posted April 11, 2000 01:40 PM            

Q: I'm halfway through your Gramabol cycle�it rocks! In only five weeks, I'm up 27 pounds and have blown away all of my personal-best lifts by a large factor. I followed the cycle to the letter and have no gyno (just a little water retention that I can deal with by using Taraxatone).

I have two problems with this cycle and was hoping that you might provide solutions. I've broken out in the worst case of acne. I had some before, but now I look like a pizza face and am getting acne all over my traps and upper back. What can I do to get rid of it? Also, I haven't really lost any hair on my head, but I'm starting to get hairier all over since I started this cycle. I have a lot of disgusting new hair on my back, neck, and shoulders. Is there something that I can take to prevent this from getting worse and get rid of what I have?

A: Acne is a common problem with steroid use, especially when taking steroids that are fairly androgenic, as is testosterone. The increase in androgen levels tends to make your sebaceous glands (oil glands in the skin) go into overdrive, thereby causing an increase in sebum, which can lead to a dramatic increase in acne.

The first step that you can take to reduce this problem is to wash your face (and back, I suppose) with warm, soapy water three times per day. I'd use a soap with antibacterial action, like Dial. You may also consider using OTC acne-reducers that contain benzoyl peroxide�Clearasil, Oxy-10, etc. Some people who have similar problems opt for prescription medications such as certain antibiotics (tetracycline) or vitamin A derivatives (Retin-A) to control their acne.

As for the "hairy situation," there's probably little, if anything, that you can do aside from plucking, tweezing, or shaving. Some people use chemical depilatories (Neat, Nair) with quite a bit of success. Electrolysis is an option, but it's painful and very expensive. Recently, laser hair removal has come into vogue. While less painful and quicker than electrolysis, it's prohibitively expensive, and the results may not be permanent with some people.

Glad to hear that you are satisfied overall, though, with the Gramabol cycle.

Q: I live in Sydney, Australia. I heard that all of my sources dried up because the authorities are cracking down on supplies due to the upcoming Olympics. I don't know if it's true, but I can't get anything except stanozolol. Is there any use in taking stanazolol on its own? If so, how much is needed to get any gain from it?

Also, I'm told that taking something so low in androgens like stanozolol can cause gyno. How do I avoid this? No anti-estrogens are available to me. I was thinking of going three weeks on, three weeks off to avoid shutting down my system. Would this work while still producing gains?

A: Before I give you an answer, I want to make a comment. Something in your letter�something that I read all of the time�irks the dickens out of me. A steroid, any steroid, isn't "low or high in androgens." The correct terminology would be that Steroid X is highly androgenic or not very androgenic, with the "comparator" being plain testosterone.

There's a lot of garbage going around chatrooms that one needs to "stack an androgen with an anabolic." This is like saying that one needs to stack a steroid with another steroid. Okay, but that doesn't tell you much, does it?

All male hormone-based steroids are androgenic and anabolic to one degree or another.

With that out of the way...I, too, have heard that the situation in Australia is drying up because of the upcoming Olympics. There really isn't anything wrong with using stanozolol alone. However, one will merely have to use quite a bit of it. If this were the sole steroid available to me�and, as usual, if it were legal for me to use it�I'd opt to inject 50 mg of stanozol every day, or perhaps inject 100 mg of stanozolol every other day (around 350-plus mg per week total) at a minimum. This should certainly add some mass and strength.

Gyno shouldn't be a problem with stanozolol because it doesn't aromatize, and it's virtually nonprogestenic. I don't know where you got the "three weeks on, three weeks off" idea, but I'm not crazy about it. If this were me, I'd either opt for a "ten weeks straight on" cycle and hope to gain 15-20 pounds, or do a Bill Roberts-style, "two weeks on, four weeks off" deal with hopes of getting gains of three to six pounds every six weeks. Either way, I'd try to get a hold of some Clomid to minimize HPTA crash and testicular shrinkage. Clomid will also help in keeping gains.

Q: I just started using steroids a couple of months ago. My cycle consists of two Omnadren-250 each week. I paid $25 an ampoule, so it costs me $50 a week. I've noticed people in your column saying that they're paying much less for their ampoules. Am I getting ripped off? What's the going rate for an ampoule of Omnadren-250?

