Oranabol (oxymesterone)

Oranabol (oxymesterone) is a potent oral anabolic steroid, which is similar to 4-hydroxytestosterone, but more effective. Since it is an oral steroid, oranabol includes a c-17 alpha methyl group that allows it to not get destroyed by the liver. On paper, it is about 3 times more anabolic than testosterone, and about half as androgenic. Hence, it can be considered as a mild oral compound, at least compared to other steroids.

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Fig 1. Oxymesterone (oranabol) chemical structure

History

Interestingly, oxymesterone never got enough popularity in the bodybuilding community. As a result, it has not been available for many years, and most probably, there are two major reasons for that. First of all, it was a bit too androgenic for females to use. Secondly, due to competition from other orals, such as winstrol and proviron, oranabol had few chances of becoming popular among men. As a result, there isn't enough evidence that you could find it in today's black market. In fact, the last time it was spotted was around the late 1990s.

Background and facts

Oranabol does not aromatize, which means that there is no risk of estrogen increase in the body. Since it is mostly anabolic, and doesn't aromatize, it was popularly used as part of a cutting cycle or as a finisher, to harden muscles without water retention.

Side effects

Since oxymesterone does not aromatize, users could avoid such estrogenic side effects as gynecomastia, water retention, and bloating. Consequently, the user would also avoid the domino effects that accompany water retention, such as high blood pressure and insomnia.

Furthermore, even though it is mostly anabolic in nature, oranabol still has some androgenic traits, so additional side effects that are typical of anabolic steroids, such as lipid strain, do occur when cycling this steroid. Oranabol is safer for women than other anabolic steroids back in the day, yet it was used cautiously because of the chance of virilization symptoms (enlarged clitoris, voice deepening, and body hair growth).

What's more, since it is 17AA, oranabol will strain the liver. Therefore, a support supplement should be used, such as N2guard, which is a complete steroid support supplement.

User results

Users could expect similar results to Turinabol, as oranabol is a very anabolic compound, and not as androgenic. In fact, you could also compare this steroid to anavar. Hence, oxymesterone wasn't a compound bodybuilders took to add a lot of mass or strength. Rather, it was used because it did not aromatize. Remember, in that era aromatase inhibitors (AI) were not available, so bodybuilders who wanted the more shredded look would choose this kind of compounds.

At the time, the most popular oral steroid was dianabol, which aromatized a lot. Thus, we can assume that the unlucky bodybuilders who had gynecomastia and had a tendency to retain water, fell in love with oranabol.

Half life

The half life of oxymesterone is about 8 hours, which is typical of an oral anabolic steroid. However, it is important to remember that half life is NOT the active life in the system. Usually, a compound is active in the body for about 3-4 times as long as the half life is. Half life simply means that half the compound will be available in that amount of time, and the other half will get depleted. In this particular case, after 8 hours only half of the oxymesterone will be left in the body.

Meanwhile, detectable time is for how long the compound can be detected in a PED (performance enhancing drugs) test. Nevertheless, it is not known how long the detectable time was with oranabol, but based on its peers, we can assume it was around 2-3 weeks.

Dosage

The standard daily dosage for men was 30 milligrams (mgs), and due to the relatively short half life, it was recommended to take it twice a day. For women, it was suggested to use no more than about 5-10mg's.

Since oranabol is liver toxic, cycles were kept at around 6 weeks, and it was usually part of a steroid stack - either as a kickstart (which means to start a cycle off) or as a finisher (to end the cycle with).

References

• Synthesis of human long-term metabolites of dehydrochloromethyltestosterone and oxymesterone
• Oxymesterone
• Effects of methandienone on the performance and body composition of men undergoing athletic training
• Impact of anabolic androgenic steroids on sexual function
• Oxymesterone Formula
• Anabolic androgenic steroid abuse in the United Kingdom: An update