Or important information about the timing of the "inclusion" of hormones and dietary supplements. 
After reading on the PEDsfather chat about a guy who injects himself with testosterone propionate before a date, I decided to write this article, because one of the most popular questions you come across among people who take dietary supplements and PEDs is when you can feel the effect of the drug.
- Have you heard that?
After all, the half-life of some substances is very short, so people assume that it is like in crime movies, where during a deal under a bridge late at night you can open a package with a butterfly knife, rub testosterone into your gums, and roll your eyes and exclaim OH YEAH! WORKING GOODS! I TAKE EVERYTHING, GIVE HIM A MONEY!
Someone smiled now, and someone did not. After all, many people are really sure that this is exactly how it works and if right this minute there is a high level of testosterone or some vitamin in your blood, then there simply cannot be any problems associated with a lack of these substances, and the effect of a single use should be felt right up to the goosebumps on the body! Yes, that's it!
In short, you can feel an immediate effect only if the substance directly affects the sensory organs, the psyche, or causes effects that affect them. Mostly its narcotic drugs.
For example, when taking stimulants, you directly affect the nervous system, which is responsible for assessing sensations, and when taking nitroglycerin, your blood vessels expand and the pressure drops, sometimes so sharply and strongly that in an attempt to balance the sharp drop in blood pressure, your heart accelerates under the influence of adrenaline, and other neurotransmitters and effects that try to equalize the dropped blood pressure and you feel a heartbeat and a little panic.
If we are talking about androgenic hormones, growth hormone, then single injections of testosterone or taking dietary supplements do not give an immediate effect: first, the substance must reach the targets, start molecular and cellular processes - and this takes time, sometimes a lot.
Let's look at testosterone as an example, as the most studied hormone ...
When injected (for example, testosterone cypionate), the drug is administered in an oil carrier, which gradually releases the hormone - not immediately, but over several days. Thus, a single dose of cypionate can cause an increase in testosterone up to 400% of the base level within 24 hours, and then persist for another 3-5 days after injection, then gradually decreases.
For example, you all know that when using testosterone, your muscles not only grow, but also look bigger, more full. Why? Because testosterone affects the levels of nitric oxide, which dilates blood vessels, improves blood flow to muscles (and not only) and can be released quite quickly, monitored by the level of the enzyme NOS (Nitric Oxide Synthase), which is involved in the synthesis of nitric oxide, and roughly speaking shows how much of it can be produced, if necessary.
In case of shortage the mechanism is simple:
So, after the first use of testosterone, the levels of NOS (Nitric Oxide Synthase) rapidly increase and then decrease, this is due to depletion of reserves, but testosterone binds to the androgen receptor, the complex migrates to the nucleus and stimulates the transcription of NOS genes. In other words, to achieve this effect, time is required for:
However, longer-term clinical studies and reviews emphasize that weeks and months of testosterone therapy are required for significant functional changes in the vascular system and stable regulation of eNOS and endothelial function. This is due to the need for vascular adaptation and remodeling, as well as different physiological responses to the dose and the initial state of the patient [1] [2] [3]
But this study suggests that it made sense to observe growth after 10 weeks [4]
If we talk about libido and erection, the effect on sexual function (through activation of receptors in the brain) is also “delayed” - it requires time for adaptation receptor systems.
The hormone Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is mainly responsible for libido, it is not formed quickly, it is not very easy to get into tissues, for example, the brain, and in order to get a full effect even under the influence of superphysiological doses of testosterone, it needs banal time to simply accumulate, as well as estradiol(the right amount of it is essential for libido), which is also made in the male body from testosterone, and requires a certain level and saturation of receptors to have an effect.
Therefore, all the stories about how after a morning injection of testosterone, even propionate, a person begins to perform feats by lunchtime, are more likely to be a description of the placebo effect, or he has kept silent about the fact that he has been on the course for more than one day, although in the second case it is more likely a placebo than the effect of one injection.
