[quote]MickyGee wrote:
This is interesting to me. Steroid usage has always been in the back of my mind as a possibility someday, but the health concerns are also there for me. I figured T-Replacement, though it does not work to the same extent, might be a better alternative for theoretically low T levels, but I was not sure if contained its own set of risks and complications.
Care to elaborate, as a student going down that path?
Edit: BTW, excellent post and amazing thread… truly inspirational!
[quote]sloh wrote:
[quote]GrindOverMatter wrote:
[quote]sloh wrote:
No worries guys, don’t mind the slightly off topic conversations. We’re all here to help each other in every way possible 
By the way, props to you Grindovermatter. I didn’t know you had dieted down before. Thanks for sharing and you look great.[/quote]
thanks, means a lot coming from such an accomplished natty bber as yourself
while were on the topic, can you talk a little more about your decision to stay natural? i know that is something that myself and im sure lots of other natty competitors struggle with. My problem is, that in my area of canada there are NO natty bodybuilding shows[/quote]
This will be quite a lengthy post
***AGAIN I WOULD LIKE TO PREFACE THIS BY SAYING I DO NOT LOOK DOWN ONE BIT ON THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO USE DRUGS FOR PHYSIQUE ENHANCEMENT. While I follow natural bodybuilding, I also follow professional bodybuilding and absolutely love it. These guys work damn hard in the kitchen and in the gym and drugs do not discredit their hard work in any way. It has been a personal decision of mine to stay natural and I will leave it at that. It’s not due to any damn morality issue with the use of drugs, but other things which I will highlight below. I do not see myself as better than an enhanced athlete merely because I am natural. That is not only an immature way to go about things but just downright stupid if any natural athlete thinks that way. You will never find me bad-mouthing those who use drugs and you will never find me doing it in the future. In fact, my current coach is a pretty high level national competitor, so you can guess if he’s natural or not. However, he knows his way around working with naturals because he competed naturally for many years.
I’m going to quote someone from another forum on this. He graduated from medical school, and me being a second year in medical school, I’m beginning to see where he’s coming from. I thought long and hard about steroid usage because I do have the potential with my god-given structure to turn some heads on a national level stage if I were to cross over to the other side. However, the days where the desire of walking around as the most jacked motherfucker on the street are long gone for me. As I’ve matured throughout the years, my priorities begin to change. For one, although I will never be complacent with my physique and will always work to improve, I am content with the physique I’ve built (not sure if that came out right…)
I get plenty of comments at the gym right now and from others who see my pics doubting that I’m natural, so that is enough affirmation for me. To me, gear is an absolute headache to worry about. If you do your research, you’ll see that unless you have some kind of reliable source through hook-ups (like the pros), most of the time you are dealing with underdosed and gear that is not dosed correctly. So, what do you do? Use 2x or 3x the amount to make up for it? What if it is in fact dosed correctly? Then you are really screwing yourself in the ass b/c you are using some pretty insane dosages. For things like testosterone, you can see if the gear is legit via bloodwork. But the AAS that really gives you the bang for your buck include include others like trenbolone, primobolan, etc. Those, you can’t measure via bloodwork because they don’t show up as testosterone.
My goals in life right now are to become the best doctor I can be, be the best bodybuilder I can be naturally, keep a close knit group of friends that I would do anything for because I know they would do the same for me, be a great family man, and a sprinkle in of some lady time here and there (which at this point for me due to school is not very important to me at all)
Anyways, I’ll copy paste some responses from others because I think they say it better than I do.
"Good study but nothing new…
steroids affect sperm production we all new that… Hence lot of people (not all) will have decreased sperm on AAS
steroids affect hepatocytes or liver cells. We all new that too (hence the increase in ALT AST and bilirubin when on cycle)
steroids effect glomerulus the filtration units in kidney and hence the kindey mass over all. ( either directly or indirectly through hypertension).
steroids are “bad” for you PERIOD. There is no arguing that. “bad” is realative.
There is no doubt that steroids cause muscle hypertrophy.
There is also no doubt that steroids cause damage at the cellular level on various organs. The thing is human body has a TREMENDOUS reserve capacity for most organs. Kidney damage doesnt translate into overt kidney failure until 50 or more percent of kidneys are gone.
Heart Vessel blockages do not become symptomatic until they are 70% block
Hepatic injury does not translate into full blow liver failure until it turns into cirrhosis and even than …
An average steroid user usually may use anywhere from 4 - 30 years of steroid use. Lot of time the damage at cellular level will never reach the point where outside signs of medical sickness are seen such as heart attacks, kidney failures liver failures etc. LEADING most people to say “steroids are good, use them. MEdical communities are stupid they dont know shit. They are bunch of pencil necks sitting with their test tubes in labs and spreading a bunch of propaganda. We are the steroid users with big muscles and since we actually use them and are still alive we know more”
Once in a while genetics and shitty luck or major abuse will result in someone having overt organ failure or damage whether it be heart attack, kidney failure needing dialysis or even pulmonary embolus. Case and point some members on this board.
My view is, if i could turn back clocks of time. I would be happy with natural gains and never have touched anything. steroids have their place for certain medical illness such as cachexia aids and so on. But I would advise the average person to stay away from them. However I realize most of us think we are not average or dont want to be average and sometimes we have to learn on our own accords.
5mg/kg of boldenone = 400 mg/kg per week for an adult man. Not a big dose either. Something to think about."
AND ANOTHER ONE…
"guys, once again, stop playing with underground t3. the dosing is in micrograms. do you know what that means, tahts less than a mg. its effing tiny 25 mcg of t3 which is the starting dose equals 0.00025 milligrams .
Do you guys really believe that the underground capping mechanics can accurately produce that?
unless underground labs have a legit pharm grade machines to pack capsules (which i can pretty much gurantee they dont) you are completely risking your health. Same goes for clen.
A small mistake from 25 mcg to 200 mcg which is only .00200mg still tiny and you are looking at a thyroid storm (a serious condition) if your body is not used to these hormones. One gentleman on this thread allready had a heart attack from it."
Last thing I fully support TRT/GH replacement/T3 replacement when I need it in the future as I age. Just as doctors treat women for menopause, I would recommend doing the same for men when they suffer andropause with physiologic levels of TRT, GH, T3. Why live life with low libido, osteoporosis, slow meatabolism, fat gain, lethargy when there is a safe and healthy alternative?
Sorry for the long post but that is my response.[/quote]
[/quote]
Testosterone replacement therapy, within physiological levels, should have minimal health consequences, if any. It is when you take dosages out of physiological ranges that you run into problems like increased LDL, low HDL which leads to plaque buildup in your arteries. Certain drugs are hepatotoxic and cause liver damage as well as kidney damage if BP is too high on drugs. There are genetic factors that play into this as well. Some people are more susceptible to damage from the drugs than others. However, as long as testosterone is kept at physiological ranges between 600-800 ng/dl, it should be safe. Just remember, anything taken in excess can be detrimental to the human body, including water. If you’re young and don’t have symptoms of hypogonadism, I would recommend against jumping on TRT until you really need to. Even if you have below ideal ranges (i.e. 500 ng/dl instead of 800 ng/dl), making up that 300 ng difference isn’t going to make a huge difference. Another thing to consider is that 500 ng/dl of testosterone may be normal for one guy while another guy may experience symptoms of hypogonadism at 500 ng/dl. It is highly individual, so if you don’t have symptoms of hypogonadism, don’t jump on TRT unless you have to. Hope that answered your question.
