Posted by JGalt on December 21, 2001, at 22:28:46
In reply to testosterone precursors and increased axiety, posted by geno on December 21, 2001, at 19:28:52
Geno,
Arousal and stimulation are certainly possible through the use of testosterone precursors. Anxiety I would think to be iffy...testosterone tends to increase things like confidence, arousal, muscle building, greater sense of well being. In rare cases it also causes increased anger, however, normally this only shows up as increased drive and motivation.
As a side note I don't think that testosterone precursors are a good idea whether you're are pursuing muscle building or just a different approach to conventional antidepressants. The problem with them is that a very high amount of the product is destroyed in first pass metabolism through the liver. That which remains converts to a small amount of testosterone. I've read the same reports everyone else has about how they increase testosterone by XXX%, but there are always oddities about the study...such as that they'll give them to the subjects right after they wake up (when testosterone naturally starts increasing rapidly anyway) or right after a workout and then attribute any increases to the prohormone. The actual amount that converts to testosterone is rather low, but it is high enough to cause estrogen levels to rise and natural testosterone production to shut down if you use the products for any significant length of time. Professional bodybuilders use antiestrogens during the cycle if they are taking testosterone, and they also use a small arsenal of post cycle drugs that are designed to stimulate FSH and LH and reduce estrogen, thus causing natural testosterone production to come back fast (otherwise you'll spend 6+ weeks with greatly lowered testosterone and increased estrogen, a very catabolic mixture). Most people using prohormones don't do this for the obvious reasons that if they were to go to the black market to get antiestrogens and post-cycles, they might as well get real steroids at the same time. Real steroids are obviously beyond the scope of this board (with the exception of testosterone supplementation for people with low levels of unbound testosterone) so I'll stop there with that.
So in the end, it probably is not worth your time or money to invest in prohormones. I can't tell you for sure whether or not they are causing your anxiety, but the science behind them is iffy at best, and without using other illegal drugs to counteract their sides, you're playing a game with your hormones that will likely cause no long term gains to anyone except the supplement companies. But as always, your mileage may vary.
JGalt.
poster:JGalt
thread:87631
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011213/msgs/87638.html