Question: I want to go to Mexico to get some Metformin which is available as Mellitron. Is this a good idea? Or can you suggest something better?
Dan "Guru" Duchaine: I've mentioned recently that the FDA has approved metformin, a potent insulin agonist, for treatment of Type II Diabetes. The trade name is Glucophage. To remind you: metformin would be more potent in improving insulin sensitivity than either chromium or vanadyl sulfate. I think the problem will be that most American doctors will not prescribe Glucophage to a healthy athlete.
Should you acquire Mellitron in Mexico? No. Unfortunately, in scrutinizing th e Mellitron closely, I found that along with the metformin, there are also 125 milligrams of another drug, clorpropamide. This particular drug increases insulin secretion. This is something most people wouldn't want. We want to improve insulin sensitivity and at the same time lower insulin secretion. Mellitron won't lower insulin but increase it. However, if a bodybuilder uses injectable growth hormone, Mellitron would work well along with it. Large amounts of growth hormone make the receptors insulin resistant, and a slight insulin increase would be beneficial. Most metformins available in Europe would be the isolated compound.
Question: I was steroid shopping in Tijuana and found some small blue bottles of methandrostenolone made by Ludwig Heun in West Germany (at least, that's what the bottle said). Is this stuff real?
Dan "Guru" Duchaine: No. It's counterfeit. I happen to know the entire history of this counterfeit because I designed the bottle, label, and tablets.
Starting in 1985, I worked closely with a Tijuana pharmaceutical manufacturing company called Laboratory Milano. For many years, Laboratory Milano produced generic medications, primarily antibiotics, for Mexican drugstores. The laboratory was named Milano because the owner, Juan Machlis, purchased all of the raw materials through a procurement company based in Milano, Italy. Whenever a drug was needed, the procurement company would find a source of it and usually charge between 10% to 15% over wholesale cost.
When brand-name Dianabol and generic methandrostenolone were removed from the American market, several companies began making counterfeit versions, but all of them had problems. Some of the pills were so poorly made and so loosely held together that you could use them as blackboard writing chalk. Others were good but elusive, i.e., hard to find.
About the same time, an Indian crime family based in England began repackaging the Indian Pronabol 5 (methandrostenolone) tablets into small white bottles and labeled them as if the product were from Ludwig Heun Gmb H KG, West Germany. This was a very nice product, and I remember going to various hotel rooms near the Los Angeles airport to buy thousands of bottles from a bearded, turbaned old gentleman who looked like a diplomat. But as nice as the product was, I could never depend on consistent shipments.
So I persuaded Laboratory Milano to manufacture methandrostenolone to my specifications. I designed a tiny light blue bottle with a white metal cap. I supplied the Indian/English Ludwig Heun bottle label so Milano could copy it. I picked this label for two reasons: 1) On the black market, the brand had established itself as a good, reliable product, and 2) I wanted to avoid any ties or references to Mexican manufacture simply because, at the time, most steroid users distrusted any Mexican steroid product. The unfounded assertion was th at the Mexican drugs were not as potent as the European versions. Besides, calling it "Duchainabol" was out of the question.
Methandrostenolone was the first steroid produced by Laboratory Milano, and we made sure each tablet always contained at least six milligrams of the steroid. The cost for the raw materials and packaging was only $0.50 per unit, but we sold it for $4.50. After that, we made counterfeit versions (always with real steroids in them) of Lemmon testosterone cypionate and Lemmon nandrolone decanoate. This was a screw up on my part because testosterone cypionate and nandrolone decanoate were never made by Lemmon. I unknowingly had bought counterfeit steroids to duplicate!
The original source of our methandrostenolone was from Germany. We also purchased oxandrolone from Searle in England. This was ironic because Laboratory Milano and I duplicated the Searle Anavar exactly (the tablet mold cost us $10,000) and sold it for half the cost of what Searle sold it for wholesale to pharmacies. Searle became so frustrated over this (we sold the counterfeit Anavar to American pharmacies) that the Anavar bottle size was doubled to differentiate between ours and theirs.
