Research is bare as to the best way for athletes to administer Cytadren, but anecdotal evidence suggests that a schedule of 2 days on and 2 days off is effective. One thing is for certain, when used by healthy individuals as an anti-catabolic, Cytadren cannot be taken daily. After a short period of regular use, your body will react to the lowered cortisone levels and release increased amounts of another hormone, ACTH, in response. Increased ACTH will result in your body resuming cortisone production, basically making Cytadren useless. When used medically though, a moderate amount of hydrocortisone is supplemented to avoid this reaction. For athletes however, this would probably be a counterproductive practice. Thus the 2 day on 2 day off regime has been implemented in an attempt to delay or avoid this response. As for the daily dosage, athletes have experimented with anywhere from 1/2 a tablet to 3 tablets per day (250mg), 1 or 2 being most common.

Cytadren is not without it's side effects and warnings which are numerous. To be very succinct, these include, but are not limited to, the possibility of fatigue, dizziness, sleep disorder, apathy, depression, nausea/vomiting, stomach upset, thyroid dysfunction and liver disease. Athletes also report that the reduced cortisone often brings about more aches in your joints and an increased susceptibility to injury. Currently Cytadren is expensive, around $2 a tab, which is probably why it's use has not become more wide spread.