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Prohormones: Yes, they work! They work so well, in fact, that they’re banned by most competitive bodybuilding associations the IOC, USOC, NCAA, AAU, and most professional athletics. Basically a prohormone, in this sense, is a precursor to testosterone. Your body converts these with enzymes that you possess in the liver into steroidal hormones with various half lives. We have used them beneficially in older men as hormone replacement therapy (HRT). In other “older” men when there have been pronounced androgenic and anabolic effects from the prohormone, we have helped their health care professionals diagnose hypogonadism. Prohormones have been useful in these situations. However, in younger men we have frequently seen negative side effects with the usage of prohormones. Examples of this range from young men failing to achieve full erection within weeks of prohormone use, to one of our clientele being referred from doctor to doctor, finally being diagnosed by an endocrinologist as permanently hypogonadal at the age of 27. Let’s think about the common-sense mechanism here. The body is receiving exogenous (outside) replacement of a hormone that the body usually produces endogenously (inside). It no longer has to produce it’s own testosterone, there exists the potential for testicular shrinkage as the Leydig cells in the testes no longer need to be stimulated by LH (luteinzing hormone) for normal testosterone output. Additionally, this exogenous testosterone converts to the metabolites DHT or estrogens, both having a plethora of side effects beyond the scope of this article. The point we’re trying to make here is that, for some individuals using an actual steroidal compound or a prohormone, the risks and side effects can be the same. While 99 times out of 100, we rarely see negative side effects of prohormones, and normally a person’s own hormonal system switches back on after a “cycle,” are these worth the risk? Bottomline....DP is against AS and Prohormone supplementation with the exception noted above, mainly hypogonadism |
| DP on Prohormones: |
