Actually I'll just cut and paste it so we can keep all the discussion right here. This sums up my thoughts and experience on the subject... at least it did at the time I wrote this little article:
It’s seems like not enough time goes by without hearing that a well known member of the boards has died of a heart attack. Anyone who’s been around for a while knows what I’m talking about. There will be some kind of effort to raise money for the guys family. We all tell ourselves it has nothing to do with his use of gear so we can go on feeling like we aren’t doing anything harmful to our bodies.
Well the bad news is it does have something to do with gear use. The neutral news is it’s not just because of the negative effects on blood lipid levels. And the good news is it’s very treatable. The side effect I’m talking about is called
Polycythemia – an excess of red blood cells.
Unfortunately almost all androgens increase red blood cell production. Testosterone is a red bone marrow agonist. EQ stimulates EPO production. Deca stimulates RBC in a more direct manner. The list goes on. At first glance this sounds like a great thing. We all hear controversy about blood doping in endurance sports and the ignorant media makes it sound like this condition would be ideal for athletes. The truth is that being polycythemic for a short period of time may yield a slight increase in cardiovascular endurance, but long-standing polycythemia will make you exhausted and damage almost every major organ system in your body. It also greatly increases you risk for pulmonary embolism, heart attack and stroke.
So here’s how the damage occurs. You blood is normally supposed to be about 45% formed elements: RBCs, platelets, WBCs etc. And the rest is water. So you add in a significant increase in RBCs and your blood becomes something like a 55/45 mix instead of 45/55. So your blood becomes thick. This puts extra strain on the heart, having to pump thick blood. Since the blood is thick the blood pressure generally needs to go up so it can force thick blood through your capillary beds.
Here’s a news flash –
forcing thick blood through the tiny vessels of your kidneys is not good for them!!!
Get out a copy of your last post cycle bloodwork. Was your RBC level, hemoglobin and hematocrit all high? If it was, now take a look at your creatinine. Was it about 1.3 – 1.6? Maybe it’s just a lucky guess. Now, I
have seen post cycle bloodwork from people who come back without polycythemia. Like everything, a large part of this will be determined by genetics.
On to the other set of problems, ischemic events, meaning stroke, MI, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis… in other words, problems caused by blood clots. It doesn’t take many brain cells to figure out that thick blood is going to clot more easily. This is one of the reasons that smokers have strokes and heart attacks. A percentage of their blood becomes bound to carbon monoxide, rendering it incapable of carrying oxygen and to compensate their bodies produce more red blood cells (so those of you that smoke and use AAS need to quit AAS until you can quit smoking).
I could go on about this for a while, but I won’t. Many have probably stopped reading already. It’s not too fun to read about something as insignificant as saving your kidneys when you could be researching just how many A-bombs you need to take to get hoooooooge.
Now we’ve described the problem. So what’s the solution? To put it simply, the solution is to get rid of the extra blood cells. Donate blood. In my experience this has significantly decreased my creatinine levels (a high creatinine suggests decreased kidney function) and improved my overall energy levels.
I know that some of you can’t honestly donate blood (maybe you like the whores a little too much). Don’t dismay, there are a couple of options. I myself can’t give blood (I lived in Europe for a number of years during the time of mad-cow disease). First you can go to the blood bank and explain your situation. You don’t have to tell them you use AAS, just that you need to do a therapeutic donation. They will put your information in the system. You then go to your doctor and have them call the blood bank and tell them you need to do a therapeutic donation.
This option didn’t work for me either. My NP wanted me to see a hematologist, even though she knew my polycythemia was caused by TRT. So now I take care of the problem at home. I have a friend start an IV on me, I drain one liter of blood (yes a full liter, and I'm only abt 205lbs) and then replace it with a liter of saline. This keeps my RBC count at the top end of the normal range, improves my energy level and my kidney function.
If you use gear. Use it responsibly.
Thanks for reading... or not reading, I don't give a shit.
TC