All the steroid tablets were smuggled in bulk across the border and dropped off at various motel rooms around San Diego. The bottles and labels were made in Tijuana and legally exported to America. Mexican women would count tablets, load them into the bottles, and box them in packages of 100.
I stopped working with Laboratory Milano in the fall of 1986. From that point on, the company cranked up production and flooded the American black market. Just before the arrest of the major "players" (myself included), Laboratory Milano produced some unusual products which I had designed. One was a methandrostenolone with a diuretic and liver antitoxin added. Others included very powerful injectable versions of oxandrolone and oxymetholone. I can honestly say that these two exotic injectables are the most potent steroids I have ever used.
Since the breakup and prosecution of the Laboratory Milano conspiracy, the company has ceased all operations. Nevertheless, some of the former employees still have the ability to produce the various bottles, labels, and tablets of the various steroids. However, none of these current counterfeits have any steroid in them, the Ludwig Heun version included. So if you see any European steroid being sold in a Mexican pharmacy, it's a counterfeit with no active steroid ingredients.
Question: Whenever I use clenbuterol, it works great for about two weeks. After that, I can use ten tabs a day and my temperature will hardly rise. What can I do about this?
Dan "Guru" Duchaine: Clenbuterol is a beta-2 agonist. It attaches to the same receptor as your natural adrenaline and noradrenaline do. It has a very high bonding capacity to the adrenergic receptor. Whenever a drug fits well onto a cell receptor , the receptor becomes resistant to that drug. For example, the thermogenic effect of ephedrine seems to have a longer duration (though it's not as potent ) for two reasons: 1) ephedrine doesn't have a high receptor affinity, and 2) ephedrine is not beta-2 specific.
You might have heard about the newly discovered beta-3 receptors. The receptor is primarily a thermogenic messenger, and over half the thermogenic effect from ephedrine is from beta-3 stimulation. Although the thermogenic message is not as intense as the beta-2 message, beta-3 receptors are very resistant to down-regulation. Clenbuterol, however, has very little beta-3 stimulation.
Until some new synthetic beta-3 agonist is commercially available, the beta agonist of choice is still clenbuterol (although the stronger cimaterol is available as a research chemical in the U.S.). The rapid receptor sensitivity attenuation happens to all users, and the various dosage schemes (i.e., two days on, two days off) just aren't successful.
This attenuation and the lowering of above-normal body temperature are governed by two different mechanisms. I've written about one of them before: the shunting of T4 thyroid away from the active T3 form into the ineffective reverse-T3. Most of the thyroid in the body is the inactive T4 type. The active thyroid that actually fits onto thyroid receptors is a reduced T4, and reduced T4 occurs when one of the iodine atoms is cleaved off the molecule by a specific enzyme (deiodinase). Since we have no way of stopping the T4 from being transformed into ineffective reverse-T3 instead of
he active T3, and there's no such thing as injectable deiodinase (which would prevent the reduction), the best approach is to supplement the missing T3 with Cytomel, a synthetic T3.
The trouble is, it's likely a daily amount of Cytomel higher than 25 mcg would eventually stop the production of natural thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), and the up-regulation will take about 8 weeks. Then, when you go off Cytomel, your body's still laggin' in production of TSH. So now you know why almost everybody who stops taking thyroid (with the exception of the drug Triacana) gets fat. For eight weeks, the body doesn't need as many calories.
Up to this point, the Cytomel trick was only a partial solution. The second and major decrease of body temperature is caused by the down-regulation of the beta-2 receptor. The receptor actually is still in the cell but not in its usual place. The receptor must be at the outside of the cell surface to be available to the beta agonist. There is research showing that the antihistamine ketotifen (trade name Zaditen by Sandoz) in large dosages will up-regulate the beta-2 receptors. This is similar to the American Periactin (cyproheptadine). This class of antihistamine will cause drowsiness, hunger, and irritability, but you may think the negative symptoms are a small price to play.
