Testosterone Replacement Therapy and Anabolic Steroids (and other questions)

[Bropiace]

Hi everyone,

First know that I won't do anything before consulting a endocrinologist. Yet it is my experience that even well intentionned specialist aren't always offering the best practice and the most appropriate treatments.

Knowledge is power, mine saved me from lots of sub-optimal (or even completly inappropriate) approach in the course of my life over different topics, medical and otherwsie.

Yet I know squat shit about this and I wanted to learn a few things before having a conversation with a doctor.

My situation :

I have been an opiate user for a bit over a year. I had my share of abuse but for months now I have been tapering my dose to much lower maintenance levels and keep on lowering it.

In the past few months I realised that my energy level were at an all time low, that even with the opiate high I felt depressed, anxious, irritability, etc. Even when I would raise my dose to enjoyable levels (and even to quite great high/nod level) those feeling still persisted. (I want to emphasize that this started only a few months ago. During most on my opiates usage time I wouldn't feel any of those, nor did I before starting them).

Before starting the opiates I was a relatively active guy, running 3 times a week about 10 km. My energy levels were much higher than now and after reading on the topic I am convinced my situation is at least partly due to low testosterone levels (test will be done soon).

I am strongly considering Testosterone replacement therapy. Yet I would also like to add steroids once in while and of course get back at training, this time weight lifting. Testimony of friends and reading on the net about other opiate users doing roids makes it something I definetly want to add to my life style, more energy, endurance, psychological benefits as well, etc.

I am interested in being reasonable dosewise, minimizing undesirable side effects, and of course regular breaks. So all in all I am hoping to develop a sustainable, minimal yet benificial usage. My knowledge is at the moment extremely minimal not to say non-existant and I will inform myself thouroughly before doing anything.

All right, now that the context is set here are my questions :

- Is it possible, potentially useful or utterly stupid to consider Testosterone Replacement Therapy along with Anabolic Steroids ?

- Does anyone have experience from Opiate abuse and compensate with either Testosterone, Steroids or even better, both ?

- Obviously I don't intend to talk about the steroids to my doctor (at least not until I get my blood works, tests, and I am stabilised on the treatment), I don't intend to start using steroids before that either. Any suggestion of things I should consider, common pitfalls that are regularly offered by doctors in this kind of situation ?

- Any other medical conditions and/or other drugs usage that could have potential interaction I should worry about if I am to go down this road ?


This site is populate with amazing knowledgeable people. I understand it cannot substitute consulting a competent medical professional, I am looking to learn as much as I can before consulting one.

Thank you to everyone that takes the time to read this and has something valuable to offer (at this point, anything pertinent will be valuable since I know absolutly nothing).

Again, I will go and read on the subject in details, yet my situation seems unique enough that I probably won't easily find specifics pertinent informations and probably common enough so that others will have experience of it.

EDIT :

After reading the "First Cycle Sticky" I of course read this :

Steroids will not work if you are abusing drugs.

Being addicted to opiates or other drugs and trying to run a cycle will result in miniscule gains. It's a waste of time and money. You will spend more time being high than lifting, and you will either end up not eating enough or eating to much junk food. If you are taking pain meds or anxiety meds as directed you are able to run a cycle and if you are taking methadone or suboxone for maintenance you are able to run a cycle. it's only when you abuse drugs does it become an issue and a problem.


You need to choose recreational drugs or steroids. Prescription drugs that you need are fine to use with steroids in most cases but you should research any possible interaction or health issues that could come up.

_________________________________________

I want to clarify a few things.

I am using pharmaceutical opiate (Dilaudid) and not street drug. My maintenance dose is relatively low (22 mg a day) and dropping. I am not getting high while on it. If to achieve result with steroid I need to be sure to stay on the lowest dose possible during the cycle and never idulge in a bit more it won't be a problem at all.


I could also consider switching to Bup (Suboxone) while on a cycle if it helps.

Finally, reading this guide made it clear I need testosterone supplementation. If I were on Testosterone Supplementation Therapy, would it be better for me when starting a cycle to stop the therapy and supplement Testosterone the way every Steroids user would, or should I just stick to the therapy and forget the Testosterone addition as suggested for typical Steroid users ?

Lastly, how do my Post Cycle Therapy would/should differ since I would most likely still be on Testosterone Supplemention at this point ? Should I consider discontinu the therapy for the duration of the Post Cycle Therapy ?

Thank you to all knowledgeable people that will take the time to help understand this better.

 

[NeighborMike]

Im a former opiate and steroid user
I can tell you from my experience it wont really help you, taking opiates reduces your normal test production so if do trt it will obviously help raise your test production and give you a little bit more energy but its really hard to get the benefits of trt outside of a little more energy when youre using opiates

Going to the dr and gettng tests probably wont help you because your levels are going to be all off from using the opiate. Also talking to a dr about needing trt isnt a bad thing at all. Its becoming more nd more comming to get trt beased on your age and the assumption youre actually having real problems

i dont know what you mean about drug combinations and effects down the road, you would need to specify

 

[pharmbiak]

Okay so, quick advice here:

Testosterone replacement therapy is essentially steroids, just administered at a physiological dose rather than a supraphysiological dose. As such, try the TRT and see how your body responds to it before jumping into a supraphysiological cycle - especially considering your previous opioid dependence. The good news is, if you respond well to the TRT, adding a second compound to the testosterone you're receiving as replacement therapy should be easy enough and prevent complete shutdown as you'll have already been, and will continue, receiving exogenous testosterone.

It is actually quite interesting that you're experiencing such fatigue after opioid abuse. Generally, the opposite occurs when one stops using opioids after a long period of time (opioids are, by nature, a CNS depressant). So, as follows, when you stop taking them, your body actually responds (partially withdrawal symptoms) by becoming hyper-excitable; I don't have personal experience but in literature it is noted that many recovering addicts find themselves to be anxious and energetic almost similar to someone that has Graves disease (hyperthyroidism). If you are lacking energy though TRT may help but it may also be the result of still taking opioids at a low dose. As you wean yourself off the drugs, your body's tolerance to the drugs decreases and thus they will have a higher efficacy at a smaller dosage (you may not notice a huge difference in energy until you're completely abstinent from opioids). The effects you're experiencing may be related much less to hormone levels than psychological function, so I would first recommend consulting your doctor about possibly taking a CNS prescription for neurotransmitter imbalance (possibly something like Nuvigil, or something to help re-instate your circadian rhythm). However, Nuvigil and the likes can be addicting as well so you'll have to be careful there too.

As far as drug interactions go, you'll be able to know pretty much everything you need to from your bloodwork. I'm not a physician, so don't quote me on this, but I would recommend being completely off the opioids before you decide to use any anabolic substances. Opioids are hepatotoxic, as are steriods and using them together could hinder progress you'd make using AAS or further exploit negative side effects (blood lipids, liver enzymes, natural growth hormone release patterns etc.)

Best of luck to you - good to hear you've been doing well weaning yourself off the opioids, those are a notoriously difficult class of substances to stop using once you've started.

 

[GrymReefer]

After you figure out your personal vices it would be helpful if you could give us your stats?