Anavar or Winstrol for lowering SHBG

[lizardman69]

Hi all my first post here,

I have been on TRT for 8 years, I am almost 30 now. My SHBG has always been fairly high, and has never in my life tested under 60 on a scale of 10-50 nmol/L. It has been slowly and steadily creeping up over the years and is now pushing 100. I don't have liver issues, my doctor and I have ruled that out.

My current Protocol keeps my Total T at around 950 and my Free T roughly in the low/middle of the reference range. My free T has slowly been decreasing over the years.

My doctor cant/wont prescribe me anything to lower it, but has offered to increase my test dose so more spills over into free. I currently take 120mg a week and I would rather not increase My Total T to supra-physiological levels if possible. I would rather add something to lower SHBG instead.

I see winstrol recommended in several forums to lower SHBG, but does Anavar work just as well (assuming its real and price doesnt matter)? What about masteron (i would prefer not to stress my liver)?

Also, what kind of dose should i take? I am not looking cycle, just a high enough dose to combat my ever rising SHBG.

Any personal experiences or recommendations you can give me would be great, thanks!

[Youthful55guy]

Hi all my first post here,

I have been on TRT for 8 years, I am almost 30 now. My SHBG has always been fairly high, and has never in my life tested under 60 on a scale of 10-50 nmol/L. It has been slowly and steadily creeping up over the years and is now pushing 100. I don't have liver issues, my doctor and I have ruled that out.

My current Protocol keeps my Total T at around 950 and my Free T roughly in the low/middle of the reference range. My free T has slowly been decreasing over the years.

My doctor cant/wont prescribe me anything to lower it, but has offered to increase my test dose so more spills over into free. I currently take 120mg a week and I would rather not increase My Total T to supra-physiological levels if possible. I would rather add something to lower SHBG instead.

I see winstrol recommended in several forums to lower SHBG, but does Anavar work just as well (assuming its real and price doesnt matter)? What about masteron (i would prefer not to stress my liver)?

Also, what kind of dose should i take? I am not looking cycle, just a high enough dose to combat my ever rising SHBG.

Any personal experiences or recommendations you can give me would be great, thanks!

Yes, I've used both Winstrol (stanozolol) and Anavar (Oxandrolone) to lower my similarly high SHBG (90-100 range). Both are very effective with minimal side-effects at the low doses that are needed. In my experiments, I found the optimal dose for Oxandrolone was 10mg/day (5mg twice daily). Stanozolol is more effective, so you need about half the dose. For me, the optimal dose was 5mg/day (2.5 twice daily). They have relatively short half-lives, so it's best to do twice daily dosing. This also helps to minimize acute stress on the liver, which this class of oral steroids is known for.

I no longer use this protocol. It was just an experiment. Instead, I optimized my dose of T-cyp based on free T. my go to standard T-dose (without stanozolol or Oxandrolone) is 125mg/week in an E3D protocol. This keeps my Free T in the upper end of the range for a 20-30 year old man. Below is a graph of the experiment I did to optimize my T-dose.

[lizardman69]

I no longer use this protocol. It was just an experiment. Instead, I optimized my dose of T-cyp based on free T. my go to standard T-dose (without stanozolol or Oxandrolone) is 125mg/week in an E3D protocol. This keeps my Free T in the upper end of the range for a 20-30 year old man. Below is a graph of the experiment I did to optimize my T-dose.

Thanks for the info, and that protocol for the orals makes sense. So if I am understanding correctly you no longer take anything to lower SHBG, you just increased your testosterone dose to so more spills over to free? How high does that make your total? My total gets over 1000 just getting my free T to the middle of the range.

[Youthful55guy]

Thanks for the info, and that protocol for the orals makes sense. So if I am understanding correctly you no longer take anything to lower SHBG, you just increased your testosterone dose to so more spills over to free? How high does that make your total? My total gets over 1000 just getting my free T to the middle of the range.

yes, that is correct. I experimented with both Winstrol (stanozolol ) and Anavar (Oxandrolone) to lower my similarly high SHBG and it worked well. I estimate I spent about 3 months on the Anavar protocol and about 6 months on the stanozolol protocol. If I were to use it as a standard protocol, I'd go with the stanozolol protocol because it is more effective at a lower dose and about 1/4 (or less) the cost of an effective Oxandrolone dose.