Here are the particulars. Zaditen is only available in France in 1-mg capsules , 60 capsules to a box. It sells for 65.10 francs (about $12.25). Because of its appetite-stimulating and muscle-building properties, Zaditen is sold through some of the American AIDS buying clubs. The average price for it in America is $40 a box. The dose needed for the up-regulation of the beta-2 receptors is about 10 capsules (10 mg)--assuming you've been using 3 clenbuterol tablets (60 mcg) each day. Sigma Chemicals, the company that has all the bodybuilding goodies that we like but can't buy (including steroids), does sell ketotifen (the fumarate version is water soluble) in raw bulk form. Keep in mind that even when used with clenbuterol, which both reduces appetite and is more of a stimulant than caffeine, Zaditen will still cause sleepiness and hunger. Those aren't nice effects, especially if you're dieting.
Your final solution to sustain clenbuterol's action is to use both Cytomel (25 mcg) and Zaditen (10 mg) each day after using clenbuterol by itself for 2 weeks . You'll need only 60 mcg of clenbuterol for a very pronounced thermogenic effect, hypothetically speaking, of course.
Question: I'm 45 years old, and I'm on testosterone replacement for low natural levels of testosterone--around 300-350 ng/dl. My doctor has prescribed testosterone cypionate (100 mg per week), and this has brought my testosterone level up to around 600 ng/dl. Should I switch over to your recommendation of Deca-Durabolin? Is the use of Deca-Durabolin instead of testosterone for this purpose a documented and accepted practice? One more thing: I'm using 21-gauge needles. Should I try to go to something thinner to minimize scarring?
Dan "Guru" Duchaine: First off, it's nice to see you've found a liberal doctor. Most M.D.'s won't consider prescribing testosterone until they see your blood level of testosterone drop below 300 ng/dl. You appear to have an unusual metabolism. Most males of your age would not realize such a high testosterone elevation on only 100 mg a week. Usually a weekly 100-mg injection of testosterone would raise blood levels 100 ng/dl, at the most. What usually happens is that as males age, the ability to convert testosterone to estrogen (with aromatase enzyme) increases. The extra testosterone injected will more readily convert to estrogen and, at the same time, down-regulate the small amount of natural testosterone being produced. I have a strong feeling that your particular metabolism doesn't manufacture very much aromatase, so the small amount of exogenous testosterone you're using has better potential, as much of it stays as testosterone and doesn't down-regulate your own supply.
Since your injected dose is quite small (only half of what the World Health Organization is recommending for FSH "follicle-stimulating hormone" down-regulation), I can't see any real benefit for you to switch over to Deca-Durabolin. Although the nandrolones have a higher androgen-receptor-binding ability than testosterone, the anabolic effect is not equal, so you might have to raise the weekly dosage to about 200 mg to equal all the positive effects of testosterone cypionate.
In many other males, more than just 100 mg a week of testosterone is needed to generate an optimal blood level of between 500-600 ng/dl. At these higher a mounts, more testosterone is converted to dihydrotestosterone (which accelerates balding and swells the prostate) and estrogen, which would further down-regulate natural testosterone secretion. In these situations, when 200 mg or more of injected testosterone is needed each week, Deca-Durabolin is a nice option, as the DHN (dihydronandrolone) variant has a lesser affinity to receptors at the prostate and hair follicles. The nandrolones also don't convert as readily to estrogen (although it's not markedly different from testosterone).
