Anavar for females question

hopefully bellina will chime in.

jb

I know a girl who has experimented marked virilizing effects with oxandrin 20mg/day during 6 weeks and had to stop the treatment.

You should not stay on ANY AAS indefinitely! You will stop your normal hormone production for one, for two anavar is liver toxic. Usually this is not an issue with women as doses are kept low generally. However using it for long periods brings this back into the equation.

At 10mgs you probably shouldn't experiece much side wise, but if you increase you most definitely will start to have sides. You may experience SOME fat loss but this is entirely dependent on your cardio and diet.

As with all AAS they are used for muscle building and not fat loss. You may also experience water retention.

Posted by: Bellina

You should not stay on ANY AAS indefinitely! You will stop your normal hormone production for one

I always thought this wasn't a factor for females, since our Testosterone production is so much lower than males anyway.

I would feel that lipid levels should be your main concern with anavar.

Posted by: sonic

I always thought this wasn't a factor for females, since our testosterone production is so much lower than males anyway.

Women still have testosterone. You don't want to suppress your own by running it too long. However as already noted it is liver toxic and that would be your biggest issue. It's has the lowest effects of any AAS on liver but running it a long time could cause issues.

Actually here is a study that shows anavar at 80mgs a day improves liver function in those treated for severe alcoholic hepatitis, anavar is also used as treatment in other liver disease. Lipid levels would be my major concern with this drug.

Am J Gastroenterol 1991 Sep;86(9):1200-8
A randomized, controlled trial of treatment of alcoholic hepatitis with parenteral nutrition and oxandrolone. I. Short-term effects on liver function.
Bonkovsky HL, Fiellin DA, Smith GS, Slaker DP, Simon D, Galambos JT
Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.

The present studies were designed to provide careful measures of effects of oxandrolone, an anabolic steroid, intravenous nutritional supplementation, and the combination of these two treatments on liver functions, metabolic balances, nitrogen metabolism, and nutritional status in patients with moderate to severe alcoholic hepatitis. Of 43 patients originally recruited, 39 (19 men, 20 women) with typical clinical and laboratory features of alcoholic hepatitis (11 Child's-Pugh class B; 28 class C) were admitted to a metabolic unit and completed a 35-day three-phase protocol. Phase I was a 10-day baseline period of observation, during which routine and special quantitative tests of liver function (galactose and antipyrine metabolism), a 7-day elemental balance study, and a 15N, 13C-leucine metabolism study were done. Phase II was a 21-day treatment period during which patients were randomly assigned to receive one of four regimens: 1) standard therapy, consisting of abstinence, a balanced, nutritionally adequate diet, and multivitamins; 2) oxandrolone (20 mg orally four times a day) plus standard therapy; 3) nutritional supplementation, consisting of 2 L daily of 3.5% crystalline amino acids (in 5% dextrose), given by peripheral vein; or 4) a combination of oxandrolone and nutritional supplementation, along with standard therapy. Metabolic balances were repeated during phase II. Phase III was 2 or 3 days posttreatment, during which special studies of liver functions and volumes and leucine metabolism were repeated. All patients who completed phase I of study and were randomly allocated to one of the four treatment groups completed the subsequent two phases. Overall, with time, patients showed highly significant improvements in most clinical and laboratory features. For most standard laboratory tests (e.g., serum albumin, transferrin, prothrombin time) improvements were more marked in patients treated with nutritional supplementation and/or oxandrolone than in those given standard therapy alone. Liver volumes fell in all treatment groups, with greater improvement in those treated with nutritional supplementation. Improvements in galactose and antipyrine metabolism rates were significant only in those treated with nutritional supplementation or oxandrolone. Effects of treatments on metabolic balances, nitrogen metabolism, and measures of nutrition are described in this issue in a companion paper. We conclude that the addition of nutritional supplementation and oxandrolone to standard therapy of moderately severe or severe alcoholic hepatitis is well tolerated, and leads to more rapid improvement in the laboratory parameters measured.

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Scand J Gastroenterol Suppl 1990;175:118-30

Yes that is true, it is used in chronic hepatits, but it is 17-alpha-alkylated and has shown to change liver values either way. What does that mean? Couldn't say. I'm not a doc. For that matter another study done on HIV positive men who were given only oxandralone for 12 weeks showed some to have grade III and grade IV liver toxicity from the drug. I don't think using people who are severe alcoholics or HIV patients in comparison to a normal individual is a very good comparison though. It can also increase LDL's and has been shown to suppress HPTA at very low doses.

Posted by: sonic

I always thought this wasn't a factor for females, since our testosterone production is so much lower than males anyway.

I'm sure you don't wanna get a condition called Female Hypogonadism.

Posted by: Bellina

You should not stay on ANY AAS indefinitely! You will stop your normal hormone production for one, for two anavar is liver toxic. Usually this is not an issue with women as doses are kept low generally. However using it for long periods brings this back into the equation.

