Increasing Test Absorption

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Gentlemen I have been learning a good bit from y’all and now I want to make a little suggestion. I wonder whether I have stumbled on a way that we can safely increase the transdermal absorption of the Test products. I began a compounded 10% Test cream on 12/2, became quickly impatient and doubled my dosage up to 2g/day. Probably not the smart move (though I did get some bang out of that dosage). After taking some constructive criticism here I backed off to 1g/day.

Now here is something interesting; when I doubled my dosage i started taking niacin at the same time as the cream. Usually before 10A after hitting the weight stack. Well I must say I was getting a buzz! I am still getting a buzz on the LOWER dosage WHEN I get the niacin flush ( which is not always as I have been doing it for over a year). If anyone is at all interested I’ll post a little on what i am calling a “buzz”, like to get y’alls feedback.

Well if you’re still interested then let me backtrack a bit to say something about niacin. It is one of the B-complex vitamins and it is used by orthomolecular practitioners to treat schizophrenia among other things. It is well tolerated in big doses, I have read of several thousand Mgs/day used for years and years.

For our purposes the important thing about niacin is that it is a harmless vaso-dilator. Some 30 minutes or so after taking a sufficient dose one gets a flush from the head down to the upper chest and arms. It itches and its warm and tingly as the little capillaries open up and increase blood flow through the skin. It is a totally harmless, and perhaps beneficial effect that has been known for at least decades.

Now I have been taking it for over a year and I reasoned that increasing blood flow dramatically through the skin for 20-25 minutes might just increase the absorption of anything that was on the skin. So I just started co-ordinating the niacin I was already taking with my T cream. I think it is working. Saturday was the last day i got a flush response and I had quite a buzz going from my normal 1g dose for as long as the flush lasted- about 20-30 minutes.

Now, just 16 days in to TRT I am still feeling the pump from my workout Saturday night! This is Monday! Normally I am flabbified within a couple hours of working out. I suspect that is one of the benefits of getting your Test levels right with God, but I appreciate your input.

Many of you complain that the transdermal products just didn’t pack the wallop that you wanted. Here is a cheap and easy little experiment you can conduct.

You can get niacin at any grocery or drug store. Do NOT get niacinamide. It does not produce a flush. Start off with, say 100 mg. If you dont get the flush then double up. I am now taking 500 mg and i dont always flush. The effect lessens over time for some people.

BTW it is a simple matter to do a google on niacin to learn about its safety. Its a good idea to supplement with a B-complex vitamin with your niacin as the Bs work best together.

I should be interested to see if anyone else can get the good results i am currently getting.

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Theory seems solid. It will also help correct cholesterol problems and adds a kick to orgasm.

3

[quote]KSman wrote:
…adds a kick to orgasm.[/quote]

I’ll second that.

4

I am back on Androgel and will try this.

You can also let the alcohol in Androgel evaporate in a bowl for half an hour, then rub the gel on your balls. Just make sure the alky has evaporated first. You’ll get good absorbtion there.

5

HeadHunter make sure and let us know how it works out. I am leaving in a few days for 2 weeks and I am not taking any T cream with me. This means that my own experiment is less than a week old.

I have been dosing up in the AM and take niacin about 20 minutes or so before I am going to apply the T cream. My understanding is that the cream in absorbed into the skin where the T is gradually, and incompletely drawn into the bloodstream. So I am going to start taking another dose of niacin around lunchtime to see if I can scoop up more T from the skin.

Unfortunately my little experiment is going to be interupted so i will have to start all over again when i get back. By then you may already have something to say about your results. I am really looking forward to reading your results. Good Luck!

I am thinking of trying one of the products i.e. Alpha Male during my trip, so as not to crash and burn. Anyone had any luck with these products?

I don’t have Androgel I have a compounded cream. I dont know whether it contains alcohol or not. I suppose I could try a very small amount to find out if there is any discomfort.

6

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
I am back on Androgel and will try this.

