Women on Steroids -Part 1 (Submitted on 28 March 2006)

Overview

Due to the ever-increasing amount of inquiries that I have been receiving about women and the use of anabolic steroids, I have dipped into some resources to compile this article.

There are many things that need to be considered and understood because steroids so radically affects the female body when compared to the effects on the male body. Fundamentally the male body is geared to deal with large amounts of testosterone whereas the female body is not. This is the fundamental difference between male and females. Essentially if you gave female massive doses of testosterone she would almost literally turn into a male.

The side effects of steroids on males are relatively easy to understand and mange to an extent and in most cases it reverses itself after use is stopped. The female body does however not deal with the reversal process as well. This is the reason it has been so easy to see when females are on steroids, the typical virilization symptoms like deep voice and pronounced jaw line is easily identified. In the hard-core bodybuilding field you can see this all the time with female bodybuilders. These women have clearly made the choice to live with the side effects, to the same degree as the fanatical male bodybuilders do.

The spill over into other sports has presented females with far more of a challenge when it comes to performance enhancing drugs. For the most part, hormone related drugs where kept at arms length because of their obvious side effects. This led to things like Clenbuterol becoming very popular. The arrival of Growth Hormone bailed out the elite athletes, but due to the cost it still presents a problem for other athletes. A better understanding of engineered steroids specifically to reduce side effects in women and children became an attractive option but their use, dosages and understanding of their interactions still presented a problem.

There are some basic questions that keep on coming up with many women and I will attempt to answer some of them.

Steroid use and the pill

To get the answers to this took some searching I’ll tell you! Basically the consensus is that the pills contraception action will not be compromised while on steroids. According to a female Doctor versed on the subject, the often complained about symptoms like water retention is becoming less likely on the modern pills available. In addition she advises that women do not stop using the pill while on a steroid cycle because it helps both during the cycle and post cycle with hormone balance.

She feels that the side effects of the pill, if there are any, can easily be overridden by taking a mild dilutes for instance. Post cycle, it can definitely help normalise the effects of steroids on the hormone system. She also makes note of the fact that once the female body fat drops into single digits, the body usually cannot sustain the lining of the uterus and periods will stop altogether.

Furthermore, she notes that if periods are not desirable, as is often the case with female athletes, there is nothing wrong with simply skipping the “red pills” and going straight onto the with ones, effectively missing the period. In fact, there is supporting studies to say that this is actually a good thing for the ovaries but I am not going to go into that now.

Another point she made was that the best pill to use would be a mono-phasic one that basically uses consisted concentration throughout the cycle.

Androgenic effects

The androgenic effct of a steroid basically refers to its ability or degree to which it binds to the androgen receptors. In turn theses receptors that is found in various places from the muscles to the central nervous system is responsible for triggering typical androgen side effects. Increase hair growth and so on. This is where the masculine effects also come from. The androgenic strength of steroids often is directly correlated with its anabolic strength. In most cases highly androgenic steroids are also highly anabolic.

As science began tinkering with different steroid molecules, the reduction of the androgenic component lead to many steroids that are used to treat women and children medically. Reduced androgenic component means less androgenic side effects but it also translates into a reduced anabolic component. This is why the “highly anabolic” group of steroids are not great to build on. In addition, high doses of these leads back to the original problem and in the case of sport, usual dose is usually why above the dose for medical treatments.

These modified steroids are also more stable when it comes to converting into estrogen so males favour them during contest prep where reducing water retention is paramount. This is the primary group of steroids women should look at when considering a steroid cycle.

Another consideration is the duration of use. Androgenic side effects are heavily correlated with dosage and duration. Androgenic accumulation is as much responsible for side effects as dosage, this is the reason why athletes use fast acting testosterones for instance, because they clear the system with far lest androgen accumulation than their long acting counterparts. If testosterone is the route you are going as a woman, the fast acting group is where you want to look.

It is generally assumed that steroids are the culprits when it comes to typical androgenic side effects but things like Clenbuterol and Ephedrine that are also androgenic antagonist can also lead to some side effct like acne and temper problems.

Women should look at the “Highly Anabolic” group of steroids when designing a cycle, and in more advanced cases the fast acting testosterones like Testosterone Propionate.

Fat and water accumulation.

Estrogen is what you need to be concerned about when it comes to fat and water retention. Males battle the hormone due to the conversion from testosterone to estrogen in the presence of high levels of testosterone. Women have the problem all the time.

As far as most female athletes go, the only way to get your body into single digits while still carrying a fair amount of muscle is the use of drugs and serious diets. Where men typically use and anti-estrogen to help block the estrogen receptor sites like Nolvadex (Timoxafien), women should steer away from it because of potentially strong rebound effects.

According to the doctor I spoke to, the use of LT-3 and Aldactone is actually safer in this application. Steroids alone usually result in a decreases in body fat any way by two pathways, one metabolic and the other secondary to increased lean muscle mass.

As with males, good clean water and lots of it is must when women take steroids.

In part 2: Overview of side effects, cycle design, post cycle considerations, diet considerations.

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