found the post
The Estrogen Handbook
By Kreas
Gyno Mechanics
First of all there are three different types of gyno: estrogen induced, progesterone induced and prolactin induced. Of course you can avoid all three types of gyno by keeping estrogen within the normal range. The precursor to any type of gyno is estrogen! Once you let estro build up you signal to your brain that you have conceived doesn't matter if you are a man or woman keep in mind, your body at this point will have to go through certain processes to prepare you for lactation. Firstly your body will rush to use that estrogen and build up breast tissue (lump) which is mandatory for the lactation process. Once this stage has been completed and you have let estrogen still high your progesterone will increase (estrogen can still remain high) which is an attempt of your body to make the tissue larger and also make your aerolas bigger (puffy and enlarged nipples) again to get them ready for lactation. Last stage of gyno is prolactin/lactation, all previous stages were preparing the body for this moment at this point your progesterone and estrogen will drop and your prolactin will spike, this is when someone starts lactating
Estrogen, estrogen, estrogen!
Most challenging hormone for the steroid user is estrogen by far. Think about it's the cause of any changes in your gyno/pecs, mood, libido, hardness, bloat, skin, prostate, appetite you name it when you feel off 90% of the time is due to low/high estrogen levels.
When you hit your sweet spot you will know you cant miss it, you will feel happy, content, you will fuck like a champ eat like a champ and train like a champ and too top it off everybody around you will be happy as well
Here is an indicator I used since my early days on hormones:
?Too low E2=great erections, difficulty to ejaculate, dull orgasm.
Too high E2=inability to maintain erection, therefore, great difficulty ejaculating, just forget it.
Centered E2=easy erections, able to control ejaculation, stunning orgasm. ?
Low and high estrogen sides are very alike the more experienced you get the easier is to differentiate between them but it will always be tricky, if in doubt get your estradiol checked though bloodwork
High estrogen sides
Acne, loss of libido, water retention (Bloat), pissing less than the water you consume, moon face, very small testicles, scrotum hanging too high, soft testicles, extreme oiliness all over, aggression (roid rage), depression, bitchiness, lethargy, insomnia, soft erections, extreme cravings for sugar/chocolate, high bp, bp spikes, enlarged prostate, pressure in lower abdomen when urinating, thin stream, constipation (from water retention)
Low estrogen sides
Dry skin, dry lips, dehydration, loss of libido, good morning wood no wood when its time for sex, loss of wood while having sex, loss of sensitivity, dry gland (penis), white gland, loss of girth, irritability, mood swings, crying for no reason, dht rage (aggression you take out on others), dull orgasm, hesitation just before urinating, night sweats, loss of appetite, constant fatigue, lethargy, constipation (due to dehydration), diuretic effect (pissing more water than you are consuming), itchy scalp, obsessive thoughts
Of course YMMV, I got each and everyone of those sides the past few years I have been juicing and I am sure I am forgetting some sides. When you get one side effect it is just an indication use this list to make a full picture. So say you have loss of libido, no zits and dry skin/flaking you know your e2 is low. Say you have loss of libido, acne, uncontrollable aggression, and bloat you know your e2 is too high. Never go by one side only, being bloated only means nothing, having dry skin only means nothing again.
AIs
Keep in mind estrogen is good for you in many ways (libido, mood, skin quality, hair, nails etc) BUT most importantly estrogen is good for your liver. I am sure you have heard how arimidex and letrozole are bad for your liver values when aromasin is 'better', in reality all AI?s are as bad as each other for your liver values. The moment you start lowering estrogen the worst your liver values will get doesn?t matter what AI you use all it matters is how much you are lowering your estro. If you lower your estro say by 10nl/dl you wont notice much if you crash your estro down to single digits I guarantee you your hdl/ldl will be completely out of whack no matter what AI you used
Suicidal AI vs Non suicidal/binding AI
Adex and letro are non suicidal AI?s all they do is bind any estrogen you convert directly on your aromataze enzyme. Each AI binds a different percentage of estrogen, letro binds more than adex of course. Problem with biding AI?s is once you seize use all the estro that had accumulated over the weeks/months you were using the AI suddenly gets released this process is called estrogen rebound and I am sure you know it can be far worse than estrogen while on a cycle since normaly when you drop your AI you either cruise with a low dose of test or pct. In both cases you have far less test in you and once all that estrogen is released you got a much higher chance of getting gyno and of course you are going to be bloated like a balloon and feel soft for weeks till your estro comes down to normal levels.
