I just heard about them last night but for now nafarelin seems the most interesting as it is available as a nasal spray whereas all the others are parenteral
blsm; How heavy is the vest? What weight do you recommend?
It doesn’t seem popular among steroid users and they usually take everything possible that can increase T. I could only find transgender users using it for blocking hormones, 2 months on nasal spray hormone blockers (Synarel/nafarelin) , using it intermittently to try and raise testosterone levels seems a bit risky although it seems like that happens at some point when taking these types of drugs.
The perfect drug would be one that is specifically used increase muscle mass with relatively low risks I think, FDA approved of course and used in clinical practice. It might be a SARM for all I know.
FDA warns against using SARMs, so maybe producers don’t bother going through the clinical trials anymore.
The more I read about SARMs the less safe I think they are right now. If they become a medicine that is FDA approved and used in clinical practice, much different.
TRT is typically normal now and not stigmatized anymore and there are a lot of ‘anti-aging’ clinics prescribing it. If I had low muscle mass and low testosterone I’d probably consider using it to get into the normal range, even if the latter wasn’t the case, just like for Bryan Johnson.
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Attia just had the More Plates, More Dates guy on The Drive podcast. They went over everything anyone wanting more muscle (and more hair) could be curious about. I am too afraid of this sort of thing. And since I do not intend to compete or feed my family on the size of my muscles, I am not trying to maximize. Heck, I don’t write down how much weight I lift or how many sets I do. I just show up 3x per week, lift as hard as I can that day (a little more weight on the next set; a couple more reps in the current set). If I feel a twinge or a tendon starting to complain, I back off. Live to lift another day.
My goal for resistance training is happiness. I get pleasure and satisfaction from stressing my muscles, and from how I look when I stay after it. I don’t look like the More Plates, More Dates guy, but I do think I look better than Attia! So there’s that.
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Since I don’t have cachexia or even measurable sarcopenia, I am not concerned with this issue.
"Cachexia is a complicated metabolic syndrome related to underlying illness "
I agree TRT is relatively safe, especially if you are younger.
I am interested in enlarging my muscles, not my prostate.
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The FDA warns against almost anything that does not directly benefit big pharma, including rapamycin.
“The FDA stamped rapamycin with a “black box” warning, its most extreme, for drugs that come with “serious or life-threatening risks”—risks like infections, pneumonia, and cancer.Jul 19, 2019”
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I don’t see the problem with this warning.
https://www.pfizermedicalinformation.com/en-us/rapamune/boxed-warning
FDA warns against SARMS in general, not specifically against specific conditions like for rapamycin or about possible side effect like immunosuppression.
Mine is currently 18 pounds. I started with a 12 pound vest that was the recommended 10% of my body weight at the time. Since then I’ve lost weight but the 12 pound vest was no longer challenging me so I increased to 18 pounds. As far as I’m aware the general starting recommendation is 10% of body weight. They make some vests that are a little more expensive than mine and you can add and subtract weight on them.
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From the Attia talk, sounded like some very serious potential side effects.
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So do we have ‘serious side effects’ having 70th percintile testosterone rather than 10th?
I don’t see how it can be dangerous to increase testosterone within normal levels.
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My question about DHEA - does it increase blood viscosity? I know that TRT does so, not sure about SARMs.
Derek of More Plates More Dates has a wealth of info about steroids and sarms. All of these compounds have side effects, and all of them have useful effects. Sarms like Ostarine, LGD4033, and RAD140 will help you gain muscle, and may improve joint and bone health. All 3 will tank your natural production of testosterone. So it is not TRT or a Sarm–you usually need both. Since testosterone aromatizes, your natural estradiol tanks too. This can lead to heart trouble or even mental health issues eventually. You may get elevated hemocrit, lower hdl, liver issues, etc. Even so, sarcopenia can be deadly so there is a case for wise use of these compounds. 17 alpha estradiol intrigues me because it may increase muscle mass without side effects. I have a small quantity of LGD4033, but I have not taken any.
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I haven’t given this much thought because I believe it would be a mistake for me to not try every way to solve the root cause problem first before resorting to a bandaid fix. Figure out why T is low. Solving that root cause gets you more T and a lot more (exactly what depends on the problem that was solved).
As an analogy, using caffeine is an okay solution to not sleeping well. But solving the sleep problem would provide more benefit than reducing sleepiness.
Maybe caffeine and TRT can be used as a bridge while solving the root cause?
What am I missing?
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The paper, @Ray1, says that testosterone replacement seems to be more effective than DHEA. Plus, another study on PubMed found that DHEA can be harmful to the kidneys, lowering GFR.
As for T replacement, insurance companies will often refuse to pay for it, even if you have a prescription, and small boutique firms that provide TRT are too expensive for my budget, costing about $200 per month.
As a workaround, I ordered testosterone gel from the same outfit in India that provides my rapa. The gel is about $1 per day. My total T doubled from below 200 to above 400, and all the other markers followed suit.
I’m 75 and have had no negative side effects, only the good kind. I think the secret to the safe use of TRT is to aim for the middle of the curve, or even for the low side of normal.
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Generally if you go on TRT you will stick to it for life, so it’s not used as a bridge, I don’t think it can’t as it should shut down natural testosterone production. What you would look at is age related decline in testosterone and what’s causing it? Bryan hasn’t been able to reverse his decline from age + caloric restriction. I don’t think he’s trying either. It might be very difficult.
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It can be used as a cycle. It just depends what your goal is. Bodybuilders use it all the time. You cycle testosterone (or anabolic steroids) with some sort of post cycle therapy to revive natural testosterone production and generally you take time off in the duration of the cycle (usually 8-12 weeks) + PCT time.
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That’s true but it won’t help to keep testosterone levels normal after the cycle if they weren’t in the first place. Cycle could be done for improving muscle mass, but I’m unsure anyone wants to feel having low testosterone as a male (or even estrogen). Having normal testosterone and estrogen might be important for other reasons. Of course age adjusted down a bit. Bryan’s testosterone is age equivalent 33 years old. Free testosterone 41 years old.
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Professional cyclists were known to use T patches to accelerate recovery during stage races. I don’t think they were using continuously. I don’t know how they avoided permanent damage. The More Plates, More Dates guy seemed to know all the ways to get in and get out….with some measure of risk.
HMB prevents muscle loss. I have muscle wasting because I am old and tore a bicep off the bone in my right arm so it interferes with much exercise but I keep trying. Research HMB.
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