Couple of Noob Questions

[ForAFriend]

Hey guys, this is my first post, but I've been lurking on here for about ten months since my first few rounds with steroids didn't really go so well. Basically, my personal trainer at the time, who is the biggest guy I know, eventually confided in me that he's a steroid user and encouraged me to do what he was doing. He's big, he looks healthy, he's a professional, I figured he knew what he was doing, so I trusted him. Long story short, the whole experience was a mess. From getting the wrong roids to wrong intervals of injections to staying on my cycle too long, it wasn't a good experience. Side note, turns out that this trainer guy spends ten months out of the year on cycle and two months off to "clear his system out," (I found this out way after I found this board).

Anyway, since then I've been doing all the reading I can, I have a wealth of knowledge, and I'm ready to do things right this time. I do have two questions, however, that I haven't been able to find answers to despite months of reading (maybe these have been answered and I just haven't been looking in the right place, in which case, I apologize).

1) After I got off cycle and was going through my PCT, I got sick. REALLY sick. The mere effort of standing caused me to cough so hard sometimes I would vomit. And I was like that for more than two months. Could barely work. Definitely couldn't work out. I don't know if you know this, but when you don't work out for two months and you're going through PCT, you lose a lot of gains.... Anyway, I confided in my doctor that I had finished a cycle of steroids and after running tests my doctor concluded that I wasn't suffering from a bacterial or viral infection, but rather my endocrine system had been on overdrive due to the steroids and I was suffering from "respiratory depression" as my system worked to level itself out. Is this common? Is there anything I can do to help my body adjust to being off cycle that will help avoid respiratory depression so I can keep going to the gym and not lose my gains beyond what is normally recommended for the PCT?

2) At what point do steroids expire? I still have half a vial of sustanon from my last cycle, but that was eight months ago. Should I just not risk it and start with a brand new vial, or is that sustanon safe?

Thanks for the help guys! This community is awesome!

[Eduke93]

Hey guys, this is my first post, but I've been lurking on here for about ten months since my first few rounds with steroids didn't really go so well. Basically, my personal trainer at the time, who is the biggest guy I know, eventually confided in me that he's a steroid user and encouraged me to do what he was doing. He's big, he looks healthy, he's a professional, I figured he knew what he was doing, so I trusted him. Long story short, the whole experience was a mess. From getting the wrong roids to wrong intervals of injections to staying on my cycle too long, it wasn't a good experience. Side note, turns out that this trainer guy spends ten months out of the year on cycle and two months off to "clear his system out," (I found this out way after I found this board).

Anyway, since then I've been doing all the reading I can, I have a wealth of knowledge, and I'm ready to do things right this time. I do have two questions, however, that I haven't been able to find answers to despite months of reading (maybe these have been answered and I just haven't been looking in the right place, in which case, I apologize).

1) After I got off cycle and was going through my PCT, I got sick. REALLY sick. The mere effort of standing caused me to cough so hard sometimes I would vomit. And I was like that for more than two months. Could barely work. Definitely couldn't work out. I don't know if you know this, but when you don't work out for two months and you're going through PCT, you lose a lot of gains.... Anyway, I confided in my doctor that I had finished a cycle of steroids and after running tests my doctor concluded that I wasn't suffering from a bacterial or viral infection, but rather my endocrine system had been on overdrive due to the steroids and I was suffering from "respiratory depression" as my system worked to level itself out. Is this common? Is there anything I can do to help my body adjust to being off cycle that will help avoid respiratory depression so I can keep going to the gym and not lose my gains beyond what is normally recommended for the PCT?

2) At what point do steroids expire? I still have half a vial of sustanon from my last cycle, but that was eight months ago. Should I just not risk it and start with a brand new vial, or is that sustanon safe?

Thanks for the help guys! This community is awesome!

Firstly, you should never put your health in someone else’s hands unless they are a legitimate professional e.g doctor, your PT can gain his/her certification online. Because they have this certification it doesn’t mean they are well educated on the subjects, when I did my PT course (I’m not a PT, did it purely for the experience/information and it was a waste of time and money) there was a girl in my class who could not squat… she passed despite her lack of understand in exercise and nutrition…

1) No, That’s not common at all but it can happen and glad you consulted your doctor. There’s not much else you can do, if the respiratory depression has cleared you should be able to carry on as normal, with regards to recovering, how long has it been since you finished your PCT. You will need to get blood works 8 weeks after your PCT to see if you have recovered, you should also check all your lipids and RBC count. If you didn’t complete your PCT, I recommend you start it again, and then as mentioned get blood work.


2) Steroids have a long shelf life, it should state on the packaging of the gear, if it doesn’t id give it 2-3 years and then bin it, that’s just me though. As it was open, personally I would bin it and buy fresh gear, I’m a bit of a hygiene freak though, some guys will probs say its fine

[ForAFriend]

Firstly, you should never put your health in someone else’s hands unless they are a legitimate professional e.g doctor, your PT can gain his/her certification online. Because they have this certification it doesn’t mean they are well educated on the subjects, when I did my PT course (I’m not a PT, did it purely for the experience/information and it was a waste of time and money) there was a girl in my class who could not squat… she passed despite her lack of understand in exercise and nutrition…

1) No, That’s not common at all but it can happen and glad you consulted your doctor. There’s not much else you can do, if the respiratory depression has cleared you should be able to carry on as normal, with regards to recovering, how long has it been since you finished your PCT. You will need to get blood works 8 weeks after your PCT to see if you have recovered, you should also check all your lipids and RBC count. If you didn’t complete your PCT, I recommend you start it again, and then as mentioned get blood work.


2) Steroids have a long shelf life, it should state on the packaging of the gear, if it doesn’t id give it 2-3 years and then bin it, that’s just me though. As it was open, personally I would bin it and buy fresh gear, I’m a bit of a hygiene freak though, some guys will probs say its fine

Thanks. Yeah, I figured out that he's not much of a professional. It was a learning experience.

I finished my PCT back in November. Got my blood work done and everything came back within normal limits.

I appreciate your thorough response!

[AlphaMindz]

I've never heard of someone getting respiratory depression from steroids . Sounds like some bad luck to me or maybe your body is just very sensitive to exogenous hormones.

What did your cycle look like?