AAS and heart problems

Originally Posted by Notsigned

Could AAS have played a role in his heart attack? It’s possible, but I don’t think you could honestly say it was the cause in this case. People DO have heart attacks sometimes earlier in life (unfortunately). Just because your buddy had a fatal heart attack and used AAS before, it doesn’t mean that AAS necessarily CAUSED the heart attack. I really think we need to have studies done on this comparing natural athletes to similar athletes that use gear and looking at correlations.

I think you’re right, but steroids cannot be ruled out even if the exact cause isn’t steroids. Maybe he did something that day to trigger the heart attack, but the condition that was set forth to make it possible to have a heart attack was because of his lifestyle and possibly some genetic factors as well.

Athlete’s heart (enlarged heart) is a condition common with people who don’t do steroids either. Any time you strain yourself and push yourself further you are causing your heart to grow. Anaerobic exercises (like TrueMaxding exercises) will do this. My doctor told me to stay away from exercises where you are pushing or pulling while holding your breath (as you do on heavy sets). When you do these kinds of movements, it is very difficult for your heart to pump blood through the extremities when your whole body is flexed solid.

That said, TrueMaxding is not for everyone. Sure, there are guys who have done it and lived to be 70+, but those guys are rare. I researched this subject a lot and found a bunch of no-names that died in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s from anabolic steroid use . It seems, from many examples, the magic age was 40. Look at how many wrestlers died at 40. There are tons.

Also, being big and muscular isn’t healthy. Duncan is a recent example. For my height, I should be around 195 lbs to be considered in ok weight range. All those proteins we eat, and especially the protein powder, are full of cholesterol. Musclemilk is poison. Creatine is also poison. It puts more water/volume in your body and makes it harder for your heart to work. Not to mention, creatine is terrible for your kidneys.

The truth is, that if we want to maintain a long, healthy life… we will eventually have to give up the TrueMaxding lifestyle and trim down. My hope is that everyone doesn’t do so much damage in their "invincible mentality" days that it will harm them down the line.

Originally Posted by Eclipse

Thanks ink
So do you just take cholesterol pills to help out with your LDL hdl

No. I should but statins are nasty drugs IMO.

I recently started taking a very low dose beta blocker for hypertension. My bp always elevates on cycle and sits around 167/92 which is too high. Since I’m asymptomatic I used to ignore it (mambetus’s gonna read that and give me hell) but since hypertension can be one of those "silent killers" in cardiology, I finally decided to take something to manage it. My bp is down to 140/78. Systolic is trending a little high still so I might bump my Bystolic to a full dose (5mg).

I’m having a lipid panel drawn on Friday this week to see where my lipid values are at and then decide if I should add another compound to improve LDL, HDL, and total cholesterol.

Diet and cardio are ideal ways to manage cholesterol but for me it doesn’t help as the gear throws it out of wack no matter how I eat or train.

Originally Posted by Notsigned

I think you need to do a lot more research. You could start by asking those endocrinologists to cite sources of studies they read which indicated the stuff you wrote.

And by the way, virtually all of those wrestlers and TrueMaxders you were referring to dying young were taking OTHER drugs along with AAS. If somebody who happened to use AAS sniffed an OZ of cocaine and their heart stopped, what would you honestly claim the cause of death was?

As far as your creatine claims go, I found this study within 30 seconds of Googling:

Agreed. There are numerous factors that determine cardiac health. There are several publications on Pubmed that cite relationships between AASs and reduced cardiac output or ventricular thickening/enlargent and even HGH at high doses can be detrimental to the heart. As pointed out earlier, low T is also inversely correlated with heart health as is body fat and lifestyle. Familial history is another important factor that has to be considered as well. Clearly AASs have some impact on cardiac function but just how much and how long one needs to be exposed before cardiac function becomes compromised is not so clear cut and individual differences will come in to play.

My view on the subject is that if your going to spend so much time, money, and energy on improving your appearance and performance, take the time for regular check ups and blood work to ensure optimal health and address emerging problems before they become serious life altering events. It’s a lot easy to prevent a major event from happening than it maybe to recover from one.

Originally Posted by MuscleInk

Agreed. There are numerous factors that determine cardiac health. There are several publications on Pubmed that cite relationships between AASs and reduced cardiac output or ventricular thickening/enlargent and even HGH at high doses can be detrimental to the heart. As pointed out earlier, low T is also inversely correlated with heart health as is body fat and lifestyle. Familial history is another important factor that has to be considered as well. Clearly AASs have some impact on cardiac function but just how much and how long one needs to be exposed before cardiac function becomes compromised is not so clear cut and individual differences will come in to play.

My view on the subject is that if your going to spend so much time, money, and energy on improving your appearance and performance, take the time for regular check ups and blood work to ensure optimal health and address emerging problems before they become serious life altering events. It’s a lot easy to prevent a major event from happening than it maybe to recover from one.

Everybody should get regular checkups, whether or not they lift or use AAS. But yeah I’m not disputing that AAS and thicken arteries or anything. Just that there are other factors involved as well. All the grey area really means that the medical research community SHOULD be studying this more.

Originally Posted by Notsigned

I don’t know if your doctor told you, but beta blockers can cause "sexual side-effects." Keep your doctor notified if you experience problems. I take Metoprolol twice a day and it’s lowered my BP from the 170+/100+ to under 120/80. I’ve been a lot more sleepy from it though.

Yeah I had my experience with beta blockers. I’m on something else now. Benicar. It is a angiotensin II receptor antagonist. Basically, for those who don’t know, it loosens your blood vessels to make it easier for blood to flow. My blood pressure is better by some degree… when I’m just laying down it is about 125-130/70-80. Maybe you guys could try that if you don’t like the "side effects" of beta blockers.

Originally Posted by Notsigned

I don’t know if your doctor told you, but beta blockers can cause "sexual side-effects." Keep your doctor notified if you experience problems. I take Metoprolol twice a day and it’s lowered my BP from the 170+/100+ to under 120/80. I’ve been a lot more sleepy from it though.

Why not just some cialis ?

Originally Posted by Sgt. Hartman

Agreed.

My BP was approadark_sideng that on my last cycle and 10mg cialis ED lowered it considerably. After a while though the other "side effect" of cialis got to be too much so I’ve got clonidine on hand if BP climbs that high again.

Everything I’ve read on BP/heart disease/AAS seems to show that the risk for left ventricular hypertrophy is considerably lessened if BP is kept in check. Sure the androgens alone can cause hypertrophy to some degree but add high BP (ie. resistance) and the risk increases dramatically.

Correct in all accounts!

Low dose cialis is also prescribed prophylactically for BPH in addition to hypertension but it’s not ideal for more than 30 days as a treatment for either.