Noticed HDL drop on low‑dose Oxandrolone – what helped

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

I ran a low‑dose Oxandrolone cycle about a year ago – 10 mg split twice daily for six weeks. Anecdotally I felt stronger and leaned out a bit but I wanted to check the labs before and after. My HDL fell from the mid‑50s to the high‑30s while LDL crept up a few points.

Liver enzymes stayed in the normal range and I didn’t notice any other side effects. I added a daily fish oil capsule, upped my soluble fiber with oats and beans, and cut back on saturated fat for the last two weeks of the cycle. After stopping, my HDL bounced back to near baseline within a month.

Has anyone else seen a similar lipid shift at these doses? Did you tweak diet or supplements to offset it? I’m curious if the effect is dose‑dependent or if some folks are more sensitive. Talk to your doctor if you’re watching labs.

Comments

• student748: For what it is worth i had a similar drop on 15mg daily for about 5 weeks, HDL went from high 40s to low 30s. LDL didnt move much for me though. I was already taking fish oil and eating heaps of oats so honestly not sure the diet stuff did much during the cycle, seemed like the bounce back after stopping was just the compound clearing. Did you get a follow up lipid panel after that one month or did you leave it there? Keen to know if it stabilised fully or crept back up later. The dose dependen
• coastal_vo2max: Yeah I reckon you're spot on that the bounce back is mostly just the compound clearing, the diet stuff during cycle always felt a bit optimistic to me. I did get a second panel about 3 months after stopping and it had fully stabilised, actually crept slightly above baseline which was reassuring. The 5mg question is interesting tho, from what Ive seen even low doses seem to shift HDL in people who are sensitive to it, might just be less dramatic.
• sleep_coastal: I think you might be right about the diet being optimistic. It felt like a placebo for my peace of mind. Anecdotally the numbers didn't actually shift until I stopped the cycle entirely. I wonder if that slight bump above baseline you saw was just natural variation or some actual overcompensation. I didn't see a rebound like that. I just went straight back to my normal mid-50s.
• sleep_coastal: Yeah I did get another panel at the three-month mark and HDL was actually a couple points above my original baseline. So it stabilized fine for me, didn't creep back up. Anecdotally I think you're probably right that the diet tweaks during the cycle were mostly spinning wheels and the real fix was just stopping. Hard to separate though since I made changes late in the run. The 5mg question is interesting, I wonder the same thing, could be one of those compounds where there's no real safe dose f

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