Nolva's affinity for estrogen receptors?

**PowerHouse1900** · 06-18-2012, 08:22 PM

Question: If you have excess estrogen in your system, does nolvadex have a higher affinity for estrogen receptors than regular estrogen?

Or do some of your estrogen receptors pick up estrogen and some nolva?

**Atomini** · 06-19-2012, 04:44 PM

Nolva has a higher affinity for the receptors than estrogen itself, that's why it works so well otherwise it would not be used.

The key piece of knowlege here is that Nolvadex was not developed to stop gyno in steroid -using athletes. It was developed as a breast cancer fighting drug, as most breast cancers are exacerbated by estrogen binding to receptor sites on breast tissue, causing growth. If cancerous cells exist there, you can see how this would be a problem. The idea is that after breast cancer surgery, the female takes nolvadex because it has an EXTREMELY higher affinity for the receptors on breast tissue than estrogen does, thereby reducing the chance of cancer recurring by a great deal.

The other side to this coin, however, is that nolvadex really IS an estrogen, albeit a 'fake' estrogen in breast tissue (a placeholder, if you will, that masquerades as the real estrogen but does absolutely nothing when it gets there). The thing with that is, though nolvadex may act as an estrogen antagonist in breast tissue, it acts as an estrogen in other tissues in the body.

**PowerHouse1900** · 06-20-2012, 01:35 AM

Originally Posted by Atomini

Nolva has a higher affinity for the receptors than estrogen itself, that's why it works so well otherwise it would not be used.

The key piece of knowlege here is that Nolvadex was not developed to stop gyno in steroid -using athletes. It was developed as a breast cancer fighting drug, as most breast cancers are exacerbated by estrogen binding to receptor sites on breast tissue, causing growth. If cancerous cells exist there, you can see how this would be a problem. The idea is that after breast cancer surgery, the female takes nolvadex because it has an EXTREMELY higher affinity for the receptors on breast tissue than estrogen does, thereby reducing the chance of cancer recurring by a great deal.

The other side to this coin, however, is that nolvadex really IS an estrogen, albeit a 'fake' estrogen in breast tissue (a placeholder, if you will, that masquerades as the real estrogen but does absolutely nothing when it gets there). The thing with that is, though nolvadex may act as an estrogen antagonist in breast tissue, it acts as an estrogen in other tissues in the body.

What types of issues can I run into from that?

**Atomini** · 06-20-2012, 05:39 AM

I don't think there have really been any documented 'issues' stemming from that, at least not in men anyways. Females have reported problems from it though. My mother even had bone/joint issues when she was perscribed nolvadex after she had breast cancer surgery, because it was acting as an estrogen antagonist in bone and joint tissue.

In men it's probably a different story. I've never had an issue and have never really seen anyone else complain about anything. And remember, we are only using it for a few weeks at a time during PCT. Women who are perscribed this stuff for breast cancer are put on it for YEARS.

**Atomini** · 06-20-2012, 11:04 AM

I also want to add that now that I thought about it, I think nolvadex may act as an estrogen agonist on skin. I notice that whenever I use nolvadex, I get a few more zits here and there every week (though not that much) compared to not using it at all. I think this may be a result of it acting as an estrogen on skin tissue (as we know, estrogen does produce acne).