Originally Posted by
Infamy
Well, my opinion is "no" there is no safe way to use AAS for muscle building purposes. Note the importance of the highlighted sentence as I do believe that whilst testosterone is clearly an AAS, TRT isn't particularly detrimental to male health if used at correct doses and monitored closely. Even then some men need to stop using TRT due to unpleasant side effects such as prostate hypertrophy, dyslipidemia, carpal tunnel syndrome from water retention, excess estrogen etc etc.
The fact is that when you take enough of substance x to build muscle - it's harmful. Id be happy to be proven wrong and if you can think of an example of any AAS which when taken at muscle building doses doesn't do that. Even testosterone (which is probably one of the safer steroids) at high doses needed to build muscle causes deleterious effects on the human body.
I would say theoretically, if not abused, then possibly the resultant damage may be recoverable given sufficient time off between cycles. But the fact remains, the cycle will cause damage. The amount and severity of the damage is dependant on many factors - amount taken, steroid used, length of time on, age, genetics and diet to name but a few.
in practice, I don't think any bodybuilders have the ability to limit themselves to say, one short cycle every 5 years or something though so I think that question is a redundant one due to human mental frailties.
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I mean, how many people reading this know about the deleterious effects of angiotensin II on the epithelial layer of your arteries. How many from that group know which steroids increase Angiotensin II levels? How many still know how to combat those raised Angiotensin II levels?
Or how about something more simple. How many people using gear have a home blood sugar tester and know what their blood sugar usually runs to on an average day. Would you know if you had increased insulin resistance? High glucose levels kill nerve cells, restrict blood supplies which leads to amputations and other horrible side effects. It's a serious thing but I'd wager few out there know or care to check on these things whilst using.
This is just a couple of small examples of the research that anyone taking gear should be doing and know all about before using steroids but the sad fact is that, aside from qualified medical professionals and those with an interest in medicine, virtually no one knows or attempts to do their homework.
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