Aromasin is the new generation of AI its suicidal, the difference being with the other AI?s is Aromasin will actually destroy/kill a certain percentage of your aromataze enzyme so by doing so it also kills any estrogen that was attached to that enzyme. Means when you stop using aromasin you wont rebound at all like you would with the binding AI?s and if anything you will have to wait for a while for your body to start producing more aromataze (very bad if you crashed your estro comparing to the other AI?s). Each person is different in the rate they create new aromataze for me it takes around 2 weeks for someone else it can take one or three weeks. Only way you can speed up the process is by using HGH, you can use all the dbol you want all the test suspension you want if you crashed your estro with aromasin and you don't have aromataze you wont even bloat from those compounds there wont be any estrogen conversion, also you will get 0 results from the dbol at least.
Arimidex/Anastrozole
Adex will lower your estro by about 50-60% of course if you keep taking it that percentage accumulates so you lower 50% by another 50% and so on, you can easily end up with your estradiol in the singles if you take it for long enough at a high enough dose and you aren't converting much estrogen from aromatizing gear (using low dose of test high dose AI). Adex imo is the best suited for trt purposes, reason being the rate of which it lowers estrogen compared to the other AI?s is smaller. For trt purposes you only need 1mg of total adex per week to keep estro in range (e2= 20-25ng/dl=sweet spot)
Why adex is bad for blasting: This small posting has been posted on another forum by a doctor not my words but reflects a lot of my experiences with adex
"Adex is not particularly effective for drugs that tend to be subject to peripheral aromatization, methandrostanolone in particular. Often a full 2mg daily of Adex will still not stop dbol bloat and cramping
Arimidex is best at E1 suppression (tissue affinity, gonadal, adrenal, etc and because its a competitive inhibitor). it suppress e1 at even the lowest of doses, but takes rather high doses to see significant impact on peripheral aromatase"
While cutting with a low test dose and non aromatizing gear is as good as an AI as any but while bulking with compounds that aromatize heavily Adex is the worst AI you can use. No matter how much you use you will still be much more bloated than you would by using aromasin/letro
Common dose while blasting: 0.5mg ed/eod
Trt dosage: 0.25mg eod, 1mg e6-7d
Aromasin/Exemestane
Hands down the best down for blasting but it does have its downsides. I found that the more you use aromasin the more senstitive you become to it. When starting out with aromasin even 25mg per day is a common dose for a mild cycle say 750mg test and 500mg deca. As time goes by the more you use it the less aromasin you will need, you will end up needing 12.5mg eod if not less for a mild cycle. It doesn't happen in a few days though it takes months. Another drawback of aromasin is hairloss, comparing to the other AI?s I found it makes me shed a lot more. Once side effect of aromasin is Alopecia, the other two AI?s have hairloss/hair thinning as a side effect but not full blown Alopecia.
Like mentioned earlier the biggest fear with aromasin is crashing estro to low. At this point all you can do is wait or up your hgh dose. Give it at least 10days before you start taking any more AI even if you are switching to say Adex.
The best write up about aromasin which reflects my experience with it 100% is here:
Ahhhhh-romasin?! The king of anti-estrogens.
This post is kind of long, but take the time to read it, it's probably the most important thing you'll ever read if you're a BB'er (haha well maybe not, but there's some gold in here)
Exemestane, sold under the name Aromasin? by Pfizer, is an orally available suicidal aromatase inhibitor. <-- This sentence describes exactly why exemestane is the king of Anti-E's for bodybuilding purposes.
Because exemestane is steroidal this gives it a favorable estrogen suppression profile and confers a few really awesome benefits over other anti-estrogens both on paper and in real experience. Steroidal anti-estrogens have the benefit of being lipid-friendly and they all lower SHBG which increases the ratio of free to bound testosterone, which as many experienced BB'ers know can have a relatively profound positive impact on gains.
I think it is important to understand how drugs work in order to properly dose them, exemestane is a suicidal aromatase inhibitor, this means that it binds with aromatase enzymes and as it does so permanently disables the enzyme and destroys it. Hence the "suicidal" this chemical is like a kamikaze pilot out to destroy your aromatase enzymes which is what makes it so special.
Exemestane's half life in the male body is actually very short (~9 hours) and it is quickly eliminated, however, since as soon as it enters your bloodstream it quickly destroys 80-90% of the aromatase enzymes present in your body, it is effective in maintaining significant reductions in estrogen for up to 72 hours after a single 25mg dose. Estrogen levels only begin to rise again after your body has begun to make new aromatase enzymes to replace the ones destro by exemestane.
There is a great study on the pharmacokinetics of exemestane in men which found the following:
-24 hours after one 25mg dose estrogen levels are reduced by 70-80%
-72 hours later estrogen levels are still 40% below baseline even though the drug itself is almost completely eliminated
-120 hours after initial dose estrogen levels return to baseline (without rebounding)
this means that you can find the timing and dosage that works for you, I've seen some guys recommend between 25mg ED and 12.5mg e4d, and you can see why both are effective while providing different levels of estrogen suppression, and it is this flexibility that makes exemestane such a versatile Anti-E.