Yes, it is also correct that I increase my T-dose so that my free T is in the target range. I do not know exactly how high this sends my Total T because I use the direct method for testing Total T and it tops out at 1500 nd/dL and I am always above that high end of the test method. I could use the LC/MS method to get an exact number for Total T, but why would I want to spend the extra money for a number that I do nothing with? I base my dosing decisions on Free T alone.

Keep in mind too that the higher your SHBG, the higher your Total T will be, even though your Free T might be clinically low. This is because SHBG binds and protects T from liver metabolism, so it will artificially boost your Total T. However, SHBG bound T cannot pass the blood-brain barrier where you need it to feel normal. So you may have "normal" Total T values but at the same time clinically low Free T values. This was exactly my case when I started TRT. My total T was in the mid 600's, but my Free T was only 7.1 pg/nL on a normal scale of (7.2-24.0 my age-adjusted range at the time I started TRT).

In my opinion, Total T is a bogus test and should be thrown into the trash bin. Even for guys with normal T, SHBG can have a considerable impact on Free T within the range of what is considered "normal", so I always base dosing decisions on Free T and recommend others do the same.

[GearHeaded]

its an easy decision when you base it on cost .. Winstrol is way way cheaper then Var.

they both will lower SHBG.
the biggest difference is that Var acts more of a pure anabolic that upregulates creatine phosphate (more ATP) and protein synthesis,, while Winstol does have its anabolic effects but it also block Cortisol (which is a hormone that promotes fat storage as well as gluconeogenisis, the break down of proteins/muscle for energy)

so those differences should be kept in mind .


also, keep in mind that SHBG binds up more DHT then it does testosterone or estrogen. So the first effect of lowering SHBG is going to be more DHT related then free test related. this may be an issue if your DHT sensitive

[lizardman69]

its an easy decision when you base it on cost .. Winstrol is way way cheaper then Var.


also, keep in mind that SHBG binds up more DHT then it does testosterone or estrogen. So the first effect of lowering SHBG is going to be more DHT related then free test related. this may be an issue if your DHT sensitive

Thats a good point about the dht. I may just increase my dose of test instead of trying to lower the SHBG for now.


The main reason i was trying to lower my SHBG in the first place is that my doctor doesnt really know what shes doing and freaks out if my total T goes above 900 (even if my free t is in the toilet).

Thanks for the info guys.

[The Deadlifting Dog]

taking more test will also lower your SHBG...

I am guessing that any AAS will lower your SHBG.

Now, some AAS have a higher affinity to bind to SHBG than others.

I will defer to GearHeaded or someone else on that matter...

But my point is simply by taking more test, SHBG will go down.
(unless you have androgen insensitivity syndrome... which you don't..)

[GearHeaded]

rather then adding in more drugs , you could try playing with your diet and getting more boron and magnesium in the diet and then keep your carb consumption tracked, and raise your test a bit.
just reverting to another drug is not always the best option

[Youthful55guy]

The main reason i was trying to lower my SHBG in the first place is that my doctor doesnt really know what shes doing and freaks out if my total T goes above 900 (even if my free t is in the toilet).

Something to consider is that lowering your SHBG by any means will increase your Free T, but also will decrease your Total T. The reason is simple. SHBG binds T and protects it from liver metabolism, so when unbound T increases, you will metabolize T at a faster rate, thus lowering you Total T. But in your case, that may be good if your doc is freaking out about high Total T and not looking at your Free T. The ultimate goal is to get Free T into an acceptable range, so if lowering you Total T prevents your doc from lowering your dose, you may want to consider use of either Winstrol (stanozolol ) and Anavar (Oxandrolone).