Now that we know the various mechanisms of the enzyme conversions of testosterone, an enlightened M.D. could also prescribe both Proscar (using only a quarter of a tablet) and Nolvadex (10 mg) daily and would see both a higher blood level of testosterone and a significantly smaller testosterone dosage. I've reluctantly recommended Nolvadex (the most popular anti-estrogen) simply because most M.D.'s won't believe how Cytadren (at 250 mg a day) would work better for this purpose. Of course, the upcoming supplement "Flavone X" could work for the same purpose. However, if you're counting dollars, using Deca-Durabolin would be cheaper than using the combination of testosterone, Proscar, and Nolvadex. Too bad Primobolan Depot is not approved for use in the U.S. It could be a perfect testosterone replacement as it has absolutely no conversion to either estrogen or DHT. You might have heard of a new androgen replacement called MECE. It's very androgenic, so much so, only micrograms are needed each day. This steroid is simply a non-17 alkylated version of the veterinary Checque Drops (mibolerone). I find it hard to believe that researchers are taking this steroid seriously, as mibolerone is a potent progesterone agonist, binding to progesterone receptors and imparting progesterone actions (including sensitizing breast tissue).
Deca-Durabolin, as great as it is, is not mentioned in the literature as a testosterone replacement for middle-aged men. It's recommended for women with systemic lupus (and there is published research on this). The only drawback in using Deca-Durabolin for an androgen replacement is that with extremely low natural testosterone levels (less than 150 ng/dl), there might not be enough androgen action to reestablish libido. In my case, my blood testosterone level is 370 ng/dl, and I have more than adequate libido. I would choose Deca-Durabolin over a testosterone: my hairline is borderline, so why tempt fate?
As to your inquiry about needle gauges, yes, repeated weekly injections with a 21-gauge needle will eventually generate more scar tissue than a smaller needle would. Realistically (and I've tried all the gauges), the smallest gauge needle you can actually use to self-administer is a 23 gauge (I prefer the 1 inch length). But don't be surprised when your weekly shot takes 2-3 minutes to push the plunger all the way down.
Question: Over the summer, I purchased a few hundred tablets of metformin from a European mail-order company. I started 2,000 mg/ day (one 500-mg tab with meals 4 times a day) and experienced a severe loss of appetite. After ten days, I ceased using the drug because I began to lose weight (muscle) and strength as a result of the lower calorie intake. Do you have any thoughts on this?
Dan "Guru" Duchaine: I've gotten the same reports from other bodybuilders who comment on this loss of appetite. At least you got the dosage right. Most non-diabetics who use Glucophage (the American version of metformin) have been cautious with do sages and haven't felt any beneficial effects.
The conundrum is this: bringing the dosage up high enough (between 1,700 and 2,000 mg) generates better glycogen storage and a workout pump, but the loss of appetite makes it difficult to eat enough food. This food apathy is caused by metformin's slowing of gastric emptying. Such an effect would be nice to have while you're on a low-calorie diet. But on a maintenance or hyper-calorie diet, metformin would be a problem.
The simple solution is to make sure you eat calorie-dense foods. If there is a ny complaint (and it seems to be a very minor one) with the moderate to high-fa t diets (whether it be Isometric or Zone based), it usually is that the increase of dietary fat means less food to eat. This is the one instance where peanut butter is a guilt-free solution. So it seems logical that metformin and moderate-fat diets would compliment each other. Hunger from eating less carbohydrates is eliminated because of the slow release from the stomach (and from the small intestine, too), and the reduced carbohydrates will be prioritized for glycogen storage. The dietary fat is calorie dense.
If you're following a high-carb diet and won't consider switching to denser foods, the traditional approach for stimulating the appetite for athletes is the prescription antihistamine Periactin. Unfortunately, Periactin causes lethargy and irritability.
If none of the above solutions suit you, only use metformin when you're on a low-calorie diet. If you lower the dosage enough, your appetite will not be affected, but at the reduced dosage, the insulin sensitivity enhancement will be negligible.
Question: I plan on using insulin, the Humulin R kind, and was wondering if I should take vanadyl and metformin with it ?