You can also let the alcohol in Androgel evaporate in a bowl for half an hour, then rub the gel on your balls. Just make sure the alky has evaporated first. You’ll get good absorbtion there.[/quote]

Just started on Androgel (4 squirts/day ~5%) Merry Christmas to me! When I read the instructions, there was a notation about NOT applying the gel to the scrotum. While it makes some sense that getting the gel as close as possible to the original source, I wonder if there is a downside that caused the notation in the instructions. Can anyone shed some light?

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[quote]Gett’n_Better wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
I am back on Androgel and will try this.

You can also let the alcohol in Androgel evaporate in a bowl for half an hour, then rub the gel on your balls. Just make sure the alky has evaporated first. You’ll get good absorption there.

Just started on Androgel (4 shots/day ~5%) Merry Christmas to me! When I read the instructions, there was a notation about NOT applying the gel to the scrotum. While it makes some sense that getting the gel as close as possible to the original source, I wonder if there is a downside that caused the notation in the instructions. Can anyone shed some light?
[/quote]

The alcohol can sting. That is why headhunter advised to let the alcohol evaporate first.

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KSMan wrote:

The alcohol can sting. That is why headhunter advised to let the alcohol evaporate first.
[/quote]

Thanks KSMan!

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Gentlemen,

I wanted to update my little experiment. Before I began co-ordinating the niacin flush with the T cream I was doubling up on my dosage of T. I noticed on a couple occassions that when I would stand up suddenly I was light headed and nearly lost my balance.

I have read that T will lower blood pressure and i attributed my lightheadedness to that. It is not something that I experienced on my regular 1g dose, nor on the few days when I doubled my dosage but split it between AM and PM. It only occured when I doubled dosage all at once in the AM.

Until now. I have experienced the same lightheadedness a couple times while flushing, on my single dose.

There is one other thing which I have noticed and have not experienced before at any dosage and that is an inability to focus while flushing. It is a bit harder to complete a sentence because I am rushing while I am flushing!

I would be very interested to hear whether those of you who take the shot experience anything similar soon after your injection?

Now all this may be thin gruel or it may be that I am truly getting some good absorbtion and the result is lower BP and a head rush, perhaps something similar to what one experiences soon after the shot.

Be real interested in y’alls comments.

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MichaelOH: Curious. What was your dose of Niacin? The effects you mention usually mean you have to take GRAMS instead of milligrams. A friend did that to lower his cholesterol. I am going to see if there are side-effects to very high Niacin doses.

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[quote]t-guy69 wrote:
MichaelOH: Curious. What was your dose of Niacin? The effects you mention usually mean you have to take GRAMS instead of milligrams. A friend did that to lower his cholesterol. I am going to see if there are side-effects to very high Niacin doses.[/quote]

You can get a niacin flush easily with 500mg. That may change over time. The folks who take enough to significantly alter their lipid profiles need to work up to higher doses. I assume that they then would not get skin flushing from the smaller doses at that point. Take niacin 1/2 hour before sex as well.

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For what it’s worth, my endo told me I should have applied my Androgel to my inner thighs, and inner biceps. I imagine the inner thigh would come in play to being closer to your gonads. He mentioned how many pumps to each area but I had used packets and didn’t pay much attention. I am not recommending, just passing on what he told me. I no longer use it as I’m on injectibles so I can’t comment on any changes it might have made.

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[quote]t-guy69 wrote:
MichaelOH: Curious. What was your dose of Niacin? The effects you mention usually mean you have to take GRAMS instead of milligrams. A friend did that to lower his cholesterol. I am going to see if there are side-effects to very high Niacin doses.[/quote]
I used to get a strong flush on 250mg, and still occassionaly do. But I have been taking it for over a year and so I upped my dosage to 500mg to get a flush, which I get about half the time at that dosage. If you take it on an empty stomach and with hot liquids I think it enhances the flush, the opposite also being true in my experience.

You can research niacin safety and dosages by googling the great Dr. A Hoffer, a pioneer in orthomolecular medicine and the use of niacin in psychiatry.

I am out of the country now and so my experiment must wait 2 weeks to resume. But I will say that even on 1g dose i was getting a rush when I flushed- and as per KSman I have been awaiting AM wood. Well it finally arrived, inconsistently, just before I left on the 27th.

