The use of dexamethasone in sports
Of course, the use of dexamethasone during competitions makes the most sense, but even without being tied to competitions, the drug can bring considerable benefits to athletes. First and foremost, to prevent micro-injuries from turning into full-blown injuries.
But at the same time, it should be remembered that "dex" somewhat softens the ligaments, so the load on the injured area during the use of the drug should be reduced - often significantly.
Representatives of strength sports are especially fond of dexamethasone, often using it even during competitions - the reasons for this love will be discussed in the next paragraph.
Additionally, "dex" is actively used in team sports (see, for example, Glucocorticosteroids in football: use and misuse). But here it is used exclusively during the training process (in general, even between matches, if the break lasts at least 6-7 days).
What can you expect from dexamethasone?
So, what properties does dexamethasone have that make the drug so in demand in various sports, including bodybuilding?
First of all: everything that will be said below about dexamethasone mainly relates to its oral form. But, in addition to tablets, the drug is also available as an injection solution and eye drops. And one more thing: the discussion will only be about modest doses of "dex", not exceeding 1 mg per day.
With regular use of dexamethasone, we almost completely avoid the so-called "catabolic pit", the recovery of the body after the stress occurs much faster, which means - you can train more often without the risk of overtraining.
Faster recovery is also facilitated by such a property of the drug as the activation of gluconeogenesis and the acceleration of glycogen accumulation in the liver. Activation of gluconeogenesis also contributes to increased endurance, so "dex" is often used by representatives of cyclic sports.
However, it should not be forgotten that dexamethasone has catabolic activity, and it comes into play immediately after taking the drug. But even such activity can be turned to advantage: the increased level of cortisol can significantly improve strength performance.
This is why powerlifters and weightlifters often take "dex" some time before going on stage. Of course, if they are not afraid of being caught doping.
Dexamethasone in bodybuilding
Dexamethasone interacts with specific cytoplasmic receptors and forms a complex that penetrates the cell nucleus, where it stimulates the synthesis of messenger RNA - the latter induces protein synthesis.
It turned out that dexamethasone accelerates mRNA synthesis by 70%, while IGF-1 by 90%, which can be considered a comparable result. But the most interesting results were obtained with the combined use of dexamethasone and IGF-1: mRNA synthesis in this case accelerated 3 times!
Therefore, if you are using synthetic insulin-like growth factor, you should definitely consider including dexamethasone in your course. Well, that's it for the positive activity of "dex", and we smoothly move on to the negative activity.
What can deter from using dexamethasone?
Firstly, a feature of dexamethasone's action is significant inhibition of pituitary function, and therefore a sharp decrease in the synthesis of luteinizing and follicle-stimulating hormones, as well as growth hormone. So, fighting catabolism, you can easily end up with a slowed anabolism.
Secondly, the use of dexamethasone leads to a decrease in immunity, sometimes quite significant. This fact cannot be neglected, especially considering the circumstance that immunity itself suffers from weight training.
With caution, dexamethasone should be used by those who have heart problems. After heart attacks (not to mention myocardial infarctions), the drug can increase the risk of further heart muscle damage.
In addition, taking dexamethasone may be accompanied by an increase in blood pressure (the drug, although not very significantly, contributes to the retention of sodium and water in the body), so people prone to hypertension should avoid it if possible.
It should also be remembered that blood pressure can increase during the "course" of anabolic steroids.
If dexamethasone is used for more than two weeks in a daily dose of 1-1.5 mg or more, adrenal cortex dystrophy may begin with all the ensuing unpleasant consequences up to possible death.
Under no circumstances should dexamethasone be used by people with high blood sugar levels - the drug can provoke the development of so-called steroid diabetes.
Sometimes when taking dexamethasone, nausea, vomiting, acne; instead of the expected increase in strength, you can get weakness, rapid fatigue, decreased performance.
And finally: "dex" significantly increases the level of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) in the blood. This means that the level of free testosterone when using the drug will drop.
However, this property of "dex" can be considered negative only conditionally: sometimes it is simply necessary to increase the level of SHBG, and there is no better way than to seek the help of dexamethasone.
Practical recommendations for the use of dexamethasone
If you still decide to try dexamethasone, here are some practical recommendations for its use. Yes, I will note once again that these recommendations concern exclusively the use of "dex" in sports practice.
- Dexamethasone should be used for no more than two weeks in a row with a subsequent break of 1-2 weeks
- I would advise taking the drug only on training days - about half an hour to an hour before the start of the training session
- The usual dosage is 2 tablets (1 mg) per day, it should not be exceeded - it can only harm. It is even better to manage with half of this dose - this way you can surely avoid adrenal cortex dystrophy. However, such a pronounced effect from the use of dexamethasone should not be expected
- I would strongly recommend using dexamethasone only together with anabolic steroids. At the same time, the dosage of the latter can be reduced - compared to what you usually use
- After the end of the "course" of dexamethasone, the use of insulin can be considered very desirable. Firstly, insulin lowers blood sugar, which tends to increase with the use of "dex". Secondly, it also lowers the level of SHBG
- However, insulin should not be taken simultaneously with dexamethasone: the first significantly reduces the effectiveness of the second
- If side effects occur, dexamethasone use should be stopped
- Practically mandatory condition while taking dexamethasone is the use of immunomodulators.
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