A: The "going rate" isn't exactly set by yours truly. If it were, the rate would be $2 per ampoule, and everyone (except the dealers) would love me.

There are a lot of factors involved in price. One is how many amps you are buying. Yep, you guessed it, you usually get a quantity discount. Another factor is location, location, location. In other words, where are you getting it from? If you're buying from some zipperhead, juice-bar dealer, you'll pay more than if you could somehow have someone send you the amps from Europe.

A fair rule to live buy is that every time an amp changes hands, the price will usually increase by 50%-100%. I wouldn't pay $25 for an amp of Omnadren-250, but that's my opinion. I think that $10 is reasonable, but what's reasonable to me might be totally unreasonable to someone who's used to buying 500 amps at a time for $6 per amp. See how it works?

Also, as an FYI, Jelfa (the company that manufactures Omnadren-250 in Poland) switched the formulation about three months ago, so it's now exactly the same as Sustanon-250. And, to throw more gasoline on the fire, I've corresponded with people in Poland who tell me that they can purchase a ten-pack of Omnadren-250 right out the pharmacy for about a buck (as in one US dollar). Anyone up for a trip to Grozny or Warsaw?

Q: I've been using a staggered combination of Testoviron, Metanabol, and Equipose. I'm going to cycle off in about three weeks. What's the best strategy for kick-starting natural testosterone production? Should I use HCG/clenbuterol to maintain strength gains and increase testosterone production, or do you think that I should use the Tribex/ZMA approach? Thanks for any advice.

A: In my opinion, Clomid isn't only the best thing to ensure natural testosterone production while cycling off, it's an absolute "must have" in any gearhead's arsenal! Ideally, one would be using Clomid throughout the entire cycle, not just at the end of it. I wouldn't even contemplate doing a cycle if I didn't have any Clomid.

As for HCG, I don't like it. It just prolongs the inevitable, and it will cause you to crash when you come off it. However, I think that Duchaine used to espouse using 500 IU of HCG per day, every day. And, if memory serves me correctly, some people doing 500 IU of HCG every day or every other day during the cycle and for a few weeks afterward have been okay. Clenbuterol, however, isn't going to do anything for you here, and it may actually cause you to lose more weight.

And I don't like ZMA, either. I think that it's just an overpriced zinc supplement and will only assist in raising testosterone levels if and only if you're deficient in zinc, which is exactly what every study that I've read on ZMA conveys.

You might want to throw in some Tribex-500, as some people have found that it works very well when coming off a cycle. But I'm not promising that it'll do the trick. I've also heard some reports seeming to indicate that stacking Clomid with Tribex-500 is slightly better than using Clomid alone, but I obviously don't have a double-blinded, placebo-controlled study to back this up.

Q: I received an attached list of steroids through email from [name of the supplier withheld]. Have you ever heard of them? Are they legit, or will they scam me?

A: Okay, here's the deal. Unlike some of the boards and chatrooms, I refuse to back or endorse any source. Nobody can accurately predict if you'll be scammed or not, just like nobody can accurately predict when your package will be intercepted by some law enforcement agency. I will, however, make some generalizations which may seem like stereotyping (and unfair), but this is how I feel:

1) All of the authorities know about Thailand. And from what I've heard, better than 85% of packages sent from Thailand are routinely nailed by US Customs.

2) In the last eight weeks, better than 12 major domestic, Internet-based suppliers have been busted. If you ordered from one of these, it's very likely that even if the source keeps his mouth shut, his computer's hard drive won't. If you ever sent the source an email...

3) When you send money to someone that you don't know, you're taking a huge risk. If I were going to do this, I'd send the smallest amount of money possible, money that I could afford to lose if I got scammed. I'd never send more than $200 and, if a source didn't accept this as a first-order trial minimum, I'd look elsewhere.

4) Check the chatrooms and boards for published lists of known scammers. Obviously, it wouldn't be smart to send money to someone on one of these scammer blacklists.

