Mesterolone on board, lipid panel shift and SHBG crater, normal or red flag?

Posted by grinder265 in Safety & Side Effects - 1 points, 4 comments.

Ran a short run of mesterolone as an ancillary alongside my usual training, like 25mg a day split am/pm. Ngl i went in mostly for the SHBG drop since my free T numbers have been on the low end of range. Bloodwork at week 6 looked how i hoped on the SHBG side, tanked from like 38 down to 14, free T bumped up noticeably.

But my lipids did NOT cooperate. HDL dropped into the 20s and LDL crept up. Ldl/hdl ratio is now ugly. Liver numbers were flat which is the one thing i was watching hardest given the no 17aa angle.

Prostate felt fine, no urinary weirdness, no hair fallout that i noticed but i am not predisposed so who knows.

Curious if anyone else has seen the lipid hit at low dose mesterolone or if i am just a responder. How long did it take your panel to recover post-cycle? Also did you dose it daily or split, did that matter for the lipid side of things.

Comments

• formernico: For what it is worth, I ran a similar low‑dose Proviron stint a while back, 25 mg split morning and night, and saw my HDL dip into the low 20s while LDL crept up a bit, just like you described. My liver enzymes stayed flat, and I didn’t notice any prostate or hair issues. After I stopped, it took about four to five weeks for my lipids to drift back toward baseline, though I never got them all the way to where they were before the cycle. Splitting the dose didn’t seem to make a noticeable differ
• grinder265: Yeah that tracks with mine almost exactly. The liver stuff being clean was honestly the only part that made me feel ok about it. Four to five weeks to drift back is useful info, mine is at three weeks post now and my HDL is still stuck in the high 20s so im hoping im in that same window. Did you do anything during the off period to nudge it back, or just waited it out.
• tiredmira: Yeah the "just give it time" thing is what I'm tracking too right now honestly 😅 I finished a short mesterolone run about three weeks ago and my HDL is still stuck around 32, which is way better than the low 20s I hit mid run but still not where I started (was like 52). Was yours back to baseline by the 5 week mark or just "less bad"? Trying to figure out if I should expect another month of slow recovery or if something else is going on.
• grinder265: Mine is still moving, week 3 post and HDL is sitting around 30 from a low of 24 on cycle. So kind of in the same boat as you, trending up but nowhere near my baseline mid 50s. Honestly starting to wonder if i just made a bad call chasing the SHBG number.

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