During a conversation with a med student, who is far into his studies and rotations, I mentioned why anti-estrogens are used in cycles. He has just started using steroids and was absolutely shocked that I could speak so glibly about terms which occasionally sent him scrambling for his doctor's handbook (a list of terms, abbreviations, medications, definitions, etcetera).
I have to stop here and say that every time my medical student friend opened that little book to check on what I had told him, I smirked and quietly thanked AR for all the information I had learned.
Okay, back to the topic at hand...
He mentioned that he was not interested in using anti-estrogens because they tend to make bones brittle if they are used over extended periods of time. Of course, I explained to him why they are used--including reducing/preventing aromitization, minimizing the presence of and the effects of estrogen, and regulating lipids. I think that he held onto the idea of not using anti-estrogens in a half hearted attempt to save his ego after being corrected and stumped so many times by me, a person completely outside the field of medicine.
Of course, I checked out what he said, and there is some truth to it; anti-e's can make bones brittle. For example, Tamoxifen (Nolvadex) preserves bone in postmenopausal women but induces bone wasting (brittleness) in premenopausal women. Where do men fall into this picture? What about men who use steroids and anti-e's for the better part of each year?
Does anyone have any more information on brittle bones and anti-e's?
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Originally Posted by Warrior
Sex steroids are essential for skeletal development and the maintenance of bone health throughout adult life, and estrogen deficiency at menopause is a major pathogenetic factor in the development of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. The mechanisms by which the skeletal effects of sex steroids are mediated remain incompletely understood, but in recent years there have been considerable advances in our knowledge of how estrogens and, to a lesser extent androgens, influence bone modeling and remodeling in health and disease. New insights into estrogen receptor structure and function, recent discoveries about the development and activity of osteoclasts, and lessons learned from human and animal genetic mutations have all contributed to increased understanding of the skeletal effects of estrogen, both in males and females. Studies of untreated and treated osteoporosis in postmenopausal women have also contributed to this knowledge and have provided unequivocal evidence for the potential of high-dose estrogen therapy to have anabolic skeletal effects. The development of selective estrogen receptor modulators has provided a new approach to the prevention of osteoporosis and other major diseases of menopause and has implications for the therapeutic use of other steroid hormones, including androgens. Further elucidation of the mechanisms by which sex steroids affect bone thus has the potential to improve the clinical management not only of osteoporosis, both in men and women, but also of a number of other diseases related to sex hormone status."
