Bloodwork shift after 6 weeks on oxandrolone, worth panicking or just monitoring?

Posted by honestluis in Safety & Side Effects - 4 points, 4 comments.

Ran a 6 week cycle of oxandrolone at 20mg split morning and evening, came off 3 weeks back. Got my bloods done this week and my HDL has dropped from like 52 to 31, LDL went the other way. Liver enzymes are mildly elevated but still in range. Testosterone is recovering but slowly, no PCT used.

I knew the lipid hit was on the cards since its literally listed in the side effects, but seeing a 40% drop in HDL still hits different on paper. Has anyone here had HDL bounce back on its own after stopping, or did you have to actively do something about it? Cardio, diet, supplements like the NR or fish oils? Not looking for medical advice, more like what other people actually saw in their own bloodwork over the weeks after stopping.

Also mildly worried about the liver numbers staying borderline even weeks after. Is that normal for oral anabolics or should i be pushing for more follow up tests? Not running anything else right now, just waiting things out and training naturally for a bit.

Comments

• dita_h: The HDL drop is pretty rough on paper and yeah its one of the more consistent things people see with oral anabolics, oxandrolone included. From what ive seen in my own panels and reading others, HDL does tend to creep back up over a few months once you stop, but its not instant. Some people get a meaningful bump within 6 to 8 weeks, others take longer, especially if baseline lipids were already not great. The things that seem to actually help, from peoples reports, are steady cardio a few times
• honestluis: Yeah the timeline you mentioned makes sense, mine went down faster than i expected tbh. Cardio is already in my week but i havent been watching saturated fat at all lately so thats probably the easiest thing to fix first. How long after stopping did you actually see a number change on your own panel, like the first follow up that showed it moving back?
• mito_practical: I ran a similar 20mg split for six weeks and saw HDL dip to 30. After stopping I kept up brisk walks three times a week and cut fried foods, my HDL crept back to 48 by week ten. No supplements, just lifestyle.
• honestluis: Yeah that's actually reassuring tbh, week ten is faster than i expected for HDL to come back up on its own. Brisk walks not even proper cardio so thats doable. Were your liver numbers still moving down at that point or had they settled by week ten itself? Mine are still sitting just under the upper limit and its been 3 weeks off now.

Community discussion - research and educational context only. Not medical advice.