BP meds, baby aspirin or donating blood

which one is more effective and all around better to have a healthy and normal BP. with the increases on cycle...

Which route do you go?

blood donation or BP meds to keep everything in check?

does this even make sense? any info is apreciated.

I do all three........................

Baby aspirin has little effect on blood pressure, if any.
Donating blood will only help if the hypertension is due to increased hematocrit. But this is hardly the only reason our BP rises on cycle.
So the sensible thing to do is keep hematocrit in range and medicate with BP meds as needed.

Asprin should be every day period on or off cycle. It is the single best stroke prevention medicine on the planet.

BP meds I do off cycle also. I reside around 128/80 without them and with 120/75 (Rentac). You should own a hand held computerised BP monitor IMHO and check after your workouts. This is the litmus of where your BP goes to. It will help you see why that little bump down I get from my meds is so important.

You HAVE to give blood on cycle..period. This is not optional. THIS is the single most dangerous aspect of steroid cycling. Over 70% of people experience a stroke in their life. You really do not want that.

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Originally Posted by Chicagotarsier

Asprin should be every day period on or off cycle. It is the single best stroke prevention medicine on the planet.

BP meds I do off cycle also. I reside around 128/80 without them and with 120/75 (Rentac). You should own a hand held computerised BP monitor IMHO and check after your workouts. This is the litmus of where your BP goes to. It will help you see why that little bump down I get from my meds is so important.

You HAVE to give blood on cycle..period. This is not optional. THIS is the single most dangerous aspect of steroid cycling. Over 70% of people experience a stroke in their life. You really do not want that.

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wow thanks both. this clarifies things a lot.

But isn't donating blood done in order to decrease hematocrit levels, ultimately done to lower BP?
given the case BP is in order on cycle because of meds why is it necessary to donate blood? (according to your post)

When you do your cycle do a pre-cycle lab and a 6 week lab with Complete Blood Panel. You see hemocrit go up fairly drastic (I was under range pre blood work and went up to top of range in 6-weeks). Hemocrit is the "fancy" name...I prefer PCV (Packed Cell Volume). So for the same volume of blood you have way more red blood cells. Blow water through a straw...easy. Blow coke through a straw...about the same. Blow custard through a straw...harder. Blow jello through a straw...much harder. This would be examples of HCT going up and what happens inside your blood vessels and the exertion of your heart.

WHere do the issues start?

Plaque built up in the smaller vessels in important areas due to cholesterol. Brain stem stroke is very common in Westerners and is the number one area for plaque build up in blood vessels. Aspirin thins the blood via reducing the stickiness of cell to cell. So your groups of cells that could clog a passageway is reduced (good). BP meds are vaso dialators which make the blood vessels not constrict but dialate open (good). Giving blood reduces the overall concentration of red blood cells in the plasma which reduces clusters and RBC ion general (good).

In effect all of this reduces chance of stroke and work of the heart during resting.

You guys donate on cycle? Won't they notice something? I stopped donating bc I'm in a cycle now. Hmmmmm. I like to donate regularly so this might be good news.

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Originally Posted by Chicagotarsier

Asprin should be every day period on or off cycle. It is the single best stroke prevention medicine on the planet.

Not necessarily. In those who are young, active, and take risks (like most AAS users), the risk of increased bleeding from a trauma, stomach ulcer, or anything else can outweigh the minute chance of a blood clot. Hemorrhagic strokes (both trauma and HTN related) are more of a liability for most of us than ischemic strokes.


BP meds I do off cycle also. I reside around 128/80 without them and with 120/75 (Rentac). You should own a hand held computerised BP monitor IMHO and check after your workouts. This is the litmus of where your BP goes to. It will help you see why that little bump down I get from my meds is so important.

That's fine if you're in poor health and worried about your BP spiking dangerously during a workout. But in order to properly assess yourself, have to allow your BP and CNS to return to resting baseline before checking. Doing so immediately after a workout will skew your results (since BP and HR increase during exercise).

You HAVE to give blood on cycle..period. This is not optional. THIS is the single most dangerous aspect of steroid cycling. Over 70% of people experience a stroke in their life. You really do not want that.

Only if your hematocrit actually becomes elevated. Plenty of guys can run moderate cycles with sufficient time off between them and keep their hematocrit within range. How much one's H&H will increase from steroids depends on a variety of factors (compounds used, doses, duration, diet, etc). But yes, if in doubt, just give a pint. It won't hurt you.

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I largely agree with your points, but find them too absolute and heavy-handed. The same guidelines do not apply to us all :)

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Originally Posted by Bonaparte

I largely agree with your points, but find them too absolute and heavy-handed. The same guidelines do not apply to us all :)

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Agreed. Sometimes the advice offered is treated as a one stop solution. Even the benefits purported for aspirin are not advisable for everyone without understanding their current medical history.

I'm on Tren and Sustanon. Is it safe to give blood? I don't mean for me, but I don't want to give blood if it can seriously affect the other person...say a pregnant woman.

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Originally Posted by SeatownSharksFan

I'm on Tren and Sustanon. Is it safe to give blood? I don't mean for me, but I don't want to give blood if it can seriously affect the other person...say a pregnant woman.

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If you're worried about the Tren, you could do a double RBC donation. This will prevent just about all the hormones in your blood from being transferred, as they are returned to you in the plasma.