by Dean Schneider
Note: The following is an important public service announcement for anabolic steroid users...
Okay, okay, it's actually just some of my favorite (but random) tidbits about 'roids. Enjoy!
Did you know that it's been calculated that the lowest total dose of steroid needed to bring about an appreciable gain in lean body mass is 2,535 milligrams? (16)
In other words, whether you're spreading that dose out over six weeks or two weeks, it still represents the lowest total dose that would be needed for a substantial gain in lean body mass.
I'm not sure if I completely agree, but very intriguing.
Did you know that one of the metabolites of Testosterone, etiocholanolone, has been shown to be a potent pyrogenic (meaning "producing a fever") compound in humans, but only when injected intramuscularly? IV administration also produced a response, but wasn't as consistent as with IM administration.
In human subjects, researchers found that after a period of latency, there's a rapid increase in body temperature. This is often accompanied by chills, muscle pain, headache, and sometimes nausea and vomiting. The fever is said to reach its peak around 12 to 16 hours after administration and will usually subside within 24 hours.
In addition, pain and inflammation at the injection site can sometimes last even longer. In some cases, the fevers rose to extremely high levels (12, 13). This could perhaps be one way to burn calories, but not at the cost of your health and well-being.
Of other interest, the term "steroid fever" was used to describe the response. Now, couldn't we have been just a little bit more creative?
Did you know that a fully saturated A ring may reduce the risk of hepatotoxicity of a 17 alpha-alkylated anabolic steroid? This is seen in oxymetholone (Anadrol) and would be supported by the lack of substantial hepatotoxic effects in humans taking a substantial dosage of the drug (14, 15).
Did you know it has been concluded that from the ages of 13-20, the average male will have produced about 15,330 mg more Testosterone than a given female?
And perhaps not a total coincidence, the difference in lean body mass between men and women reaches a maximum of around 19 kilograms (41.8 pounds) by the age of 20 (16). Don't forget, Testosterone is just one player during that period of growth, but this info is intriguing nonetheless.
Wouldn't it be nice if records were kept on some people using anabolic steroids at dosages that bodybuilders and athletes might use? Well, did you know that at one time, one kind man did just that?
The first subject of interest was a male professional bodybuilder. He took an average of 55 mg per day of oxandrolone orally for 76 days, and then took an average of 87 mg per day for another 64 days. In addition, he consumed a high protein diet and trained very hard for an upcoming competition. (16)
The result? He gained 9.7 kg (21.3 pounds) of body weight while increasing lean muscle mass by 19.2 kg (42.2 pounds)! This seems to lend credence to the notion that oxandrolone really is a potent anabolic steroid which just needs a higher dosage than the typical, measly 5-10 mg per day to see great gains.
Another subject classified himself as a weightlifter. He too followed a high protein diet and trained very hard for an upcoming competition. He took 200 mg per week of Testosterone cypionate and 25 mg per day of dianabol (d-bol, methandienone, methandrostenolone, etc.) for 125 days, or just over four months.
The end result? He gained around 5.1 kg (11.22 pounds) of bodyweight and 9.1 kg (20 pounds) of lean body mass. As is indicative from these results, both decreased body fat as well.
Other reports included a group of eight normal, exercising males who took 10 mg per day of d-bol orally for 35 days. On average they gained 0.3 kg (0.661 pounds) of bodyweight and 2 kg (4.1 pounds) of lean body mass (16).
Another group of researchers followed two groups, one consisting of eleven subjects and the other consisting of seven, while both consisted of normal, exercising males. Both groups took 100 mg per day of d-bol for 42 days. Both groups finished with an average gain in bodyweight of 3.5 kg (7.72 pounds) while the groups of eleven and seven gained 5.1 kg (11.2 pounds) and 5.2 kg (11.5 pounds) of lean body mass, respectively.
One last study, just for fun. This one featured 14 normal, exercising males who took 75 mg per week of nandrolone (ester not specified) intramuscularly for three weeks. The end result was a gain in bodyweight of 1.6 kg (3.53 pounds) and a gain in lean body mass of 1.1 kg (2.43 pounds).
Most people toss out "estimations" of anabolic-androgenic steroids without much thought as to how these figures were derived.
After surveying the scientific literature, it would seem that most of the figures arrived upon from research don't always match up with what the half-lives are commonly thought to be. (Even with those scientific figures, there isn't much of a consensus.)
So, I'd like to present the half-lives of just a couple of these compounds as they're reported to be. One caveat: these mean or average half-lives shouldn't be applied as much more than a rough estimate to the individual.
The ranges these averages come from can vary widely. This isn't uncommon as pharmacokinetics can be influenced by many factors such as renal and hepatic function, age, and even genetic factors that result from a number of polymorphisms in various drug metabolizing enzymes seen throughout the human population.
Considering that and the small sample sizes from which these figures are often derived, you can again see that these should be used as rough estimates only. Now, this certainly doesn't mean they're completely worthless, but it's something important to consider when you see a referenced half-life for these steroids: it doesn't necessarily mean that's what the exact half-life will be in you.