BUT WAIT, there's more. Aromasin is also a badass PCT drug! In males exemestane was found to increase total testosterone by ~60% after 10 days @ 25mg/day, however the same study found that while it increased total testosterone by 60% free testosterone was increased by over 100 percent! that's right, it DOUBLES bio-available testosterone (natty of course).
I can tell you this much, when I take aromasin for PCT the results are dramatic, honestly my Libido is never absent at any point during PCT and I absolutely feel great within a matter of days, and this is taking 12.5mg ED, the only side effect i notice is stiff joints and other stiff areas
the good:
-powerful aromatase inhibitor capable of stopping gynecomastia completely on its own (for aromatizing compounds)
-has powerful bloat-reduction effects
-lowers SHBG, increasing free test & makes all other anabolic steroids more bio-available (read: more gains)
-can actually boost Libido on and off cycle
-increases IGF-1
-NO adverse changes in lipid profiles for men (granted if you are using it on cycle this may be different)
-is NOT liver toxic
-no estrogen rebound
the bad:
-typical aromatase inhibitor issues here include stiff joints and possibly lethargy
-more difficult to come by than a-dex or letro
Appropriate uses for Exemestane:
#1) on cycle estrogen control - that's right, any and all estrogen related problems can and should be corrected with this compound, from gynecomastia to acne to bloat exemestane is a panacea, run it at 12.5mg e4d for gynecomastia protection and bloat control, or run it at 25mg ED for pre-contest or for gynecomastia sensitive individuals or moon face. the beauty of aromasin is it's okay to use preventatively and not just as spot treatment for gynecomastia as it doesn't hurt gains nearly to the degree that other Anti-E's do, I'd still recommend using Anti-E's only if you need them, but if you must use one throughout your cycle, you couldn't pick a better compound to use.
#2) PCT. Aromasin is the premier PCT drug in my experience... honestly PCT is kind of fun with aromasin (maybe that's a stretch) but it's a breeze compared to clomid/nolva and significantly better than a-dex (more powerful and fewer sides) it works excellently with HCG - human chorionic gonadotropin - and keeps the extra aromatization from the HCG - human chorionic gonadotropin - injects at bay (you can even run higher dosages of HCG - human chorionic gonadotropin - above 500iu/inject) and another bonus is since it's safe and comfortable to run for longer periods of time, you can stretch your PCT out to 6 or 8 weeks for suppressive cycles to make sure you get everything back in full working order
#3) gynecomastia reversal - in conjunction with a selective estrogen receptor modulator (raloxifene or tamoxifen) and/or a dihydrotestosterone derived compound aromasin can be effective in reversing/reducing existing gynecomastia
#4) off cycle testosterone boost - sometimes if I don't feel like running a cycle but still want a little extra kick I'll take 25mg EOD for 4-6 weeks, gains aren't improved all that greatly but significantly, but I do it more for the Libido/mental effects anyways.
#5) hypogonadism - so you're getting older, you've been cycling since you were 21 and your natty test levels just never get back in the good range, but you don't wanna go HRT??? aromasin will get you back in the game without having to take the plunge for HRT.
Inappropriate uses for exemestane:
#1) giving your gf hot flashes
well that's my write up for the best Anti-E out there, i'm sure i left some stuff out, if anyone has any questions feel free to PM me or ask on this thread?
Common dosages: 12.5mg ed/eod, 25mg ed/eod
Trt dosages: 6.25mg ed, 12.5mg 2-3 times per week
Letrozole
This is an AI you can do without its by far the harshest of all AI?s not necessarily cause your estrogen will be too low, letrozole as a compound/active ingredient is really harsh
Ever climb up the stairs and felt as if you were dying same as a 500lb man would after taking two steps? That's what letro can do to you. My view on this is that it affects ones triglycerides, if you use letro long enough at max dose your triglycerides will be so high that even after climbing ten steps you will be struggling to breath
Only application of letro (which can be avoided/substituted with aromasin) is for contest prep, I would never use it for either bulk, cut or gyno reversal too many side effects for very little gain
Also ever took letro and still had nipple sentivity? Wonder why? Letro lowers shgb dramatically this allows free testosterone to spike and as a result free estrogen, this is the reason the letro gyno reversal protocol doesn?t work (esp when its suggested to use it for one week only). In order to have low free estrogen (Which AI?s cant lower) you need to drop your total estrogen low. However everyone trying to reverse gyno already have high estrogen and the moment you add letro you have a ton of free estrogen in your blood stream, which can make your gyno worse.. To protect against free estrogen you need a serm, that's why you cant have gyno reversal without a serm since all AI's lower shgb.
Keep in mind you cant use nolva with adex or letro you minimize their efficiency by 40% that doesn't work vice versa though nolvadex efficiency stays at 100%.
Common dosage: 0.62mg ed/eod, 1.25mg ed/eod