Jettisoned Ponderings

Most of the Tribulus products out there aren’t effective for a few reasons. First, some aren’t extracts so you’re not really getting the best part. Another factor is what region the plant grew in since the soil affects the profile of saponins in it. Anyhow… Assuming you get one of the ones that is actually a good standardization of the extract it should properly help to increase LH and therefore test levels. Whether that’s a lower dose at a higher standardization or a higher dose at a lower standardization, in the end if you’re getting enough of the steroidal saponins it’ll do the job. Now, the typical thought of course is "Oh, its natural so there won’t be any problems!" Well, folks, I can tell you that is not the case. For the past month I’ve been taking 3g of bulgarian tribulus extract a day (45% standardization) to offset a low drive. After about 3 weeks into it one morning I noticed that the mammary gland tissue (Yes, guys, we have them, too) was noticeably firmer than usual. Initially I thought that prolactin levels were elevated and offsetting it with some ibuprofen to reduce levels. This seemed to help for that week. Then we left for Vegas and when I packed my pill case I neglected to put the ibuprofen in it. A couple days later the symptoms were back and a bit worse. It was clear the problems were persisting and not going away. I stopped taking all my supps except for my basics trying to think what was throwing my hormones for such a loop. My drive had been back up so I know my test levels had been increasing. The next morning I woke up and remembered a study I’d read and realized what had been happening. For the record I was not using Tribestan, but NOW Tribulus 1000, which is another Bulgarian tribulus extract:

"The original purpose for tribulus terrestris extract was as a         "tonic" to treat sexual dysfunction. In animal husbandry         studies tribulus extract was shown to stimulate rutting behavior (i.e.         attempting to score) in rams as well as boars. When the supplement         Tribestan® was given to healthy men (Milanov, 1981) in a dose of 750         milligrams per day for five days, LH and testosterone were elevated 72%         and 40% respectively. As you might expect, estradiol was also elevated.         In fact estradiol was elevated by 81%! The increase in testosterone is         obviously what all the fuss is about, nevertheless, you can’t ignore         the fact that whenever you increase testosterone you are going to         increase aromatization and therefore estrogen levels. To put these         changes in hormone levels into perspective, the reference range for         testosterone in men is between 300 - 1,000 ng/dL. The subjects in this         study started out with an average of 600 ng/dL and ended up with about         850 ng/dL. This is still well within the "normal" range for         men. Estradiol on the other hand went from normal levels of about 76         pg/ml to significantly elevated levels of 137.5 pg/ml. This is well         above normal levels which range from about 20-80 pg/ml in men."

I’m certain this was my problem now. I had neglected to add in some sort of estrogen/atomatise inhibitor in the stack to offset the increase in estradiol. Since stopping the tribulus and am now using an aggressive anti-estrogen the symptoms have been significantly reduced the last few days. The bottom line for anyone who’s considering using tribulus is to remember that it is very much an effective herbal supplement to use both by itself or with other synergistic herbs. However, it is important to remember to have some sort of estrogen management such as DIM, Calclum d-glucarate, indole-3 carbinol, etc. Another option is an atomatise inhibitor, such as ATD (my preferred choice for OTC). Do not go overboard with these, however, because the body does need some estrogen to maintain things like bone and joint integrity. Everyone responds differently, so it is important to listen to your body. I’ll absolutely use the tribulus again in the future, but I’ll be sure to add in the ATD next run (SNS Inhibit-e has always worked well for me)

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 4th, 2009 at 12:59 pm and is filed under Supplements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.