Without further delay, here are the half-lives from a few commonly used steroids:
Average half-life from one study was 24.9 hours in normal men given a 25 mg dose (1).
Average half-life from yet another was determined to be 19.2 hours (2).
Average half-life of around 6.67 days from a study using normal men given a dose of 200 mg (3).
Average half-life said to be 4.5 days from another study (2).
Average half-life said to be 3.8 days in normal men given a dose of 200 mg (4).
Other studies have concluded that Testosterone cypionate and enanthate displayed essentially identical pharmacokinetic profiles (2, 5). The authors state that the conclusion reached by a previous study which found that the cypionate ester had a longer lasting effect was flawed due to the use of widely different doses of the two esters.
This error was corrected in this particular study as they took into account the differences in molecular weight from the differing esters and administered the same exact dose of unesterfied Testosterone.
Average half-life was 6.6 days (range was from 4.2 to 14.1 days) in normal men given 250 mg and 500 mg. No statistically significant difference in mean elimination half-life was found between the two doses (6).
Elimination half-life said to be approximately 8 days (7).
One study using normal, healthy men found an average half-life of 8 days (range was from 5 to 17 days) at a dose of 50 mg (8).
Another study using healthy men found an average half-life of 5.9 days at a dose of 200 mg (9).
Yet another found an average of 7.7 days at a dose of 100 mg (10).
An one last study found an average of 7.1, 11.7, and 11.8 days at a dose of 50 mg, 100 mg, and 150 mg, respectively (11).The authors speculate that the significantly lower half-life in the 50 mg group as compared to the 100 and 150 mg groups may be due to the fact that nandrolone concentrations don't decrease monoexponentially, but instead display an increasing half-life over time.
Just a few bits of 'roid randomness for your pharmacological enjoyment! Hopefully, they were informative and made you think!
1. Fujioka M, Shinohara Y, Baba S, et al. Pharmacokinetic properties of Testosterone propionate in normal men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1986 Dec;63(6):1361-4.
2. Behre HM, Nieschlag E. Testosterone buciclate (20 Aet-1) in hypogonadal men: pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the new long-acting androgen ester. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1992 Nov;75(5):1204-10.
3. Anderson RA, Wu FC. Comparison between Testosterone enanthate-induced azoospermia and oligozoospermia in a male contraceptive study. II. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of once weekly administration of Testosterone enanthate. J Clin Endocrinol Metab.1996 Mar;81(3):896-901.
4. Sokol RZ, Palacios A, Campfield LA, et al. Comparison of the kinetics of injectable Testosterone in eugonadal and hypogonadal men. Fertil Steril. 1982 Mar;37(3):425-30.
5. Schulte-Beerbuhl M, Nieschlag E. Comparison of Testosterone, dihydroTestosterone, luteinizing hormone, and follicle-stimulating hormone in serum after injection of Testosterone enanthate of Testosterone cypionate. Fertil Steril. 1980 Feb;33(2):201-3.
6. Perry PJ, MacIndoe JH, Yates WR, et al. Detection of anabolic steroid administration: ratio of urinary Testosterone to epiTestosterone vs the ratio of urinary Testosterone to luteinizing hormone. Clin Chem. 1997 May;43(5):731-5.
7. Product Insert Information for Depo-Testosterone. Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. Kalamazoo, MI, Revised 2002.
8. Belkien L, Schurmeyer T, Hano R, et al. Pharmacokinetics of 19-norTestosterone esters in normal men. J Steroid Biochem. 1985 May;22(5):623-9.
9. Wijnand HP, Bosch AM, Donker CW. Pharmacokinetic parameters of nandrolone (19-norTestosterone) after intramuscular administration of nandrolone decanoate (Deca-Durabolin) to healthy volunteers. Acta Endocrinol Suppl (Copenh). 1985;271:19-30.
10. Minto CF, Howe C, Wishart S, et al. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of nandrolone esters in oil vehicle: effects of ester, injection site and injection volume. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1997 Apr;281(1):93-102.
11. Bagchus WM, Smeets JM, Verheul HA, et al. Pharmacokinetic evaluation of three different intramuscular doses of nandrolone decanoate: analysis of serum and urine samples in healthy men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2005 May;90(5):2624-30.
12. The biological properties of etiocholanolone. Combined clinical staff conference at the National Institutes of Health. Ann Intern Med. 1967 Dec;67(6):1268-95.
13. Kappas A, Palmer RH. Selected aspects of steroid pharmacology. Pharmacol Rev. 1963 Mar;15:123-67.
14. Pavlatos AM, Fultz O, Monberg MJ, et al. Review of oxymetholone: a 17alpha-alkylated anabolic-androgenic steroid. Clin Ther. 2001 Jun;23(6):789-801; discussion 771.
15. Schroeder ET, Singh A, Bhasin S, et al. Effects of an oral androgen on muscle and metabolism in older, community-dwelling men. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Jan;284(1):E120-8.
16. Forbes GB. The effect of anabolic steroids on lean body mass: the dose response curve. Metabolism. 1985 Jun;34(6):571-3.
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