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(Heavy Duty dude @ Apr. 23 2008,4:11)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(Totentanz @ Apr. 23 2008,10:46)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Don't worry, you are definitely getting shut down from epistane. Just because your testicles don't atrophy doesn't mean you aren't shut down. Hell, many guys get no atrophy during test cycles and they are definitely shut down. Anyone who says that anything which qualifies as exogenous hormone supplementation does not shut you down... well, they are either lying to you to sell you something or they are honestly wrong and don't knoe any better.
So... you will definitely want to run real nolvadex or clomid during PCT and not any of that over the counter stuff they try to say is just as good for PCT.
Epistane IS a steroid, so don't kid yourself on that one either. Its based on a steroid called Epitiostanol that was used in Japan to treat breast cancer. Of course they had to methylate it to make it more bioavailable... But it's still a steroid. As such, you need to be fully prepared with a proper PCT. I'd also recommend getting blood work done some time after your cycle to be sure that your lipids and everything are still on track. All steroids are bad for your lipid profile, some less than others, so it is something you want to keep an eye on.
Notice that I'm not talking about running PCT in order to keep your gains, I'm talking about running proper PCT in order to preserve your health. Yeah, you probably kept your gains with a crap PCT but that doesn't mean that your cholesterol is perfect.</div>
Maybe you're right but most people say they did not get shutdown. I don't know what they mean exactly by that.
Also from what I've read, although I'm not an expert, some steroids shut down more than others. For instance I read that M1T shuts you down in 2 days while winstrol doesn't provoke a strong shutdown.
Also it seems that people have little side effects and retain their gains better than with other PH/steroids.
Concerning cholesterol, I take about 10g of omega 3 per day. That should help to lower my cholesterol I guess.
I had a blood test done monday. I'm waiting for the result.</div>
Yeah, some are a lot harder on the HPTA than others. If what I've read about epistane is correct, then recovery should be pretty easy. I'd still suggest going by the rule of time on + pct = time off, just to be sure you are totally recovered before you run it again.
Anyway, the only way to know if you are shutdown or not and how severe it is would be to get regular bloodwork done before, during and after the cycle. This isn't totally reliable because some people are going to be more sensitive than others for that kind of thing.
I'd be interested to hear how your cholesterol comes out. Did you get it checked before hand? I'm just wondering how severe of an effect epistane would have on the lipid profile. Some compounds, most notably Anavar, actually lower cholesterol, however it's not all good since Anavar lowers both the good and the bad, which usually results in a poor ratio of hdl to ldl after a cycle. If you just checked the total cholesterol, things would look great, but looking deeper at the ldl and hdl, it would show it not being so great.
If your lipid profile looks good compared to precycle, then that would be great. That's one of my major concerns about when I finally start trying stuff like this out - I don't want to maintain a poor lipid profile for very long if I can avoid it.
Anyway, what I'm really looking forward to, is SARMS. So far, these things look like they really won't shut you down at all... of course, we've had things that were supposedly coming out before and were going to be the holy grail of bodybuilding, so... I'm remaining skeptical, but the research does look very promising.
If you don't mind me asking, how much weight did you gain? How were the strength gains?
