I wrote this about a year ago. I've posted it elsewhere, but since it's my original write-up I have no shame in re-posting. I had no idea where to post it since there isn't a general health/medical forum.
I originally posted this in the General Discussion forum under an odd title. Thought it belonged here instead. Thanks again Rambo for making this sub-forum.
I wanted to address the issue of hypertension (high blood pressure) as it relates to increased body size and the health complications that can result from hypertension (HTN).
Most of us already know that being fat generally equals high blood pressure. The truth is the HTN caused by obesity isn’t merely a product of a sedentary lifestyle. It’s a byproduct of increased body size. For every kg of body fat that a person packs on, they grow an extra ~400 miles of blood vessels [2]. This obviously includes capillary beds.
So what does this mean for the heart? Well, basically you have a pump and some hose. You’ve just added an extra 400miles of hose to the same pump. This means the heart in essence has to pump the blood farther. There are a couple of ways it can do this. It can either speed up the heart rate, or it can constrict the blood vessels. Think about it. If you turn on your garden hose, how far does the water squirt? A couple feet? Then put your thumb over the end, increasing the pressure. How much farther does the water go now? The principle is the same when applied to the circulatory system. This is how the heart compensates.
So here’s the issue as it relates to us. It’s not just fat that adds miles of blood vessels to your circulatory system. I don’t have the exact numbers on a kilo of muscle, but it can’t be too far behind the vasculature needed for fat. I’m not saying don’t put on muscle. Far from it. Put it on, but be aware of what’s going on with your body and do what you have to do to prevent (or at least minimize damage).
Before we talk about damage control, lets talk about some of the complications associated with HTN. The list goes on forever, so I’m only going to hit some big ones. Hemorrhagic stroke, arteriosclerosis (not to be confused with arthrosclerosis), kidney damage (I could write a whole paper on that one) and last but not least Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH), which leads to left sided heart failure… which leads to right sided heart failure.
LVH Okay, so the heart is pumping faster, our arterioles have constricted. This means that the heart has a higher pressure to overcome each time it beats (called afterload). The heart compensates for this added strain like any other muscle tissue, it grows.
“Great so my heart just gets stronger.” – Incorrect. This compensation backfires in a serious way. Lets look at what happens when the left ventricle enlarges:
As you can see by these pictures, as the cardiac muscle gets thicker, the size of the lumen (interior opening) gets smaller. So this becomes a vicious cycle. The heart gets bigger to compensate, and thus it pumps less blood with each contraction, so it increases pressure even more so that each contraction sends that blood farther, so it increases in size to deal with the added pressure… you see how this works.
This eventually leads to heart failure. The left side of the heart enlarges, becomes less efficient and eventually can’t keep up with the right side. This leads to pulmonary edema and eventually right sided heart failure. If you want I’ll go into how that takes place. But for now lets just leave it at that.
So increased body size leads to increased BP which leads to LVH which leads to heart failure, which leads to... all kinds of bad things.
How do we prevent this? Well, we all know cardio is a good place to start. I won’t go into that any further.
I’m not going to talk about supps either, expect to say that the most effective supplementation you can do is to avoid stimulants. Personally I’ve never seen results from an ECA stack that justify it IMO. If you’re doubling down on clen and ECA you’re probably doing more damage than you do when you put on a little fat while bulking.
Now let’s talk about medication options:
Beta Blockers: From what I’ve seen, beta blockers get a bad reputation in BBing. People say you don’t want a beta blocker, it will make you tired. Okay, so get one that doesn’t last for 24hrs and take it at night. That would be an ideal time to be tired don’t you think?
Basically a beta blocker slows your heart rate, it can also cause some vasodilation. The slower heart rate is going to lower blood pressure. The reason it can make you tired is A) your body has become used to having HTN. B) If you’re doing cardio, beta blockers put a cap on how high your heart rate can go.
Beta blockers also can normalize your heart rhythm [1]. If any of you ever have a few palpitations here and there a beta blocker might not be a bad idea.
And my favorite aspect of beta blocker therapy... they have a negative inotropic effect. Meaning they reduce the force of cardiac contractions. Have you ever tried to go to sleep at night and you could feel your heart pounding? A beta blocker at night will fix that.
ACE inhibitors and ARBs: If y’all want I’ll go into more depth about these. They are a good option. They inhibit aldosterone to some extent, and they inhibit the creation of (or action of) Angiotensin II, a potent vasoconstrictor. They can be hard on the kidneys though so that's why I stay away from them.
Calcium channel blockers: Some of these sound promising to me. I’ve never personally known anyone who uses them though so I don’t know how they may make you feel. They make the heart constrict less forcefully and they cause vasodilation, particularly of the coronary arteries [1]. They are particularly useful in lowering systolic blood pressure.
But make sure you stay away from amlodipine. Gynocomastia is one of the potential side effects. So if you’re prone to gyno, and you’re on cycle, and you’re on amlodipine… do the math.
