So a while back I discussed the merits of a longer low dose dbol run in conjunction with my normal TRT protocol. I started it 16 days ago and wanted to put some words on paper (figuratively) and share my experience thus far.
So the original plan was dbol for eight weeks, followed by three weeks off, followed by four weeks of tbol. Because I’m on TRT and have time on my hands I’m more willing to experiment and just sort of observe the outcomes. Here’s what’s happened so far:
Days 1-3 Dbol 10mgs, to assess tolerance; no issues
Days 4-9 Dbol 20mgs, no issues
Days 10-16 Dbol 40mgs, no issues
I’m noticing good strength increases across all lifts, but nothing crazy. I’m going back down to 20mgs for the next three weeks because I do not want to be on 40. I’m glad I did it for a week, just to see if my body tolerated it, but I don’t think I need that much.
Now here’s the interesting thing… I’m in a better mood when I’m in that four or five hour window after taking the dbol and it’s absolutely wonderful. So that’s an unexpected surprise. The problem is that the last three weeks have been absolutely miserable in every other aspect of my life. Work has gotten worse, which means everything else in life has suffered. These two things are unrelated, as the work bullshit was already ratcheting up for the last few months. But it’s been nice to be able to go to the gym and lift heavier than ever before after a long, miserable day at the office.
Full disclosure, I suffer from major depressive disorder. It’s been the one consistent thing in my life and I know how to handle it. But the recent flare up has resulted in this quasi-blast becoming an accidental recomp instead of a clean bulk. I’m 6lbs lighter than when I started. That…that was not my intention. But my appetite goes to zero when I go through these depressive events, and I don’t know if the dbol is helping with that. I’ve read guys say it kills their appetite, others say it makes them eat like a horse. So who knows?
But…I’m not unhappy with the results so far. Despite being lighter my arms and shoulders are more full, I’m stronger, and I’m looking forward to seeing what else I can do over the next seven weeks. Anyway, thanks for reading.
Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.
KSman is simply a regular member on this site. Nothing more other than highly active.
I can be a bit abrupt in my replies and recommendations. I have a lot of ground to cover as this forum has become much more active in the last two years. I can’t follow threads that go deep over time. You need to respond to all of my points and requests as soon as possible before you fall off of my radar. The worse problems are guys who ignore issues re thyroid, body temperatures, history of iodized salt. Please do not piss people off saying that lab results are normal, we need lab number and ranges.
The value that you get out of this process and forum depends on your effort and performance. The bulk of your learning is reading/studying the suggested stickies.
That’s interesting, thanks for posting. I would have expect to see a little water gain from the Dbol. Have you been (or will you) be looking at your liver #'s at all?
I take it about 90-120 minutes before I lift, so usually 5:00pm. I like lifting in the evening, but if I take it much after 5:00 it seems to mess with my sleep too much. I’m thinking about splitting the dosage for the next two weeks, just to see if anything changes, effect-wise.
Sourced the raw powder and made my own oral suspension.
TRT blood tests are every 20 weeks, but I’m not due again until July. My doc is good and he will test me in between the normal schedule (and he doesn’t charge) if I tell him that I’m not feeling well. Had to do that once to get my e2 in line.
I’m on anastrozole 1mg/w now. Prior to that it was up to 1.5mg/w when I was on therapeutic levels of deca. I’ve had to play with my AI more than anything else. Been tough to find my sweet spot, but I’m mostly happy with it now.
I take TUDCA for my liver, but I’m not 100% convinced it’s worth it. I don’t drink and haven’t in some time. My cholesterol has always been really good, a genetic gift from my father.
I honestly expected to feel a little run down once I started taking 40mgs. If I’m being honest I upped the dosage for the express purpose of seeing how much it would negatively impact me. So I’m surprised that it didn’t change anything (as far as physical manifestations). But long term I don’t have any interest in pushing the limits and hurting myself, so this was always designed to be a very brief experiment.
Thanks for the response. Your answers kind of track with what I have found, so it makes sense.
I suffer depression as well. I’ve been taking an over the counter supplement that seems to help, I think it’s got SAMe and maybe some GABA and Theanine or some shit like that, and it seems to help.
But, breathwork has helped the most, specifically Coherent Breathing. It just mellows me out and lowers my anxiety, makes me feel connected. Google it if you’re inclined.
If being swole on water and having a phenomenal pump makes you feel like Superman, then yes.
But don’t make the same mistake everybody else makes and think Dbol is the shizzel. It’s pretty much worthless without exogenous test. It only has a four hour half life. And it fucks with your liver.
What dose of TBOL are you using for the four weeks? Even if you don’t think tudca is worth it, I would still recommend taking it as it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to experimenting with hormones. As for clinical major depression, I have that too, I’ve had it since I was very young… it sucks, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, sorry to hear you suffer with it too. How much weight do you intend to gain by the end of this blast?
So the plan was to attempt to pull off a recomp and stay within current weight +/- 2lbs. Reduce bf by maybe 2-3%, depending on how I was feeling. Any deficit of more than 400 calories makes me pretty impossible to be around, so I was shooting for a plan that didn’t drive everyone around me crazy.
I’m thinking the tbol should start at 25mgs, to assess tolerance. I’d move up to 50 once I have a week under my belt. That’s still the tentative plan. I may end up backwards on this whole thing. I may be cutting more (not by design) on the dbol and then, if my brain will let me, bulking on the tbol on the back end of the blast.
I think this is actually a perfect illustration of how you can plan and plan and plan and then BOOM things change and you’ve got to adjust.
I have not, nor would I at this point. If I was 26 instead of being (almost) 36 I probably would be a little more willing to experiment. But Anadrol seems like it’s for guys who are truly serious about strength gains on that next level. I don’t compete or anything, so this stuff is all just for my own gratification. Truth be told I feel guilty about using anything beyond my trt, but that’s a problem for my shrink and not you guys.
So yesterday was my last day on dbol. I took it for a total of 31 days. I’m overall happy with the results. I started out at 186lbs and weighed in this morning at 180lbs. Lifts all went up nicely, nothing dramatic, but certainly more than I had previously experienced month-to-month. I look more filled-out than I did before I started, which is nice. I really believe it would have been a much better experience if I had not dealt with the depressive issue right in the middle of it. That was 10 days of no appetite and very poor sleep. Big picture it’s not a major stumbling block, but it constituted 1/3 of the time I was on the dbol. So it was a major hit to the overall experiment.
I’m most pleased with the lack of bloat and the fact that I didn’t gain any fat. Even when my appetite was normal I was able to maintain a really good diet, which has been the number one battle I’ve found for most of my adult life. I’m proud of how focused I was able to be. I think my biggest takeaway was that I really could be capable of eating the right thing every single meal without giving in to temptation and cheating here and there. That’s a big deal for me. It reinforces my belief that I can get where I want to be by simply being disciplined and not straying. Anyone who suffers from depression knows that sometimes your mind tells you “no, you can’t do that, you’ll never be good enough, you’ll fail, why bother trying, etc” so it was a big psychological victory for me.