Move to second part: READ PART 2
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3830963/
[2] https://joe.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/joe/217/3/R47.xml
[3] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2012.00089/full
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21843929/
After reading on the PEDsfather chat about a guy who injects himself with testosterone propionate before a date, I decided to write this article, because one of the most popular questions you come across among people who take dietary supplements and PEDs is when you can feel the effect of the drug.
- Have you heard that?
After all, the half-life of some substances is very short, so people assume that it is like in crime movies, where during a deal under a bridge late at night you can open a package with a butterfly knife, rub testosterone into your gums, and roll your eyes and exclaim OH YEAH! WORKING GOODS! I TAKE EVERYTHING, GIVE HIM A MONEY!
Someone smiled now, and someone did not. After all, many people are really sure that this is exactly how it works and if right this minute there is a high level of testosterone or some vitamin in your blood, then there simply cannot be any problems associated with a lack of these substances, and the effect of a single use should be felt right up to the goosebumps on the body! Yes, that's it!
In short, you can feel an immediate effect only if the substance directly affects the sensory organs, the psyche, or causes effects that affect them. Mostly its narcotic drugs.
For example, when taking stimulants, you directly affect the nervous system, which is responsible for assessing sensations, and when taking nitroglycerin, your blood vessels expand and the pressure drops, sometimes so sharply and strongly that in an attempt to balance the sharp drop in blood pressure, your heart accelerates under the influence of adrenaline, and other neurotransmitters and effects that try to equalize the dropped blood pressure and you feel a heartbeat and a little panic.
If we are talking about androgenic hormones, growth hormone, then single injections of testosterone or taking dietary supplements do not give an immediate effect: first, the substance must reach the targets, start molecular and cellular processes - and this takes time, sometimes a lot.
Let's look at testosterone as an example, as the most studied hormone ...
When injected (for example, testosterone cypionate), the drug is administered in an oil carrier, which gradually releases the hormone - not immediately, but over several days. Thus, a single dose of cypionate can cause an increase in testosterone up to 400% of the base level within 24 hours, and then persist for another 3-5 days after injection, then gradually decreases.
For example, you all know that when using testosterone, your muscles not only grow, but also look bigger, more full. Why? Because testosterone affects the levels of nitric oxide, which dilates blood vessels, improves blood flow to muscles (and not only) and can be released quite quickly, monitored by the level of the enzyme NOS (Nitric Oxide Synthase), which is involved in the synthesis of nitric oxide, and roughly speaking shows how much of it can be produced, if necessary.
In case of shortage the mechanism is simple:
So, after the first use of testosterone, the levels of NOS (Nitric Oxide Synthase) rapidly increase and then decrease, this is due to depletion of reserves, but testosterone binds to the androgen receptor, the complex migrates to the nucleus and stimulates the transcription of NOS genes. In other words, to achieve this effect, time is required for:
- DNA transcription into mRNA,
- translation of the NOS protein,
- its assembly and inclusion in metabolism.
However, longer-term clinical studies and reviews emphasize that weeks and months of testosterone therapy are required for significant functional changes in the vascular system and stable regulation of eNOS and endothelial function. This is due to the need for vascular adaptation and remodeling, as well as different physiological responses to the dose and the initial state of the patient [1] [2] [3]
But this study suggests that it made sense to observe growth after 10 weeks [4]
If we talk about libido and erection, the effect on sexual function (through activation of receptors in the brain) is also “delayed” - it requires time for adaptation receptor systems.
The hormone Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is mainly responsible for libido, it is not formed quickly, it is not very easy to get into tissues, for example, the brain, and in order to get a full effect even under the influence of superphysiological doses of testosterone, it needs banal time to simply accumulate, as well as estradiol(the right amount of it is essential for libido), which is also made in the male body from testosterone, and requires a certain level and saturation of receptors to have an effect.
Therefore, all the stories about how after a morning injection of testosterone, even propionate, a person begins to perform feats by lunchtime, are more likely to be a description of the placebo effect, or he has kept silent about the fact that he has been on the course for more than one day, although in the second case it is more likely a placebo than the effect of one injection.
Move to second part: READ PART 2
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3830963/
[2] https://joe.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/joe/217/3/R47.xml
[3] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2012.00089/full
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21843929/
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