The Anabolic Doc

Raw and Uncensored

By Thomas O'Connor, M.D.

Important Medical Mistakes to Avoid during your Next Cycle!

Part 2

I am going to touch on some more advanced mistakes that some of our veteran users may have seen take place with those in their inner circle, or may even be guilty of making themselves. I am not here to break your balls or make you feel bad. I am sincere in helping you by bringing together my vast clinical internal medicine experience and merging it with the reality of street-level anabolic pharmacology. This is something that has never been done before in Muscular Development or in the history of the sport, and I am so happy to be the pioneer bringing this to fruition. I am so happy to be part of Team MD, knowing that the information that I write will be hitting millions of readers worldwide. With me now on board with the best bodybuilding magazine on the fucking planet, you can be rest assured that you are going to be getting some kick-ass articles from me! With that said, let's take a look into some other "Anabolic Mistakes" that I constantly see in my practice and ones you should avoid if your long-term health has any true meaning to you!

Mixing Two Oral Steroids Together in the Same Cycle

Here is a very basic mistake that is often overlooked by beginners or those who think their liver is indestructible. I am not the biggest fan of oral steroids. I'm not saying they aren't effective in getting results, nor am I saying that they don't have a place in a person's stack. Sometimes what will get you the most results isn't the best on your organ health, so it is up to you as a responsible adult to weigh the balance on what you personally feel is right for you.

Mixing two oral steroids together in the same stack is not a good idea. The main reason for this is that it will be quite hepatoxic. For you meatheads not knowing proper medical terminology, this means that it will be toxic to your liver. The majority of oral steroids are known as C17-Alpha Alkylated steroids. To put this in meathead language: this allows the steroid to still be active after the first pass through your liver and then into your bloodstream, where it can get to work on building those guns. The downside to this is the fact that it places strain on the liver during this process.

Running one oral steroid during a cycle is more than enough to produce acceptable gains and to kick-start your cycle while you wait for the longer-acting esters of your injectable steroids to produce some growth. The problem is that many guys get greedy. If taking 50 mg of Dbol is good, what about adding in another 50 mg of Anadrol to help kick-start the kick-start? Does this sound like bodybuilding mentality or what? The problem arises when guys think they are Superman and can get away with slamming down as many orals as you personally see fit without any worry. Sorry this is not how the real world works. You don't have to take my advice because in 15 years you may actually enjoy the feeling of shitting out your liver!

I see this abuse of oral steroids all the time in my practice and even before the blood work is in, I know right away their liver enzymes will be off the charts. Plus, it's not just the elevated enzymes that we have to worry about here. We have to watch out for Cholestatic Hepatitis and Peliosis Hepatitis. Cholestatic Hepatitis is when the bile secretion and bile Caniculi dysfunctions occur in the Golgi apparatus of the liver cells. This causes the bile to re-enter the bloodstream, causing a slew of different health conditions. Peliosis Hepatitis is a condition where healthy liver tissue is replaced with blood-filled cysts. To let you understand the seriousness of these conditions all I am going to say is that you don't want any part of this bullshit. In the near future I will discuss these in-depth with you. Many of the clients that I have dealt with who stack and use excessive amounts of oral C17-AA steroids suffer from these conditions. Another popular thing that I've seen taking place over the last few years is with prohormones. Before the majority of them got banned I was seeing guys taking M-1T (Methyldihydroboldenone) which is liver-toxic and stacking that with Superdrol (Methyldrostanolone).

These guys would be shocked when I would tell them that their liver is running with the efficiency of a 60-year-old alcoholic, even though they were under 25, and have only done 5-6 oral prohormone cycles. Since they could buy this at the local health food store they thought that it should be safe. Many young lifters have damaged their liver health using these over-the-counter prohormone formulas that were legal just a few short years ago and I have the medical records to prove it.

Not Monitoring Your Blood Pressure

How many of you check your blood pressure daily when you are on cycle? I am sure less than 10 percent of you reading this that do partake in using steroids actually take their blood pressure at least once daily while they are on. Why is this a problem with some lifters? Are you really that lazy? Remember many lifters don't even know they have high blood pressure unless they check it and that is why it is called the "Silent Killer".

I suggest to all my lifters no matter what sport they train for that if they are on cycle they should monitor their blood pressure a minimum of once daily. If you have been one of those guys who has had a blood pressure problem in the past then I recommend that it is done twice daily; maybe buy a home blood pressure monitoring system. It's not that expensive and for the price of a big tub of protein you will have something that will last you years of use. This machine is worth its weight in gold; one of the biggest problems that occurs in powerlifters and bodybuilders is cardiac conditions with high blood pressure topping the charts.

