs. Now, lets see how 50mgs and 100mgs of Oxymetholone actually effect strength, when compared with each other:
Relative (%) changes in strength are shown for the groups receiving placebo (filled bars), 50 mg/day oxymetholone (open bars), and 100 mg/day oxymetholone (gray bars). Nos. above bars represent relative change (%) from baseline to week 12 for the 1-repetition maximum tests of strength. Error bars represent 1 SE from the mean. * Significant difference from placebo, P < 0.05; significant difference from placebo by Wilcoxon test, P < 0.02. See text for additional statistical analyses.
As you can see, in this study, doubling the dose of Anadrol 50 nearly doubled the strength gains of the test subjects. Now, when we look at changes in body composition from Oxymetholone (chart below) we can see that although the guys taking the 100mgs (vs. the 50mgs group) had more fat lost and more Lean Body Mass gained, it wasn’t as dramatic as the differences in strength gains between the two groups:
Changes in body composition are shown for the groups receiving placebo (filled bars), 50 mg of oxymetholone per day (open bars), and 100 mg per day (gray bars). Numbers above the bars represent the mean absolute changes and the error bars are 1 SE. For total lean body mass (LBM) and total fat, differences among the 3 groups were significant (P < 0.0001, one-way ANOVA). * Significant differences from placebo, P 0.001.
Although I am usually not inclined to posit speculations on why a particular drug does or doesn’t do something, in this case I will. Im guessing that the higher doses of Anadrol cause enough appetite suppression (at least anecdotally) to make eating rather difficult. It can also increase insulin resistance and glucose intolerance (5). This has the effect of making macronutrient absorption more inefficient, and could also be a factor in reducing gains when the dosage goes over 100mgs/day. Unfortunately, Anadrol also has a reasonably profound effect on your body’s natural hormonal system, on par with most other oral steroids, but not as bad as most injectables, and its certainly not as harsh on your lipid profile as many anabolics are
(2). As an interesting side note, some of the medical literature on this compound suggests a dose of 1-5mgs per kg of bodyweight. Ill pause a second here for you to figure out how absurdly high of a dose that would translate to for the average bodybuilder!
Clomid (Clomiphene Citrate) is a powerfully effective anti-estrogen officially classified as a Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (SERM). In many ways, it is very similar to another popular SERM in Nolvadex (Tamoxifen Citrate). Clomid first gained worldwide attention in the early 1970’s as a strong fertility aid and is still used for that purpose today. It is also one of the most commonly used SERM’s by anabolic steroid users. No, it is not an anabolic steroid but can be used to combat estrogenic side effects sometimes caused by anabolic steroids. It can also be used as a Post Cycle Therapy (PCT) medication in order to stimulate suppressed testosterone production due to anabolic steroid use. PCT use of Clomid is the most common purpose and most beneficial point of use for the anabolic steroid user.
Clomiphene Citrate is a SERM that is specifically used as a fertility aid due to its ability to enhance the release of gonadotropins. Clomid has the ability to oppose the negative feedback of estrogens on the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Ovarian-Axis. This will increase the release of Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) significantly. By increasing gonadotropin release, this can lead to the egg being released, thereby increasing the chance of conception.
Clomid also carries strong anti-estrogen properties that could be used therapeutically, but its anti-estrogen properties are most commonly associated with anabolic steroid use. Testosterone and many testosterone derived steroids have the ability to convert to estrogen through testosterone’s interaction with the aromatase enzyme. As estrogen levels rise, this can lead to gynecomastia and excess water retention. Heavy water retention can also promote high blood pressure. By supplementing with Clomid during anabolic steroid use, the SERM will bind to the estrogen receptors, therefore inhibiting the estrogen hormone from binding. This can be very useful in combating gynecomastia, as when Clomid binds to the receptor it prevents estrogen from stimulating the mammary tissue. It can also have a positive impact on water retention, but as it won’t actively reduce serum estrogen levels it’s sometimes not enough.
Clomid also possess functioning traits that are beneficial to the anabolic steroid user post anabolic steroid use. Specifically we’re referring to Post Cycle Therapy (PCT). In men, Clomid also has the ability to stimulate the pituitary to release more LH and FSH, which will in turn stimulate enhanced natural testosterone production. This is extremely beneficial to the anabolic steroid user post cycle as natural testosterone levels will be very low due to suppression caused by anabolic steroid use.
In a therapeutic setting as a fertility aid, the effects of Clomid are simple. The woman is having difficulty becoming pregnant, Clomid enhances the chance of conception and pregnancy occurs. It doesn’t always work and we’ll look at the process in the administration section, but it will greatly increase the odds of conception and is fairly successful.
As an anti-estrogen for on cycle steroid use, Clomid is fairly effective at staving off gynecomastia. It will not reduce estrogen levels or inhibit the aromatization process, but in many cases, binding to the receptors is enough protection for many men. In fact, while there are stronger protective agents, many men would be surprised as to how well a SERM like Clomid can work if they would give it a chance. More importantly, when using Clomid for this purpose it can also have a positive impact on cholesterol levels. While an anti-estrogen, Clomid actually acts as estrogen in the liver, which in turn will promote healthier cholesterol levels. This can be very beneficial to the anabolic steroid user as anabolic steroid use is notorious for promoting unhealthy cholesterol levels.