I started the cream on the 3rd. Dont know whether wood arrived early, late, or just on time, but I take it for a good sign. Also, when I first began dosing I was getting up feeling refreshed earlier in the AM. That faded within a week or so. Its back!

I know, maybe all placebo- but so far so good and I encourage any of yall on the transdermal to try this as I think I am getting pretty good results. The risk is just about nil in any case.

As for taking niacin before sex, I had never considered doing it because it makes me itchy. Does it have some other interesting effects?

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[quote]MichaelOH wrote:

As for taking niacin before sex, I had never considered doing it because it makes me itchy. Does it have some other interesting effects?
[/quote]

Niacin plays some of the same CNS processes that orgasm does… try it :wink:

Morning wood: This can be a transient effect as the body adapts. The key processes of this adaption are T–>E aromatization, increased E levels then cause the liver to produce more SHBG that then soaks up free T; and the E also competes with FT at the T receptors, which then does not allow the FT to do its job. That’s where AI/anti-E comes in. When some of the aromatization process is blocked and E levels are reduced, the FT can now do its job. 1mg of arimidex restored my morning wood in a week or so. Other less definable changes have been improving over 2 months, such as mood, libido, energy, get-up-and-go etc. So keep those effects in mind, some may apply to you.

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Niacin
I had a friend that went one a high dose Niacin regime for some time. The guy is a Medical Lab Director. This is what he wrote:

"Niacin will indeed cause a flush. One to two grams per day is used to treat hypercholesterolemia. I took it for over a year and always had the flush. It is quite possible that it will increase the absorption of dermal creams as the flush is very pronounced. I found it to be very uncomfortable…akin to sunburn but without the pain (itching and awareness of things like the bottoms of your feet, underarms, etc.).

All that blood going from the skin has to come from somewhere, I found I got faint as well. It is very good at lowering cholesterol, unfortunately, it also raises blood glucose (makes the muscles less able to absorb glucose). High doses can cause hepatic damage. I also found that my hearing was worse (flushing inside my ears was the first indication I had that I was going to flush) and that my eyes became almost supernaturally bloodshot. Other than that, it was a walk in the park.

Be careful if you use Niacin, as Alcohol will intensify the flush and the chance of hepatic damage. I don’t suppose it’s worth mentioning that since Testosterone can also cause hepatic damage the potential is there for the two to be additive?

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I am on androgel. 4 pumps a day to my forearms, upper arms and shoulders. I will give this a try.

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[quote]t-guy69 wrote:
"All that blood going from the skin has to come from somewhere, I found I got faint as well. It is very good at lowering cholesterol, unfortunately, it also raises blood glucose (makes the muscles less able to absorb glucose). High doses can cause hepatic damage. I also found that my hearing was worse (flushing inside my ears was the first indication I had that I was going to flush) and that my eyes became almost supernaturally bloodshot. Other than that, it was a walk in the park.[/quote]

Your friend is a little unusual. Most allopathically trained Americans know nothing of vitamins or anything else that is not promoted by Big Pharma. Nevertheless he has noted some effects that I have not experienced nor have I read of them. I have been a little lightheaded sometimes, but I atrributed that the Test and not to the niacin, since I had been taking niacin for a year and never been lightheaded before.

I have never had ringing in my ears. I have read Dr. Hoffer who has treated thousands if not tens of thousands of parients with much higher doses of niacin than I am taking, and I dont recall any concerns mentioned of hepa toxicity. That is worth checking on though. I have never had bloodshot eyes.

It is also true that your friend was taking twice the dosage that I am, which is 500mg.

[quote]
Be careful if you use Niacin, as Alcohol will intensify the flush and the chance of hepatic damage. I don’t suppose it’s worth mentioning that since Testosterone can also cause hepatic damage the potential is there for the two to be additive? [/quote]

Good advice. I did not know that test can cause liver damage. Since it is a hormone produced by ones body that is surprising. As for alcohol, I take test and niacin in the morning. I take my alcohol at night.