Nitrates: We’ve all heard of nitro for treating angina. These are purely vasodilators. There are such things as nitro pastes and patches that will keep you dilated throughout the day. There are also oral nitrates that will do the same (brand name Imdur). You probably won’t be getting a prescription for these kinds of drugs though. Generally this is prescribed for angina.
WARNING: if you do use nitrates. DO NOT take any Viagra, ciallis, levitra etc with them. This will send you into irretrievable hypotension. Basically it can make your BP drop so low it will kill you.
There are others (Diuretics deserve mentioning, but I'm going to go take a nap now). I’ll go into more depth on any of them if you want. Feel free to ask questions.
Oh yeah, last night I had a patient who's kidneys have failed. The nephrologist believes it was caused by his untreated hypertension (and a shitty genetic hand). He will most likely be on dialysis for the rest of his life. He is only 30 years old.
I'm not saying this shit to scare people. I'm just saying TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.
It is one of the top things I have learned to keep my eye on since I started getting into those super bodyweights of 270-300+ Fortunately Im at a stable 270 but hypertension from all the BP issues that can arise from being larger can be extremely serious and I take it seriously. I have taken BP meds, but now I suppelement and do regular cardio to help maintain and keep things in order, AAS make the heart grow too so its a double whammy. Thankyou for the article clap, I think its something people do not think about quite enough especially when running heavy cycles with AAS like tren EQ dbol anadrol etc.
Not too mention every day life stresses which can affect BP as well.
I have a friend whos lucky to be alive, his heart assumed a bell shape, he was big on anadrol and high amounts of test, didnt do much cardio and it almost cost him his life, he was on a transplant list at one point, he was lucky the drugs they gave him strengthened his heart and he used supplements to help get back to a normal healthy heart strength out put.
He was very fortunate the one side of his heart was assuming dbl duty while the other had atrophied...did AAS cause this not able to say but its no laughing matter when you push your body weight and put all that pressure on the ticker.
It is one of the top things I have learned to keep my eye on since I started getting into those super bodyweights of 270-300+ Fortunately Im at a stable 270 but hypertension from all the BP issues that can arise from being larger can be extremely serious and I take it seriously. I have taken BP meds, but now I suppelement and do regular cardio to help maintain and keep things in order, AAS make the heart grow too so its a double whammy. Thankyou for the article clap, I think its something people do not think about quite enough especially when running heavy cycles with AAS like tren EQ dbol anadrol etc.
Not too mention every day life stresses which can affect BP as well.
I have a friend whos lucky to be alive, his heart assumed a bell shape, he was big on anadrol and high amounts of test, didnt do much cardio and it almost cost him his life, he was on a transplant list at one point, he was lucky the drugs they gave him strengthened his heart and he used supplements to help get back to a normal healthy heart strength out put.
He was very fortunate the one side of his heart was assuming dbl duty while the other had atrophied...did AAS cause this not able to say but its no laughing matter when you push your body weight and put all that pressure on the ticker.
Again good post clap.
I'm not anti-AAS by any means but your right, aas and mainly the stronger androgens do cause cardiac remodeling. Big Cat talked about this and said he is doing some research on it, I hope he post some of his articles on that soon. Nandrolone has strange effects to like an increase in cardiac collagen which is not a good thing, dose dependant.
I only weigh 230 but since I've been on, BP has been a constant problem. Recently when donating blood, the red cross girl taking my BP leaned over and read it and shreiked, "Oh my God!" Not very professional lol. I've been taking measures to get it under control.
Oh yeah, last night I had a patient who's kidneys have failed. The nephrologist believes it was caused by his untreated hypertension (and a shitty genetic hand). He will most likely be on dialysis for the rest of his life. He is only 30 years old.
I'm not saying this shit to scare people. I'm just saying TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.
Thanks for posting, I'm glad to see others that have the medical aspect of things and look out for others health.
educating oneself on how the heart works and what each side does is a very wise thing for anyone who takes anything that has potential to affect the heart! it is an amazing organ! and it never ceases to amaze me what it can overcome and how long it will continue to work when overloaded!
I'm not anti-AAS by any means but your right, aas and mainly the stronger androgens do cause cardiac remodeling. Big Cat talked about this and said he is doing some research on it, I hope he post some of his articles on that soon. Nandrolone has strange effects to like an increase in cardiac collagen which is not a good thing, dose dependant.
Good point number 8,346 lmao us old timers point out many times how we don't understand the kids who overwhelm themselves with high doses or too many compounds or too long of cycle. You get one body, aas. Can enhance ones training and recovery , but don't necessarily mean we ignore general health. Lab tests aren't the end all, just because you get away with thing once or twice don't mean you always will, respect the body, respect the power of aas and you can live and train for long time . Too many young lads don't care or laugh at being healthy on aas. Dumb, stupid and doesn't have to be that way
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by TheClap Published on 01-06-2012 10:09 AM
Originally Posted by Rottenrogue
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