Aromatase Inhibitors (AIs)
Aromatase Inhibitors (AIs)
Keep in mind Estrogen is good for you in many ways (libido, mood, skin quality, hair, nails etc). But, most importantly, Estrogen is good for your lipids. I am sure you have heard how Arimidex and Letrozole are bad for your lipid values while Aromasin is ?better?, in reality all AI?s are as bad as each other for your liver values. The more you lower Estrogen, the worse your liver values will get ? it doesn?t matter which AI you use, all that matters is how much you are lowering your Estrogen. If you lower your Estrogen by 10 pg/mL you won?t notice much difference. If you crash your Estrogen down to single digits I guarantee you that your HDL/LDL will be completely out of whack no matter which AI you used.
Suicidal AI vs. Non-Suicidal/Binding AI
Arimidex and Letrozole are non-suicidal AI?s, all they do is bind any Estrogen you convert directly on your aromatase enzyme. Each AI binds a different percentage of Estrogen, Letrozole binds more than Arimidex of course. The problem with binding AI?s is that once you cease use, all of the Estrogen that had accumulated when you were using that AI suddenly gets released ? this process is called "Estrogen rebound" and I am sure you know it can be far worse than Estrogen while on a cycle since normally when you drop your AI you either cruise with a low dose of Test or PCT. In both cases you have far less Test in you and once all that Estrogen is released you got a much higher chance of getting Gyno and of course you are going to be bloated and feel soft for weeks till your Estrogen comes down to normal levels.
Aromasin is the new generation of AI and it is suicidal, the difference between Aromasin and the other AI?s is Aromasin will actually destroy/kill a certain percentage of your aromatase enzyme so by doing so it also 'kills' any estrogen that was attached to that enzyme. This means when you stop using Aromasin you won?t rebound at all like you would with the binding AI?s. If anything, you will have to wait for a while for your body to start producing more aromatase (very bad if you crashed your Estrogen comparing to using the other AI?s). Each person is different in the rate they create new aromatase; it can take one to three weeks.
Arimidex (Anastrozole)
Arimidex (Adex) will lower your Estrogen by about 50-60%. Of course, if you keep taking it that percentage accumulates so you lower 50% by another 50% and so on, you can easily end up with your Estradiol in the singles if you take it for long enough at a high enough dose and you aren?t converting much Estrogen from aromatizing gear (using low dose of Test and high dose AI). Arimidex is a good for new steroid users as if they overestimate their dosing for AI and get symptoms of low E2, they will bounce back back up fairly quickly and adjust as needed.
Dosage on cycle: dosing is user dependent and you should get blood work to dial in your dose, but MOST users will find .5 mg of Arimidex E3D or E3.5D to be a good starting dose for 500-600 mg Testosterone (just for a reference). Some may need more frequent (EOD) dosing or some may even need less than E3.5D; this is really something that varies person-to-person too much and without blood work there is no way to know for sure what dosage you need.
Aromasin (Exemestane)
Aromasin (Asin) is an orally available suicidal aromatase inhibitor. Because Aromasin is steroidal this gives it a favorable Estrogen suppression profile and confers a few really awesome benefits over other anti-estrogens both on paper and in real experience. Steroidal anti-estrogens have the benefit of being lipid-friendly and they all lower SHBG which increases the ratio of free to bound Testosterone, which as many experienced bodybuilders know can have a relatively profound, positive impact on gains.
It is important to understand how drugs work in order to properly dose them, Aromasin is a suicidal aromatase inhibitor, this means that it binds with aromatase enzymes and as it does so permanently disables the enzyme and destroys it. Hence the ?suicidal? this compound. Just beware, if you crash your estrogen on Aromasin, it can take a long time waiting for your E2 to rise again (compared to the non-suicidal AIs), which will have a negative impact on lipid profile, joint integrity, mental health, libido and overall gains.
Aromasin?s half life in the male body is actually very short (~9 hours) and it is quickly eliminated, however, since as soon as it enters your bloodstream it quickly destroys the aromatase enzymes present in your body, it is effective in maintaining significant reductions in estrogen for up to +72 hours after a single 25mg dose. Estrogen levels only begin to rise again after your body has begun to make new aromatase enzymes to replace the ones destroyed by Aromasin.
There is a great study on the pharmacokinetics of Aromasin in men which found the following:
24 hours after one 25mg dose estrogen levels are reduced by 58 ? 21%
3-6 days after initial dose estrogen levels return to baseline (without rebounding)
This means that you can find the timing and dosage that works for you; this flexibility is what makes Aromasin such a versatile Anti-E.
BUT WAIT, there?s more. In males, Aromasin was found to increase total testosterone by ~60% after 10 days @ 25mg/day, however the same study found that while it increased total testosterone by 60%, free testosterone was increased by over 100 percent! that?s right, it DOUBLES bio-available testosterone (in naturals of course). With all this said, it is an option to be ran into PCT like the study, when utilizing HCG right before or the first couple week of PCT. See the PCT wiki page for more info.
The Good:
Lowers SHBG, increasing free test & makes all other anabolic steroids more bio-available (i.e. more gains)
Increases IGF-1
No adverse changes in lipid profiles for men (unless you crash estrogen - studies were also not on cycle and may be different)
Is not liver toxic
No Estrogen rebound
The Bad:
Typical aromatase inhibitor issues here, include stiff joints and possibly lethargy if E2 gets too low
If you crash your E2 levels, it will remained crashed until your body makes more aromatase at it's own rate.
Typically more expensive than Arimidex or Letrozole
Alopecia. The other two AI?s have hair loss/hair thinning as a side effect, but not full blown Alopecia.
Dosage on cycle: dosing is user dependent and you should get blood work to dial in your dose, but MOST users will find 12.5 mg of Aromasin E3D or E3.5D to be a good starting dose for 500-600 mg Testosterone (just for a reference). Some may need more frequent (EOD) dosing or some may even need less than E3.5D; this is really something that varies person-to-person too much.
Letrozole
Letrozole is by far the harshest of all AI?s, not necessarily because your Estrogen will be too low but because Letrozole as a compound/active ingredient is really harsh. The main applications for Letrozole is for Contest Prep or apart of Gyno Reversal (along with a SERM) as this is the nuclear option. Whenever used, always be sure to taper off to avoid rebound.
On cycle dosage: This AI is very easy to crash your estrogen with. It is not typically recommended as your main AI
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