5) Scammers beware. Some day, you'll scam the wrong guy, and they just might be pissed off enough to come to your house and beat your cheating head in with a two-by-four. I know that if someone ripped me off like some of the scammers ripped off many na�ve, would-be steroid users, I'd track the bastard down and "apply a wood shampoo."

Q: Can you please give the name of the manufacturer of the "Finakit" that you've written about? Do you have any other info about it? I'm really interested in testing with this kit.

A: I was going to ignore this question, but so many people have written in asking about it (and I'm tired of saying no, no, no!!!) that I decided to cave in. The kit that I "may have" seen was sold through [email protected], so send an email to that address and ask for details. Remember, according to the manufacturer, the kit isn't for human use. Buy it or use it at your own peril. That's gotta' be it, though, no more comments about kits or Finaplix.

Q: I was recently diagnosed with Hepatitis C. Of all my liver enzymes, only SGOT is elevated (by one point). I assume that use of even the mildest steroid would be hepatic suicide. But Nelson Montana and Brian Batcheldor that say short, sane cycles can actually improve liver function. What type of steroid would do that, and at what doses? I'm not looking for medical advice, of course, just your opinion.

A: If you've been positively diagnosed with Hepatitis C (or even A, B, or any hepato-renal disorder), you'd be foolish to use any steroids, at least in my opinion. Especially foolish if you considered using those that are alpha-alkalated at carbon 17 (as are most orals). This isn't medical advice, just my opinion. If Brian or Nelson has a cogent argument as to why I'm wrong in my opinion, I'd be quite receptive to hearing it.

Q: I read your Consumer Bulletin about HPDx in which you crucified Dan Duchaine. I just wanted you to know that I saw usnea extract being sold in an herbalist's shop here in San Francisco. The herbal doctor told me that he's been using and selling it for years without any problems. What have you to say now? Looks like you were totally wrong.

A: No, I'm not wrong. Usnea extracts and tinctures are currently sold in many herbal shops and have been sold in many herbal shops for years. Had you asked the right questions, you'd have learned that most herbalists sell the product as a "natural antibiotic." The amount of usnic acid per dose in the extract or tincture is about 1/4-1/3 of that in a suggested dose of HPDx.

Furthermore, you're only supposed to use the extract or tincture for a few days until the infection has subsided, not for weeks or months on end in order to lose fat.

And lastly, the Chinese herbalist (who's older than dirt and has been a practicing herbalist since before the communist revolution in China) with whom I spoke regarding your letter told me that he only "prescribes" usnea-based products if and only if other products fail, and then as a last resort.

Just because it's "all-natural" and you can buy it from some local stores doesn't make it innocuous. Ricin, aflatoxin, and various cyanide salts are "all-natural," but I'm sure that you wouldn't willingly ingest any of them.

A chemical is a chemical is a chemical. For instance, regardless of whether your vitamin C is extracted from Rose Hips or synthesized in a lab, the bottom line is that it's the same stuff. Don't be lulled into complacency by the "all-natural" slogan.

I can also purchase Savin (an organophosphamide toxin sold as an insecticide that's in every way a "nerve gas") from my local hardware store. Would you drink a bottle of this stuff just because you can easily buy it? How about gasoline? See my points?

Q: One of the guys in my gym has been using some Mexican steroid called Bedoyecta. It's a really-red looking solution in a rediject syringe. This guy swears by it and claims that it's been the reason why he put on 15 pounds and got a lot bigger over the last month. He's selling Bedoyecta for $12 per rediject and tells me that he uses three of them each week. What steroid does Bedoyecta contain? Is $12 per rediject a ripoff? Any help that you can provide is appreciated.

A: You're joking, right? Bedoyecta (actually, it's called "Bedoyecta Y Tri" in rediject form) is basically a Mexican version of a vitamin B-12 shot. They come three redijects per box and, the last time I checked, cost about $2 for three injections.

Unless you have pernicious anemia or, perhaps, a serious hangover, I wouldn't expect much from using Bedoyecta. This guy in your gym is looking to sucker you big-time. If he gained 15 pounds in four weeks while using Bedoyecta, he "stacked" it with a real steroid.