Buddy from my gym died in his sleep Tuesday. He had an incredible physique, ripped at 250. Blasted gear but seemed to be smart about it, always doing cardio. Really nice guy. He was 40 and had a young family. Very sad.
Just wanted to share this reminder with others. I’m not here to judge or tell anyone to avoid anabolics – I’m basically taking a low-dose cycle anyway, and there’s no way to know what else could’ve prompted his early death – but we’ve gotta keep big-picture priorities in mind.
Yes.
Always take statin, bp, arb meds when doing steroids. Always do organ imaging every year. And get plaque checked at least every 5 years.
Money spent on steroids should equal amount of money spent on drugs to control cholesterol, changes in heart, and monitoring changes in organs and plaque buildup.
These two I haven’t done. Would you mind sharing how to do so? Just ask your doctor for it?
I dont live in US, i have no idea how that works for you. In my country we either need to be sent to these tests by a GP, and then those are free(of course you have to wait a few months) or you just go to a private clinic, pay them yourself and you can get everything done, maybe even the same week.
Bloodwork, for example, i gave 9AM today and had results in my email by 2PM.
In states stuff is weirdly complicated, so i hope others can help you with this.
I think it would work the same here. What do you say to get the referral - just that you are on steroids? Or something less obvious?
That i am health conscious and dont want to get into problems which could have been prevented if found earlier. Heart problems and plaque buildup is a leading cause of death for men. Organ failure or tumors in em(like prostate cancer) is also close in the list. These are not stupid things to check. Those probably should be a “must” for everyone past 30.
Respect.
Unless super unlucky, steroids cant kill anyone overnight. LVH happens over years. If a person does heart USG and has all the measurements you can see IF and HOW it changes year after year and maybe even see what made it worse and stop doing that.
Heart attacks most times are caused by plaque buildup in artheries which can be minimized by taking statin meds, and checking the building in angiography. And if its bad you can either insert stents or do a bypass, but there are options. Its just that these changes occur over 10-20 years and you dont “feel” them until its either too late to fix or your get a blockage and die on the street walking or at night.
If you’re on a PPO plan, no referral should be needed. However, if not, in addition to what Hank said, family history is also a card you could play.
Here in the UK our NHS is absolutely brilliant at fixing you when you’re already broken but what were not very good at is preventative medicine.
Basically you cant get any tests done until you are already ill.
Have to go private for this kind of stuff and even then not straightforward.
I would be cautious about disclosing this if you have a life insurance policy or are interested in pursuing it in the future.