For many men, especially hardcore anabolic steroid users, Clomid is not enough for estrogenic protection. In this case, an Aromatase Inhibitor (AI) like Arimidex (Anastrozole) or Femara (Letrozole) will be needed. AI’s actively inhibit the aromatase process and will see serum estrogen levels reduced. By far they are the most effective at combating gynecomastia and will have more success in combating water retention. In fact, SERM’s like Clomid often do very little to combat water retention. However, in many cases, many performance athletes would do a better job controlling water retention if they did a better job controlling their diet. In off-season bulking plans this requires excess calories to grow. However, many take it too far, especially carbohydrate consumptions, and this will cause you to hold water with or without anabolic steroid use. Add in aromatizing steroids to the equation and water retention will be even greater. Further, AI’s while effective will have a negative impact on cholesterol, which leads us to only one sane conclusion. Control your diet and if you can control gynecomastia with a SERM like Clomid it should be your first choice.
Then we’re left with the effects of Clomid as they pertain to PCT. When we supplement with anabolic steroids, this will suppress natural testosterone production. The rate of suppression will be dependent on the steroids being used and to a degree the total dosing, but it will generally be substantial. For this reason, most men will always include exogenous testosterone in their steroid cycles. In fact, it’s not uncommon for it to be the only steroid used. This will protect the individual from a low testosterone condition while on cycle. Unfortunately, once steroid use comes to an end natural testosterone levels will be very low. Natural testosterone production will begin again on its own, but it will take a significant amount of time for levels to reach their previous high state. In fact, total recovery can take months to even a year. Further, natural testosterone recovery is dependent on no prior low testosterone condition existing and assumes that no severe damage was done to the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Testicular-Axis (HPTA) through improper anabolic steroid use.
Due to natural testosterone levels being low post cycle, most men are encouraged to implement a PCT program. This will stimulate natural testosterone production greatly and shorten the total recovery time. It will not return your levels to normal on its own; there is no PCT plan on earth that can do this. However, a solid PCT plan will ensure you have enough testosterone for proper bodily function while your levels continue to naturally rise. Clomid is an excellent choice for this purpose and one of the most commonly used PCT medications. Highly successful PCT programs will often include Clomid and Nolvadex as well as the powerful peptide hormone HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin).
Those who forgo Clomid therapy post cycle or any type of PCT plan and are going to be off cycle for an extended period of time will rest in a low testosterone condition for an extended period of time. Not only is this an extremely unhealthy state, it can come with all the traditional low testosterone symptoms. Many will find cortisol levels greatly increase as testosterone levels are low, and as a result, body fat levels go up and strength and muscle mass decrease. If you’re going to be off cycle for an extended period of time, 8 weeks or more there is no reason for forgoing a PCT program. If you are going to be off cycle for less than 8 weeks or bridging with a low dose of exogenous testosterone, which is very common in hardcore bodybuilding circles, this is the only time a PCT would be counterproductive.
Clomid is one of the most well-tolerated SERM’s and anti-estrogens on the market, and this applies to both men and women. While it carries a very high threshold of toleration, side effects of Clomid do exist and are possible. However, “possible” is the key word and a very important one. Anytime anabolic steroids are discussed as well as non-steroidal items used by anabolic steroid users, many seem to enjoy implying side effects are assured. This is not the case; in fact, most should be able to use Clomid side effect free.
When it comes to the possible side effects of Clomid, we will find most are fairly rare. Some women who have used the SERM as a fertility aid have experienced ovarian enlargement, but again this is very rare. Other possible side effects of Clomid use include:
The side effects of Clomid are also well noted for including possible visual disturbances. Data shows that approximately 1.5% of all those who use Clomid may experience some type of visual disturbance normally in the form of blurred or hazy vision. If this occurs, use should be discontinued and alternative medications should be examined. In most all cases, once use is discontinued vision will shortly return to normal. However, there have been a few reported cases over the years of visual disturbances that did not remedy post discontinuation. Normally, such cases have been linked to long term and extremely high dose use. Again, if visual disturbances occur, discontinue use immediately and choose another SERM to meet your needs.
A final note on the side effects of Clomid, some may experience acne. This appears to be most common when the SERM is used as part of a PCT program. In this case, it’s not really the SERM that’s causing the issue but rather the high influx of natural testosterone that is now being produced. Most should not have an issue, but those who are already genetically sensitive to acne may find a few pimples appear on their back, shoulders or chest.
For the purpose of fertility aid, Clomid doses will normally be at 50mg per day. The process is very simple; five days into the menstrual cycle a daily 50mg dose is administered every day once a day for five straight days. If this doesn’t result in conception, the dose is sometimes increased to 100mg per day. This cycle will be repeated 5-6 times over the course of the woman’s menstrual cycles until pregnant. If conception does not occur after 5-6 cycles of therapy, alternative treatments will need to be examined.
For the anabolic steroid user, standard Clomid doses for on cycle estrogenic protection will normally be 50mg per day throughout the duration of the cycle. If this doesn’t do the trick it’s unlikely any amount of Clomid will work. If this does not provide the protection you need, keep in mind many have reported greater success with the SERM Nolvadex for on cycle protection. However, you may very well need an AI like Arimidex.
Then we’re left with PCT Clomid use. Standard PCT Clomid doses will normally start at 100-150mg per day for 1-2 weeks. From here the dose will drop to 50-100mg per day for 1-2 weeks and finish with 1-2 weeks at 50mg per day. Total Clomid therapy should last 4-6 weeks, so dosing should be based and considered on that total schedule. Most will also be far more successful in their PCT recovery by including Nolvadex and HCG. Timing is also important when planning your Clomid PCT use, and this timing factor will vary depending on the inclusion of HCG: