January 26, 2001
 Issue #31

EXTREME Q&A
by Jason Meuller

CHECK YOUR SEROSTIM, IT COULD BE FAKE!

Unbelievably enough, a counterfeit version of Serostim made its way onto pharmacy shelves here in the US.  No one should be surprised that Serostim is being counterfeited, most of the GH sold to bodybuilders is counterfeit.  However, to my knowledge, this is the first time that a counterfeit has actually ended up on pharmacy shelves and unwittingly dispensed by pharmacists as the real item. 

The story broke when longtime Serostim users called the manufacturer, Serono, to inquire as to why the packaging looked different and to complain about rashes at the site of injection.  So far, the counterfeit Serostim has been found in California, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Florida, New Jersey, and Missouri. 

It should be noted that all of the counterfeit Serostim has been found in the legitimate pipeline.  Obviously, the FDA is more concerned with preventing distribution of this counterfeit GH to AIDS patients than they are preventing Joe Bodybuilder from buying counterfeit Serostim on the street.  If you’ve recently purchased Serostim, you’ll need to check your lot numbers against the expiration date.  The fake bears lot MNK612A, which is a real lot number appearing on legitimate Serostim.  However, the counterfeit will have an expiration of 08/02, while the genuine article will have an expiration date of 08/01. 

The counterfeit can also be identified through the following means:

• Real Serostim has a “cake” of powder at the bottom of the vial that is about 1/8 of an inch in height.  The fake has white powder spread loosely throughout the vial

• The real diluent vial bears the lot number 99H124; the fake diluent vial says lot 99h124

• The fake Serostim has a dark blue label attached to the end of the box, in which the expiration date and lot number appear.  Real Serostim has no such label, the dark blue box is actually printed directly onto the carton.

This story broke January 23, and is still developing.  We’ll keep you posted with further updates.

ON THE BRIGHTER SIDE OF THE GH HORIZON….

With the possible exception of IGF-1, no bodybuilding drug has the mythical status of human growth hormone.  Anecdotal reports from GH users have done little to give a measure of the true effectiveness of GH; if anything, they have only added fuel to the fire.  Some bodybuilders report gains that seem almost impossible to believe, while others report gaining little, if anything.  Compounding this problem is that very few bodybuilders ever actually use GH, and those that do are often times using it in too small a dose or using a counterfeit.  What’s a guy to do?

I must confess, dear readers, that even I have never used GH and am quite tired of all the confusion surrounding this hormone.  I thought it high time to take the bull by the horns and get some definitive answers to some long-standing questions.  About the only way to do this will be to witness first hand the effects of GH under controlled conditions, ensuring several things:

• The GH used is real (and in this case, it will be Serostim, and it is real)

• The GH is administered correctly and in a high dose (8 IU’s/day)

• The GH will not be used alone, but in conjunction with anabolic steroids, insulin, and thyroid hormones

• No changes in diet or exercise will be allowed during the test period

• No changes in bodybuilding drug use, with the exception of the addition of GH and insulin, will be allowed during the test period

• The test subject is an advanced bodybuilder with proper knowledge of nutrition and exercise.

Not the most scientific study in the world, given that we’re only going to have one test subject.  However, since we failed to get government funding for this experiment (Damn bureaucratic red tape!!), we had to drop the other 152,134 salivating bodybuilders that had signed up for our little test.  However, I’m pretty damn excited about the whole thing, simply because I’m finally going to see firsthand whether of not the expense of GH justifies its use!

Almost all of the studies we’ve seen in the scientific literature on GH have been useless in determining its effectiveness as a bodybuilding drug.  First and foremost, most of the test subjects are not healthy males, more often than not they have been patients suffering from a wasting or severely catabolic condition, such as AIDS, cancer, or burn victims.  Secondly, the dose of GH administered in these studies has more often than not been too little to accurately judge its effectiveness.  Thirdly, the patients in almost all of these studies have not followed a diet or exercise regimen that would be conducive to the gain of lean body mass.  Finally, almost all of the studies have used GH alone, not in a synergistic “cocktail” of other hormones that are known to increase the effectiveness of GH.

So, in a perfect world, we’d set up a study using the following protocols.  We’d use healthy males, all of whom were advanced bodybuilders with at least 5 years of serious weight training under their belts.  We’d give them a high enough dose of GH so that if no results were seen, it’s not going to be due to the fact that the dose was too minimal to have an effect.  We’d make damn sure all of the test subjects were following a strict diet and exercise regimen for months prior to the test, and they would not be able to deviate from this regimen during the test period.  This would ensure that any gains (or lack of) were not due to a change in diet or exercise.  And finally, and this will be both the most difficult and controversial step, we would have them follow a drug regimen until they had reached a plateau, then add the GH and insulin.  Let’s face it folks, if we’ve learned anything from the few high dose growth hormone studies that have been conducted using healthy subjects, it should be pretty obvious that GH is a lousy hormone for bodybuilding when taken individually.  However, I’m fairly certain that GH can be VERY effective when combined with other bodybuilding drugs, but therein lies our problem.  How do we combine GH with the other drugs that are necessary to make it effective and accurately gauge which percentage of gains are attributable solely to the addition of GH?  About the only way I could solve this dilemma is by having the test subject follow a drug protocol until he had reached a plateau, then add the GH and insulin.  Yes, there will be those that will say that any gains seen will be from the use of insulin alone.  Unfortunately, we don’t have a few million dollars to set up four different control groups, buy boatloads of GH, and monitor a few hundred advanced bodybuilders for 6-8 weeks.  Anyone interested in funding such a project can contact me directly, I’m sure we could ask Dr. Scruggs to head up the study and I’d certainly love to go to work every day.

Anyway, what we will provide is a very detailed look at ONE individuals experience with GH.  The whole project will include weekly physique photos of the test subject, detailed outlines of the diet, exercise, and drug regimen that was followed both prior and during the test period, and the weekly comments of the test subject himself.  We’ll also have the subject hydrostatically weighed both before and after the test period in order to provide definitive evidence of the efficacy of GH (or lack thereof).  

This project begins in two weeks, and we’ll begin reporting on our test patient’s progress approximately 4 weeks after he begins GH therapy.  For those of you concerned with such matters (all of you, I’m sure), the test subject lives outside the US, so all of the protocols followed during our study will be perfectly legal.  The test subject has been a friend of mine for years, and is someone whom I deeply respect and trust, so I’m confident there will be no deviation from our set protocols.  I’m like a kid before Christmas with this one folks, I can’t wait to see what happens.

ON A SERIOUS NOTE…

Comment:  Thank you for responding so quickly.  Yes I realize that you get thousands of letters everyday, so I realize that you can’t respond to mine the next day.  Nor am I (I hope) that self-centered to believe that you should.  But for some reason I felt that it seemed the more you grew the less you were interested it us little people.  It was the not receiving any message at all that concerned me.  It was through you that I found out about New Hope Med for instance.

I am from Maryland and know plenty of doctors, but none have the cahoonas to give me the things that not only keep me big, but give the necessary energy to perform what I need to.  Although for me right now the virus is undetectable, I still suffer from it in reference to being able to do many activities.

I have found out that exercise of any type, especially weight training, is like a catch-22.  As you are aware, I'm sure, that resistance training does tax the body, especially the immune system.  But the fact of the matter is that while resistance training is muscle producing, my illness is muscle destroying.  So it is a never-ending battle.  But I can testify to the benefits of anabolic steroids. Before I started using anything my weight was about 145 lbs.   With the few times that I have been able to get and use roids and consistent training I have been able to maintain a steady 185lbs.  Though the stress that working out is sometimes is too much for me, it is well worth it to keep from looking like a dead person walking.   I have tried to persuade doctors here of the significance that anabolics can play on the restoration and maintenance of the lean body mass of people like myself but to no avail.  Since we are talking about my life here, I guess I am forced to do what I can.  I can definitely relate to the people in California who say that weed helps them with their affliction.

That is why it is important for me to get as much accurate information as I can because also my liver is not as healthy as others so I have to be careful about what is toxic or not.

I truly enjoy your no nonsense approach to sharing your information.  I am no rocket scientist so a lot of medical terminology is difficult for me.  So thank you for keeping it straight and simple for us morons.  Once again I thank you for your effort to educate us and for your time and patience.

Answer:  Increasingly, emails addressed to me start with “Did you get my last email?” or “Why haven’t you responded?”.  I’d like to take a moment to apologize to all of you that write and fail to get a personal response, the fact of the matter is that it would not be humanly possible for me to do so.  While I don’t get thousands of emails per day, I do probably get somewhere in the range of 100-150.  I try to answer as many as time permits, and those that I find particularly interesting I answer publicly here in the Extreme Q&A.  Remember, AE is a collection of a talented group of people, scattered all over the world, who have regular lives outside of their contributions to the magazine.  The only person working full time on AE is myself, and even I have outside commitments that require a great deal of my time, including counseling youthful drugs offenders (yes, that’s not a joke people) and training a plethora of clients. 

Every once in a great while I get a letter from a reader that I find extremely validating.  Yes, it’s fun working with bodybuilders and helping them develop their bodies, and it’s certainly a kick in the ass to apply the principals outlined in AE into my own program and watch as my body transforms.  However, the feeling I get when I know we’ve helped improve a person’s quality of life, whether it be related to treatment of something like AIDS or simple HRT for the aging male, is simply indescribable. 

I’ve been fortunate enough to have been contacted by several AE readers who found our publication useful in their fight against AIDS.  I’m sure there are many more of you out there in a similar situation that have never taken the time to write.  Anabolic steroids can be a valuable weapon in the war against AIDS, not only in prolonging life, but improving its quality.  For more information of the use of anabolic steroids and AIDS, I urge you to visit www.medibolics.com.  This website is probably the best resource of information on the aggressive treatment of AIDS and HIV+ individuals using exercise, supplementation, and anabolic steroids.  Good luck and God bless.

IS MY CLOMID FAKE?

Question: How are you? I love the web site and look forward to reading it every week. I have a quick question, has anyone reported that the anti-estrogen products that SBC sells to be fakes? I just started a D-ball cycle and after one week my nips started to burn. I was taking 25mg of D-ball and 50mg of Clomid a day. Your thoughts would be deeply appreciated.

Answer: Two things immediately spring into mind.  One, you’re extremely sensitive to estrogen and the Clomid alone simply isn’t powerful enough to stop the stimulation of the receptors in your breast tissue.  Two, you’re panicking because your left nipple started to itch after a week on dianabol and now you’re convinced that you’re developing a nice set of twins.

Lets’ examine my reasoning and solution to each dilemma.  As we all should know by now, Clomid acts not only to restore normal testicular function in males, but also acts as an estrogen receptor antagonist.  Since you’re only using 25 mg of methandrostenolone per day, I’d have a hard time believing that 50 mg of Clomid isn’t sufficient.  However, we can easily find out by stacking Clomid, an antiestrogen, with an anti-aromatase.  For example, you might stack 250 mg of cytadren a day with 50 mg of Clomid, or .5 mg of arimidex per day stacked with 50 mg of clomid. If this ends your problem, you are apparently EXTREMELY sensitive to the effects of estrogen, probably the most sensitive person I’ve ever encountered.  If this is the case, I’ve got some bad news for you.  Unless you’re willing to spend the money to stay on these antiestrogen/anti-aromatase stacks every time you even THINK of using steroids, you’re going to have a healthy set of boobs on your hands. 

Perhaps you’re simply imagining the whole thing.  Hey, I’m not saying it’s not possible to get gyno from 25 mg of methandrostenolone per day, but I do know that the stuff SBC sells is legit.  And your description of “burning” has me a bit perplexed, I’ve never met someone who described the feeling one gets from the over-stimulation of estrogen receptors as “burning”.  Itching, sensitive, irritating yes, burning no.  Bottom line, try step number one first.  If that solves your problem, I guess it’s going to be a tad bit more expensive for you to use gear than the next guy.  However, if you’re still experiencing the same kind of sensation, you’ve either got another medical problem that’s got nothing to do with the use of steroids, or the feelings are psychosematic.  Keep in touch.

HELP WITH MY CYCLE!

Question: I wanted to get an expert's opinion on how to set up a good cycle.  I have 4000mg of deca, 2000mg Cypionate, and 900mg of  Primobolan.  This will be my third cycle, I'm 29 y/o, 5'10" 215lbs, approx.18% bodyfat.  This was my original plan, let me know if it's totally off base.

I would also like to add Clomid, Nolvadex, HCG and Clenbuterol if you think they would be a good idea, but I'm not entirely sure how to incorporate them. I've lost too much of my past gains, and would like to hold on to as much as possible this time.  Thanks for your time.

Answer:  Unless I’m told otherwise, I automatically assume that any time I’m contacted by a reader in regards to critiquing their cycle, the purpose of the cycle is to add as much muscle as possible given certain parameters.  Those parameters can include the length of the cycle, the availability of various drugs, concerns with side effects, the experience level of the user, etc. About 90% of the cycles I’m sent suffer from the same problem; the dosages used are too low for the user to experience the kind of gains they are expecting.

Quite honestly, I don’t know of too many people that are going to make significant gains off a cycle like this, unless it’s your wife or girlfriend.  I would imagine that the off-season cycles for most of the competitors in the Ms. Olympia contest are something along these lines, if not stronger.  For a 215 lb male on his third cycle, it looks like an exercise in futility to me.

I would do two things with this cycle.  One, I’d wait until I could obtain another bottle of testosterone.  Two, I’d save the Primobolan for the day my wife decided she wanted to get into shape.  Here’s my reasoning.

I’ve said if before, and I’ll say it again.  If you’re going to use steroids for bodybuilding purposes, 500 mg a week of testosterone is the absolute minimum you should consider using.  Anyone reading the last Q&A will remember that I advocated the use of 1 gm a week of testosterone to individual who wanted to use steroids for the first time!  I understand that 500-1000 mg of testosterone a week may seem like a whole lot of drug to a lot of people.  I assure you, 500-1000 mg of testosterone a week IS NOTHING MORE THAN AN EFFECTIVE DOSE OF THE DRUG. 

You’re tapering your dose near the end of the cycle, and hoping to maintain your gains with the addition of a “mild” steroid like Primobolan.  Don’t.  It’s about high time bodybuilders realized that tapering from an effective dose to one that is ineffective in order to restart natural testosterone production is a waste of time.  There is no reason to taper when you have access to drugs like clomid and HCG.  My philosophy towards cycling is that you should remain on an effective dose over the entire course of your cycle, switching to shorter acting steroids as the cycle draws to a conclusion.  If it’s your intention to be completely clean in between cycles, than the drug array you choose should allow you to do so.  All too often bodybuilders think they’re cleaning out for 3-4 weeks in between cycles, despite the fact that during the last week of the previous cycle, they were using long-acting drugs like deca and sustanon. 

This topic certainly bears further discussion, as there’s a lot more ground I could cover here.  Look for my upcoming article, “Designing the Perfect Cycle”, which should serve as a primer for those of you new to the game.  Until next time, Meuller out.

Extreme Q&A is a weekly column that allows me to address the questions and comments submitted by you, the readers of Anabolic Extreme.  Because I get literally hundreds of emails per week, I can't guarantee a personal response to each and every question.  However, I do try to answer as many as possible and the best of these appear weekly in the Extreme Q&A.  To send me a question or comment, please email me at Jason@anabolicextreme.com.