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Thanks for this DG! I'm a high absorption rate kind of guy, very high metabolism. We started my TRT at 80mg / week, after 6 weeks the doc upped it to 120 mg a week, then at week 23 we went up to 160mg a week (80mg twice a week). This got my total T up a little higher out of the range 1400 and Free T up to 56. I get labs done every 8 weeks like clock work. I'm 53 years old, not being reckless. I appreciate your care and share of info, it shines through. The low dosing of Test and Deca together was a recommended strategy in the 90s and totally supports your strategy and explains your success with how you are using the two together. It supports the less is more, start low and go slow strategy. Here's the excerpt:
"I used nandrolone for 10 years. My first book was about it.
As long as you use it with 100-200 mg of testosterone per week, you will be OK. I never had any prolactin issues on it.
200 mg of nandrolone plus 100-200 mg of testosterone once per week can do wonders. You can gain 2-3 pounds a week if you eat well and clean and do resistance exercise 4 times per week. I would add 500 IU HCG twice per week.
This is from my first book I co-authored with Michael Mooney (Built to Survive)
Nandrolone Decanoate (Deca Durabolin)
Nandrolone decanoate is a “best” anabolic steroid for men because it has less potential for androgenic or estrogenic side effects than testosterone, yet one comparison study showed that it has more anabolic potential than testosterone at lower doses.
Nandrolone, like other anabolic steroids, is not however, suitable as a substitute for testosterone for the treatment of testosterone deficiency, as it does not produce the effects on libido, quality-of- life and physical hardiness that testosterone itself does. In truth only testosterone itself is appropriate for testosterone replacement therapy.
Nandrolone’s decreased androgenic potential means that there is less chance that it will promote hair loss or enlargement of the prostate than testosterone. This is partly because testosterone’s 5-alpha reduced metabolite, called dihydrotestosterone, is more androgenic than nandrolone’s 5-alpha reduced metabolite, called dihydronandrolone. Because of its lower androgenic potential, nandrolone may also be used at low doses by women who are experiencing severe weight loss.
Nandrolone is a nor-testosterone, which means that there is no carbon at the 19 position of the molecule. This prevents the binding of the enzyme called aromatase, which converts testosterone into estrogen. While some textbooks say that this means that nandrolone should not convert to estrogen at all, nandrolone has been shown to convert to estrogen at a rate of approximately 20 percent as much as testosterone does at therapeutic doses. Therefore, nandrolone has significantly less potential to cause estrogen-related side effects such as gynecomastia (breast growth) than testosterone in men. Reduced potential for androgenic and estrogenic effects, along with its high anabolic potential makes nandrolone a very good steroid to combine with testosterone for higher-dose anabolic therapy.
Nandrolone probably converts to estrogen, not through the action of aromatase, but through the action of organic acids or alkalines in the body that act on nandrolone after it is converted to its 1-beta hydroxylated derivative. This means that estrogen inhibitors like Arimidex, which decrease the activity of aromatase, may not stop nandrolone from aromatizing to estrogen.
Frequency of Administration — Nandrolone
(Once per Week)
Pharmacokinetic studies with nandrolone decanoate also show that it is better to administer it on a weekly basis rather than biweekly or monthly, if the most consistent blood levels of the steroid are desired. While blood levels of nandrolone decanoate begin to rise in several hours, its 6-day half-life is about 20 percent longer than the half- life for testosterone enanthate or cypionate.
Note: The dosing information on the package insert for nandrolone decanoate recommends weekly administration. The dosing instructions in the package inserts for testosterone cypionate and enanthate are inadequate.
Oil-based injectable anabolic steroids are somewhat preferable to any oral steroid because of their lack of liver toxicity. The main reason that orals may be preferred is because some people have a strong aversion to injections and some doctors are reluctant to prescribe injectable drugs for self-administration.
Generic nandrolone decanoate is sold around the world as single dose vials in three different concentrations — 50 mg, 100 mg, or 200 mg per mL. The most economical product contains 200 mg per mL. Compounding pharmacies can make it (the commercial product is no longer available in pharmacies in the US)
The Pool Effect
After several injections, long-acting injectable oil-based steroids like testosterone enanthate, testosterone cypionate, and nandrolone decanoate can accumulate in the muscle tissue around the injection site in a pool. This pooling can create a longer duration of release of the steroid, which may lengthen the net lifespan of the drug in the body to some extent. Even when this is taken into account, we suggest that once-a- week administration is best to maintain the most consistent blood level of the drug.
Comparing Anabolic Effect — Nandrolone
Versus Testosterone
While there have been no controlled comparative studies of nandrolone decanoate and testosterone in HIV(+) people, studies so far suggest that at a dose of 100 mg per week, nandrolone produces more lean tissue growth than testosterone. For instance, in Dr. Julian Gold’s study of wasting men, 100 mg of nandrolone every two weeks caused a lean tissue gain of 6.6 pounds in 16 weeks, while Coodley’s study on wasting men showed that 200 mg of testosterone every two weeks produced no net gain after 12 weeks.
Gold’s study did include weight-training, though, and weight-training appears to roughly double the anabolic effect of anabolic steroids according to Dr. Bhasin’s high-dose testosterone study.
Perhaps more compelling is a comparative study of normal HIV-negative men that showed a significant weight gain with 100 mg of nandrolone decanoate per week but none with testosterone enanthate at 100 mg. In the same study, at 300 mg of nandrolone and 300 mg of testosterone, both steroids caused significant muscle gain, but there was a greater strength gain with testosterone.37 (This suggests that testosterone induces specific natural neurochemical effects that influence physical strength that may be attenuated or devoid with nandrolone.)
There is nothing perfectly conclusive here, but these data do indicate that nandrolone probably does have more value as an anabolic agent than testosterone does at equal low replacement-like doses. This supports our proposed use of nandrolone added to replacement testosterone to increase the net anabolic effect with less potential for the androgenic or estrogenic side effects that might happen with higher than replacement dose testosterone. However, testosterone appears to have its own unique functional effects on the nervous system.
Combining Testosterone with Nandrolone to
Reduce Side Effects
We also suggest that physicians consider using a mixture of nandrolone decanoate and testosterone in equal lower doses to give some more sensitive hypogonadal men the full benefit of the androgenic properties of testosterone, but reduce the potential for its dose-related side effects. Testosterone’s androgenic characteristics impart more energy, physical strength, libido, and anti-depressive effect than nandrolone, but there is more potential for hair loss, acne, irritability, and prostate growth with testosterone, especially with increasing doses.
Nandrolone appears to add relatively more anabolic activity with a reduced potential for side effects. We see physicians prescribes 50 to 100 mg of testosterone with 50 to 100 mg of nandrolone per week to men to obtain better overall lean tissue retention, energy, and quality-of-life than can be obtained by using testosterone or nandrolone alone. There is also less potential for hair loss and other side effects with this combination.
We sometimes hear men tell us how testosterone alone makes them feel less than optimal until nandrolone is added. We have seen low dose combinations of testosterone and nandrolone used by a significant number of men to produce optimal quality of life, and suggest that physicians consider this non-standard use.