Dan "Guru" Duchaine: Vanadyl and metformin will affect the action of insulin in both good and bad ways. The good thing is less insulin is needed for the small amount of carbohydrates consumed. Increasing the effects of insulin at its lowest possible dosage is the ideal situation. the bad thing is that if you maintain the insulin dosage and food intake levels you had prior to adding vanadyl or metformin, you'd probably get some kind of hypoglycemic reaction, perhaps even go into a coma. The over-the-counter insulin is enticing because it's cheap and its usefulness is supported by stories from top professional bodybuilders. The underfunded and uninformed recreational bodybuilder, however, may suffer many adverse side effects. Even at moderately low daily dosages of Humulin R, visceral (interorgan) fat will accumulate. At best, this is cosmetically repugnant (men looking pregnant). At worst, visceral fat is associated with heart disease. This fat, at least in male bodybuilders, appears to be the last fat deposit lost when dieting.
Metformin was heralded, a few years back, as an "alternative to insulin", but neither type II diabetics nor bodybuilders have been raving about this drug. What little positive effect metformin has on insulin resistance occurs only at high dosages. We now have hopes for the next generation diabetic drug. Rezulin (troglitazone), recently available here in states. Since Rezulin's action appears to work on the insulin receptors (increasing their number) and not at the gut level like metformin, it looks like a possible bodybuilding drug. Increasing insulin receptors is a good thing, unless it happens on fat cells, too.
We don't have a formula for the reduction of insulin when using these insulin synergists. Half the usual dose? Less/more ? From my BODYOPUS experiments. I've found a glucometer isn't accurate blood glucose indicator for readings under 120 dl/ml. I wouldn't try this stack.
Question: You're always cutting edge. What's the next bg thing in bodybuilding drugs ? I mean, beyond DNP and insulin, what floats your boat ?
Dan "Guru" Duchaine: Injectable, once-a-year growth vaccasines-two are being worked on. One vaccine inhibits somatostatin, which is a trace hormone, mostly secreted in the hypothalamus. Somatostatin is a growth-hormone-inhibiting factor, one of the counter hormones which stops the secretion of growth hormone. The other vaccine is an antigen that causes the sama anabolic response through the same receptor stimulated by clenbuterol (and other beta-agonists). Clenbuterol is anabolic in animals in only very high dosages, and these dosages would be lethal for humans. The new antigen vaccine would stimulate the same anabolic receptor, nut it wouldn't cause any of the side effects. Both of these vaccines are being developed in the beef industry in Australia. I'll give you more information as it becomes available.
Question: In your recent estrogen article, you mentioned Clomid (clomiphene) was safe for long-term use by bodybuilders. But in the World Anabolic Review, the authors say Clomid should be used for no more than 14 days and that it's a poor estrogen blocker. Also you gave Proviron (mesterolone) a poor mark while the World Anabolic Review claims it's one of the best estrogen blockers. What's up? I'm totally confused
Dan "Guru" Duchaine: Although Colmid isn't the best of the anti-estrogens, it also has the dual function of mimicking luteinizing hormone, which stimulates gonadal testosterone. So, if you want to lower estrogen and raise testosterone or maintain a natural testosterone level during steroid use, Clomid, if found economically, is an attractive option. I believe the World Anabolic Review writers probably misread the warnings about Clomid and printed the duration of use for women. There are no adverse reactions with long-term use in men that I know of.
If a steroid user is looking for a pracrical estrogen blocker to prevent gynecomastia, Clomid is not the besto choice. In this case, the usual choices are either Nolvadex or Proviron. After recent discussions with one of my newsletter writers/researchers, Bill Roberts, I've come to believe Proviron might not be the terrible, androgenic steroid I always assumed it was. Bill Roberts has pointed out that the liver metabolizes Proviron into something with minimal androgenic action. Although on paper Proviron appears to be a classic androgen, its ultimate fate in the body is much more benign. In a future newsletter issue, I'll have Bill Roberts expand on this subject.
Statistics: Posted by nextlevel — Sun Dec 01, 2013 9:35 am