Steroid Side Effects During Cycle – 5 Best Compounds To Counter Them

Best Compounds To Counter Steroid Side Effects 

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Let me be a bore first. If you experience MILD side effects – like headaches from high BP from time to time or a couple of pimples on your back – you don’t need to use the nuclear options. Try to get better sleep, eat more healthy stuff, wait for a week or so, and there’s a pretty good chance that your MILD side effects will go away. In case you experience gynecomastia, severe mood swings or just depressed – read our guide on PCT and Aromatase Inhibitors. You might’ve decided to skip the most important part of every cycle.

This guide is for those who want to address the issues directly when lifestyle changes proved their ineffectiveness. 

Steroid Side Effect #1 – Painful Pumps and Taurine 

Most of the time, pumping feels awesome. Your muscles are exploding with power, and looking into the mirror right after the workout makes you think that all the sweating under the bar was worth it.

Two simple things cause the effect: 

• More blood flows into your muscle tissue to give it oxygen; 
• More water flows to the same area because of lactic acid. 

Unfortunately, on gear, pumping can happen when you least need it and turn any routine task into pure hell.

You can get terrible shin pumps from simply walking up the stairs or lower back pumps from bending down to pick up a sock from the floor. 

Do I need to say that actually working out can make you cry of pain? Extreme pumping – especially from orals – gives «deadlift» a whole new meaning. 

So, what can save you from that pain and help you regain control over your pumps? 

It’s Taurine. 

Taurine normalizes your electrolytes and basically annihilates – at least partially – the second reason for your pumps, the water build-up. 

Also, Taurine can give you a whole bunch of other benefits: 

• Calcium regulation; 
• CNS support; 
• Heart protection; 
• Brain activity and memory enhancement; 
• Lowering diabetes risk. 

That’s not the full list – Taurine is a tremendous overall compound, even though it has some minor side effects as well. 

Steroid Side Effect #2 – Liver Damage During a Cycle

The liver acts as a natural filter, preventing all the toxic shit that comes from your food and drinks from entering your body. 

With anabolic steroids – you’re testing the limits of your liver. 

Especially if we’re talking about 17-alpha-alkylated orals, like Dianabol, Anavar, or Winstrol. 17-alpha-alkylation prevents those compounds from destruction in your liver. In some severe cases, abusing oral steroids can lead to blood-filled liver cysts or cirrhosis.

In the whole spectrum of liver support compounds, Milk Thistle shines best with anabolic steroids. 

Naturally, milk thistle is just a kind of grass. It’s literally a tiny plant, Silybum marianum. The only thing that makes it attractive to us is flavonoid silymarin – a substance that milk thistle produces. It gives you a whole bunch of positive effects: 

• Bone structure strengthening and protection; 
• Lowering cancer development risks; 
• Skin condition improvement and acne treatment (if digestive issues cause your acne); 
• Sugar levels normalization; 
• Liver cells protection and recovery boost. 

Milk thistle basically envelops active parts of liver cells, giving it an additional protection layer and saving them from all the toxic crap they have to deal with. 

As a result, all the anabolic steroids damage your liver way less than they could. If it were a video game, milk thistle would give your liver a second health points bar. 

Steroid Side Effect #3 – Acne

Acne is a bitch, and you probably know it. It’s one of the most annoying and common steroidal side effects. 

It occurs because little oil glands in your skin react to elevated androgen levels in your blood and produce more oil than your pores can deal with. They clog, skin grows on top of them, and you can get the full collection of black dots, white dots, and pimples. Even typical TRT doses can trigger acne, especially if you’re prone to it naturally. 

No hygienic routine adjustments and no external use of «teenagers» creams will help you with steroidal acne.

So what can you do to get rid of it? If the situation gets unbearable, Accutane can be a life-savior – with minor reservations. 

First of all, you won’t find the real Accutane on the market anymore; it’s an abandoned brand name. Today it’s on the market as Roaccutane or Isotretinoin (which is also the active substance). 

Accutane can shrink your oil glands down to 50%, which results in about 80% less oil.

Practically, it gives you: 

• Less space for acne bacterias; 
• Less clogged pores; 
• Less «tension» in your pimples;
• Reduced inflammation; 
• Clearer skin. 

Even though it sounds relatively harmless, Accutane has some notable side effects. 

In the first month or two, it can make your acne worse. It happens to about half of the people who take it, and things don’t always get better. It all depends on your personal response to the compound. 

Besides, Accutane is harsh on your liver. In combination with oral steroids, it might be a one-two strike that you don’t want to put your essential organ through. 

Even though it’s a long-standing weapon of choice for most athletes who struggle with acne, it’s plain dangerous to underestimate it. I’d recommend talking to your dermatologist first. If and only you were told that it’s ok for you – buy Accutane in our shop and forget about this nasty side effect once and for all.

Steroid Side Effect #4 – High Blood Pressure

Of all side effects, high blood pressure might be the most dangerous one. It can give you anxiety by a whole range of uncomfortable symptoms: 

• Headaches; 
• Troubled breathing; 
• Fatigue; 
• Chest pain; 
• Nosebleeds; 
• Even blood in your urine. 

There are tons of specific medications to counter high BP, but most of those pills would be an overkill for regular athletes. 

If you have normal blood pressure and just NEED to counter your cycle’s side effect, you should aim at something mild and natural

like Magnesium. 

Naturally, Magnesium is a mineral. The one that your body has all the time. It’s responsible for lots of processes in your body, including muscle relaxation. 

That’s exactly how it helps you to lower the blood pressure – by relaxing specific muscles that surround your blood vessels. 

I don’t want to throw dozens of terms and abbreviations at you, so if you’re not satisfied with the oversimplified explanation above – here is a great, relatively recent study that proves the positive effect of Magnesium on your BP. 

There are tons of magnesium-based supplements on the market. Aim at long-standing pharma-grade compounds from your local drug store — no need to waste money on fancy «specially for athletes» stuff.

Steroid Side Effect #5 – Hair Shedding

It’s not like baldness has ever deterred anyone from working out – ask Flex Wheeler or Phil Heath about it. However, it’s still a pretty undesirable side effect for most. 

You need to know that Testosterone doesn’t damage your hair by itself. First, an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase has to convert it into DHT – dihydrotestosterone. That’s when the show begins. 

DHT – basically – shrinks your hair follicles and makes them significantly weaker. That’s why your hair fall out even if you’re young and even if you’re using gear for the first time. 

The effect is reversible, and you won’t go completely bald from a single cycle. However, if you’re prone to balding naturally, the risk goes through the roof. No «essential oils» will help you. 

To prevent steroid-induced balding, you need to counter the DHT elevation.

that’s exactly what Finasteride does. 

Finasteride is a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor. It lowers the amount of the enzyme, so you get less  DHT, and its levels go back to normal. 

Finasteride doesn’t strip you from ALL the DHT – it just lowers your DHT levels down to the normal range. 

You should know that if you’re always on steroids, you need to run Finasteride continuously as well. Once it leaves your body, the effect might be gone – along with your hair. 

If you don’t feel ready for a long ass therapy, you can opt for different 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors, like Testolyze.

Personal Opinion On Countering The Steroid Side Effects

Just one last little piece of advice – don’t put yourself on a fuckton of medication to counter the effects of another fuckton of medication. You may face a fuckton of additional side effects and will become the favorite customer at your local pharmacy. Try to deal with all the issues naturally by changing your lifestyle and diet first. If it doesn’t work, though – now you know what weapons you can use for each of the nasty guys that you may face on gear.