Clomid Success
Clomid as of late has fallen out of favor for post-cycle routines, but if you aren´t prone to vision problems or emotional issues, then it is just as good as nolvadex for raising testosterone when appropriate doses are used. I recommend using 150mgs/day for ten days, and decreasing the dose by 50mgs every ten days until you´re finished at day 30. Many of the bodybuilders and athletes I´ve spoken to have used it in a similar fashion and found that it restores their testosterone levels to normal.


Cytadren
Aminoglutethimide
Cytadren (Aminoglutethimide) is one of the more interesting compounds found in the bodybuilder´s arsenal of Ancillaries. It´s really not too popular today, but a decade or two ago, it was considered state of the art, and was prized by bodybuilders for many of it´s properties.

Lets first consider it´s primary use, which is that of an Anti-Estrogenic compound. is able to produce highly significant (almost total) estrogen suppression (1), and this is of course of interest to athletes who are using steroids which convert to estrogen. Unfortunately, this suppression of estrogen is not followed by an increase in any of the other hormones (testosterone, LH, FSH, etc... ) that many other anti-estrogenic compounds will cause. Thus, Cytadren is probably not going to be anyone´s first choice for use in Post-Cycle-Therapy.

The thing which, in my mind, sets it apart from other ancillary compounds currently in use today is its unique ability to inhibit the production of cortisol. Cortisol, as you recall, is a catabolic hormone, and breaks down muscle. Cytadren inhibits the conversion of cholesterol to pregnenolone (2) as well as having an aromatase inhibiting effect. Thus, Cytadren is quite unique in having both of these abilities, and certainly none of the AI´s I´ve seen thus far has anything resembling such an effect on cortisol.

Cytadren is used, medically, to fight breast cancer and/or hyperadrenocorticism, and it is the only drug currently available (to my knowledge) that can be used successfully for both purposes (1)(3). It may even have anti-depressive properties (4)(5). During a cycle, it may be used to both lower cortisol levels from intense training, and to lower estrogen levels. Sounds almost perfect, right? It´s use would allow us to consider the use of Arimidex, Nolvadex, or a similar compound for strictly post cycle use, when an increase in test, LH, and FSH would be more necessary...

Well, it´s not quite perfect, as you´ll soon see. The first problem is that it (possibly) could reduce androgen levels. The best we could hope for is that it doesn´t have much of an effect on circulating androgen levels (1).

The next problem is that eventually your body, smart cookie that it is, will start to figure out ways to compensate for the reduction in cortisol, by either producing more, or inhibiting the Cytadren´s effects. Great... And while the cortisol isn´t present in your body, your joints will be aching. Yeah, I´ve actually used this stuff (the things I do in the name of science!), and it worked& made me look a bit "dryer" and more cut; but as I recall, it also made me sleepy. This could be due to its effects on the adrenal cortex, I don´t really know, but that´s a pretty good guess.

If you are thinking about using Cytadren for this purpose, I´d have to tell you to forget it. Three grams of Vitamin C lowers your Cortisol around as much as 1,000mgs of Cytadren, from the literature I´ve seen on both, and the Vitamin C doesn´t do it at the expense of your adrenal responsiveness (7). A gram of Vitamin C lowered cortisol by 1/3rd in UltraMarathon Competitors (8) (these are the people who apparently don´t have cars, so they feel compelled to run 90 kilometers at a time). I just can´t justify taking Cytadren for an extended period of time to reduce cortisol, when Vitamin can do the same thing, more cheaply, and has other added benefits.

Next, we have to deal with Cytadren´s liver toxicity (3). This stuff is pretty stressful on your liver. I guess we can use some milk thistle and such, but do we really want to risk it, when it´s effects on cortisol are short lived and it may reduce circulating androgen levels?

Maybe...

See you can use this stuff for (maybe) the last week or so while you are dieting for a bodybuilding contest, when your circulating androgens are being totally replaced by synthetic androgens, and you aren´t giving your adrenal-cortex much chance to shut down and make you lethargic, then I think it may be useful. Taking 500mgs/day for your last week of contest prep may help you to dry out that last little bit, and edge out that ever increasing specter of cortisol over production for long enough to do dial in for your contest. For athletes considering this compound in their cycles, I think this is not a viable option when you consider all of the other available options


Cyclofenil
Cyclofenil is the least popular of the three Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERM) being used in athletics today. I actually used this stuff about half a decade ago, when it was just as easy to get as Clomid, and a bit cheaper. As we already know, SERMs cause ovulation in women and (more importantly to us) increase testosterone and other beneficial hormones. This drug actually works by simulating the effects of testosterone via inhibiting the negative feedback loop caused by estrogen, with regards to testosterone production. This in turn causes the increased secretion of Gonadotropin Releasing hormone, which increases output of Luteinizing Hormone which (finally!) increases secretion of testosterone from your testes.

So what we have here is a compound which, being a SERM, will prevent gyno by binding to the estrogen receptor in breast tissue and thus preventing stronger estrogens from binding to those tissues. This should be familiar territory if you remember your facts on Clomid and Nolvadex.

The results indicate that cyclofenil, paradoxically, has two opposing actions on the hypothalamic-hypophyseal axis, one of them is estrogen-like, in that it depresses serum FSH levels and competitively binds to breast tissue (this is good, remember), and the other action is antiestrogen-like, in that it depresses serum PRL levels and raises LH levels (4). Overproduction of prolactin, as you recall will suppress Testosterone, and could induce lactation (gross!) in male breast tissue.