This condition is no laughing matter and you need to address this properly if you want to avoid many of the diseases it can manifest itself as latter in life. Chronic high blood pressure can contribute to peripheral artery disease, heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, heart failure and vision failure leading to blindness.

We all know that some of the most effective mass builders like Anadrol, Testosterone and Trenbolone in their different forms can wreak havoc on blood pressure scores. With Testosterone this mainly happens when the dose starts climbing in the 2,000 mg per week zone. Now when it comes to Trenbolone and Anadrol, I have seen guys using them for the first time struggle with this problem right off the bat. You see, these two drugs are very potent and because some people are very sensitive to them, it can trigger high blood pressure problems right away. Even doing as little as 50 mg of Anadrol per day and 75 mg of Trenbolone Acetate every other day, they still can cause this upsurge in blood pressure readings. Some people are so sensitive to the sides of Trenbolone that they cannot even use it at all and I have seen this many times. You need to monitor your blood pressure daily while on cycle, even if you have never had a problem in the past. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Using Acutane and Winstrol Together

I am going to give you a heads up about Acutane. Many bodybuilders use it to help deal with the problem of acne related to steroid use. Its chemical name is Isotretinoin and it is marketed under the trade name of Acutane in North America. It actually was designed as a chemotherapy drug for brain and pancreatic cancers. The reason for this is that it can kill rapidly-dividing cells and this is a trademark of cancers that affect major organs.

Now one of the major side effects of using this drug is the fact that it dries out your skin. Hence, it helps deal with oily skin that causes acne. It also dries out your lips, mucous membranes, your eyes, and much more. Many complain of nosebleeds while on this— not from the increase in blood pressure (like all our boys who love to pound back Anadrol 50 like they were Reese's Peanut Butter Cups) but from the fact that it will dry out the mucosa lining in your nose. Lastly, joint pain is also a common complaint, because this drying action is not confined to your skin. So you may be wondering why I recommend not taking Acutane while using Winstrol (Stanozolol) at the same time? Now for any of you who have used Winni pre-contest you all can attest to the fact that it can dry up your joints like crazy. For those moderate male users who may take 50 mg daily either by injection or via tablets, you won't notice too much of a problem.

But once you start increasing the dose in the neighborhood of 100 mg-plus per day, your joints will start hurting like a crippled 90-year-old geriatric lady with stage 3 osteoporosis.

This is because Winstrol is great at pulling out subcutaneous water and making you come into the contest looking dry and hard. But it also pulls water from your joints, hence the increased joint cracking, aching and pain that occurs not only during training but also all day long. This is more of a problem for athletes of other sports, especially those that focus on explosive power movements.

Now when we combine an anabolic steroid like Winstrol with an acne medication like Acutane you are going to cause a drying out effect that is beyond what you can imagine. You may say that some dry skin or a little joint pain is not a big deal, so what is the Anabolic Doc whining about?

The reason why I am advising against mixing these two drugs together in this incidence is because of the increased chance of tendon ruptures. In my practice alone I have dealt with three cases. The first one was with a top-level shot-putter who tore his biceps tendon while competing. The second one was with a world-class middleweight powerlifter with a double patella tendon rupture. The third one was with an amateur bodybuilder with a triceps tendon tear.

What did all three of these guys have in common? They all were using Acutane for their acne problem, while combining it with high dose Winstrol. All the symptoms were the same. They all noticed an increase in joint pain, especially in the last few weeks prior to the tendon rupture. They also noticed increased tightness around the area that ended up injured. They all also found an increase in muscle cramping while they took both drugs at the same time.

Now because I have my ear to the street I know more than your average gym rat. It is rumored that one world-class Canadian sprinter who suffered an Achilles tendon tear also fell victim to this same anabolic blunder that my three patients did. Is this just a coincidence? The fact that both of these drugs cause a drying out of tissues and synovial fluids in the joints is a reality. When they are used in larger amounts than recommended and taken simultaneously, you are only looking for trouble— and that trouble is a major injury that could ultimately end your competitive career!

References:

Phillip S, Drug War Chronicle, Issue #564.

Fields G, White House Czar calls for end to "War on Drugs", The Wall Street Journal.

Connie L. Barnes, Angie L. Osborne. "Isotretinoin Uses and Effects". U.S. Pharmacist,

All-Star Roster Shows Up on Mitchell Report, washingtonpost.com, 12-13-2007.