At 10mgs you probably shouldn't experiece much side wise, but if you increase you most definitely will start to have sides. You may experience SOME fat loss but this is entirely dependent on your cardio and diet.

As with all AAS they are used for muscle building and not fat loss. You may also experience water retention.

I do think that ASS may have fat loss properties, as follows. On a side note this article made me want to use Anavar in the near future.

Schroeder ET, Zheng L, Ong MD, Martinez C, Flores C, Stewart Y, Azen C, Sattler FR. Effects of androgen therapy on adipose tissue and metabolism in older men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2004;89(10):4863-72.

ABSTRACT

We investigated the effects of oxandrolone on regional fat compartments and markers of metabolism. Thirty-two 60- to 87-yr-old men (body mass index, 28.1 +/- 3.4 kg/m(2)) were randomized to oxandrolone (20 mg/d; n = 20) or matching placebo (n = 12) treatment for 12 wk. Oxandrolone reduced total (-1.8 +/- 1.0 kg; P < 0.001), trunk (-1.2 +/- 0.6 kg; P < 0.001), and appendicular (-0.6 +/- 0.6 kg; P < 0.001) fat, as determined by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. The changes in total and trunk fat were greater (P < 0.001) than the changes with placebo. By magnetic resonance imaging, visceral adipose tissue decreased (-20.9 +/- 12 cm(2); P < 0.001), abdominal sc adipose tissue (SAT) declined (-10.7 +/- 12.1 cm(2); P = 0.043), the ratio VAT/SAT declined from 0.57 +/- 0.23 to 0.49 +/- 0.19 (P = 0.002), and proximal and distal thigh SC fat declined [-8.3 +/- 6.7 cm(2) (P < 0.001) and -2.2 +/- 3.0 kg (P = 0.004), respectively]. Changes in proximal and distal thigh SC fat with oxandrolone were different than with placebo (P = 0.018 and P = 0.059). A marker of insulin sensitivity (quantitative insulin sensitivity check index) improved with oxandrolone by 0.0041 +/- 0.0071 (P = 0.018) at study wk 12. Changes in total fat, abdominal SAT, and proximal extremity SC fat were correlated with changes in fasting insulin from baseline to study wk 12 (r >or= 0.45; P < 0.05). Losses of total fat and SAT were greater in men with baseline testosterone of 10.4 nmol/liter or less (<or= 300 ng/dl) than in those with higher levels [-2.5 +/- 1.1 vs. -1.5 +/- 0.8 kg (P = 0.036) and -24.1 +/- 14.3 vs. -2.9 +/- 21.3 cm(2) (P = 0.03), respectively]. Twelve weeks after discontinuing oxandrolone, 83% of the reductions in total, trunk, and extremity fat by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry scanning were sustained (P < 0.02). Androgen therapy, therefore, produced significant and durable reductions in regional abdominal and peripheral adipose tissue that were associated with improvements in estimates of insulin sensitivity. However, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased by -0.49 +/- 0.21 mmol/liter and directly measured low-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased by 0.57 +/- 0.67 mmol/liter and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased by 0.54 +/- 0.97 mmol/liter (P < 0.03 for each) during treatment with oxandrolone; these changes were largely reversible. Thus, therapy with an androgen that does not adversely affect lipids may be beneficial for some components of the metabolic syndrome in overweight older men with low testosterone levels.

two things, this study was done with 20mg a day, not really enough to see changes in a bbr. second, you did see the recommendation that indirectly steers you away from anavar towards an androgen that does not adversely affect lipid levels. That is lifts point.

jb

I don't understand how women can permanently stop their hormone production? Women stay on birth control for many years, which essentially is doing the same.

IMO, I prefer the studies done on burn victims (sadly, more are on children). Many of the studies run for a year. The doses are a bit lower, though. I've seen .5-.1mg/kg/d.

Personally, I think that both lipids and elevated liver enzymes would be a problem, albeit small.

Just go get these two checked by the doc. This will tell you when you have to end a cycle, and when you can begin.

At 15 mgs I had irregular liver values. So take it how you would like it. I have gone as high as 20 mgs and had no fat loss. Those who do are generally on strict diets and doing a lot of cardio. If anything the fat loss is generally due to the increase in muscle upping the metabolism. There are very few studies done on women with low dose var only.

I'm not here for debate. I gave my opinion as a woman who has seen it happen and I will leave it at that. This is why I usually don't give opinions here. Everything is always debate.

I don't really consider any of most of the lab testing to be worth anything. People are always posting studies done on rats, older people or men. They aren't real world to me.

bell, we appreciate your opinion and i for one would be inclined to follow your advice were i a women.

I see no need for you to debate and hope you take no offense. ipersonally have seen my liver values shoot sky high on small doses and have also seen negative effects on lipids. Two reasons why i no longer take anavar. I think if nothing else, the one thing we can all say with 100% confidence is that we all will react differently and in some cases very differently. always better to be cautious and proceed slowly. once you see how you personaly react to can titrate the dose if you choose.

jb