T Nation

Any Reason Not to Start AAS?

Pharma
#1

I started researching AAS back in the beginning of the summer. I still have a lot of research to do but am glad I spent the time to learn as much as I have. Eventually I want to get my level of knowledge on the subject up to where it is with nutrition and training, which has been ongoing for 5 years.

I started training at 15 and am almost 21 now. Really the net time though was about 3.5 years of training due to surgery and accutane making 2 years a complete waste. So basically 15-16 and then 18-21. In that time I have gone from 125 to 175 at about the same leanness. For the record I started out fat when I was considerably younger and got skinny through poor dieting. For my size my strength is decent (deadlift around 450, front squat around 250…nothing crazy) but have constantly been frustrated with how easily I seem to put on fat and how so many people I know are bigger than me while lifting considerably less weight. I have worked with 2 respectable online trainers and both have said that out of the hundreds of clients they’ve worked with I am in the top when it comes to how easily I put on fat. I can gain weight and could be much heavier now if I wanted to but I’d be much fatter as well.

I have had my thyroid and Test levels checked. I seem to be hypothyroid (TSH in the 3’s) and have pretty low test (right around 400ng/dl which at any age sucks but especially this age). Free test around 95. One of the things people say about early Test use is that it can bring your natural levels down but mine are already crappy to begin with. And I would of course get appropriate PCT.

So basically, having learned a lot about training and diet in the last 5 years, while adding 50lb of mass and getting up to respectable lifts, and already having shitty Test levels and being somewhat hypothyroid is there any good reason for me not to start experimenting with AAS at this point? Starting with something simple like 4-500mg/week Test E, e.g.

I’m open to any opinions/thoughts,

Thanks

-By the way, I plan on seeing a doc as well to possibly get TRT legitimately but at my age I’m not expecting much from that

#2

I would do my best to get the thyroid issues addressed - and that could possibly help the low test as well. No sense mudding up the waters by doing an AAS cycle at this point.

#3

[quote]pcdude wrote:
I would do my best to get the thyroid issues addressed - and that could possibly help the low test as well. No sense mudding up the waters by doing an AAS cycle at this point. [/quote]

Could you explain why looking into thyroid first would help with test? I have not come across this. If anything I figured Test would almost cover the thyroid issues in a way because it would make it less noticeable

#4

I agree with pcdude. You aren’t a genetic freak testosterone-wise, but you aren’t total shit either. If your thyroid is acting up, you might have cortisol issues which if rectified could drastically improve your gains. Trying to “cover up” an underlying thyroid issue with AAS is pretty stupid and says to me you aren’t ready to be messing with steroids yet.

Regardless, no legitmiate doctor is going to prescribe TRT to a 21 year old with test levels well within the normal range.

#5

[quote]overstand wrote:

Regardless, no legitmiate doctor is going to prescribe TRT to a 21 year old with test levels well within the normal range.[/quote]

That’s true but there are some good ones that will work with him to get his other hormone imbalances straightened out, which as pcddude suggested will probably help with Test as well.

OP: Check out the TRT forum to get a feel for some of the issues and possible solutions that we deal with. The thyroid could impact your T levels by downregulating your overall body’s hormone levels, which it likes to tightly control through feedback. It is not uncommon at all to see people who solve an underlying thyroid disorder (or cortisol, or whatever) see an improvement in Test levels as well…

#6

Thank you guys for giving serious responses. Given some sections of this sites forums I half expected trolling and bs answers

[quote]overstand wrote:
I agree with pcdude. You aren’t a genetic freak testosterone-wise, but you aren’t total shit either. If your thyroid is acting up, you might have cortisol issues which if rectified could drastically improve your gains. Trying to “cover up” an underlying thyroid issue with AAS is pretty stupid and says to me you aren’t ready to be messing with steroids yet.

Regardless, no legitmiate doctor is going to prescribe TRT to a 21 year old with test levels well within the normal range.[/quote]

I didn’t really think to try to “cover up” the thyroid issues, although I suppose I wrote it like that. I more just figured that by taking the Test it would help muscle gains and reduce fat to the point of making the messed up thyroid not as big of an issue, but I realize it would still be there. I was linked to stopthethyroidmadness and learned that being prescribed TSH is ~pointless but t4 is what is helpful, is this something most doctors would be willing to prescribe to someone in my position and something that is likely to help these issues?

for the record, TSH was around 3.1 but ferritin was around 91 which I believe is fairly high and therefore somewhat indicative of not having a thyroid issue? Also even though 3.1 is high it was “in range” for the lab so I imagine it would be hard to get a thyroid prescription for that? This happened to be after a very high carb day, I don’t know if increases in thyroid due to higher carb intake occur that quickly but just though I’d put that out there.

Admittedly I have done significantly less research on thyroid issues compared to AAS. Also in the times I’ve measured my temp (generally during cuts though) it has been around 97.4 or so on average with the thermometer I used. Unfortunately neither of the 2 blood tests I’ve had in the last year had cortisol tested.

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:

[quote]overstand wrote:

Regardless, no legitmiate doctor is going to prescribe TRT to a 21 year old with test levels well within the normal range.[/quote]

That’s true but there are some good ones that will work with him to get his other hormone imbalances straightened out, which as pcddude suggested will probably help with Test as well.

OP: Check out the TRT forum to get a feel for some of the issues and possible solutions that we deal with. The thyroid could impact your T levels by downregulating your overall body’s hormone levels, which it likes to tightly control through feedback. It is not uncommon at all to see people who solve an underlying thyroid disorder (or cortisol, or whatever) see an improvement in Test levels as well…[/quote]

Interesting. I will be honest, the reason I am looking for Test/Thyroid meds/etc is for better muscle:fat gains. Although I would like not feeling so tired all the time (I need a nap almost every day) I am really seeking this out for the better gains. If Thyroid meds would do this indirectly by lowering cortisol and increasing Test then that is great, especially since it would be regulated by a doctor. I have not read about thyroid meds doing this to a significant degree

Thanks

By the way, just saw this quote of yours:

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:

I’ve noticed a strong correlation between Low T symptoms and ADD diagnosis. Were you diagnosed with ADD as a child or an adult?

When I first started feeling shitty, ADD was the first thing I started pursuing because a lot of the symptoms fit…I had a hard time concentrating on most things, brain fog, etc. This was eventually ruled out, and I ended up having testicular cancer which crashed my other hormones. So be aware of these correlations, especially if the ADD seems to have been onset later on in life.[/quote]

I don’t think I have ADD, I do very well in school, but I am constantly zoning out not being able to concentrate, etc. Could just be boring subject matter lol but something that I’ve noticed.