Very Scary Situation - Vertebral Artery Dissection

[Chadd77]

I had a scary situation Thursday evening. I had a soccer game and was getting ready to walk out on to the field and felt very lightheaded and I had double vision. I blinked my eyes a couple times thinking it would go away but it didn’t. I sat down and was unable to really see much of anything unless it was right in front of my face. Even then I was unable to make anything out very well. After a couple minutes it was obvious something was really wrong and I was taken to the ER. To make a very long story short after many MRI’s and CT scans I was told I had a vertebral artery dissection. Basically I had a tear of my artery in my shoulder which caused a small blood clot. I basically had a mini stroke. My vision returned to normal after a couple hours. Usually there is trauma to the area where the tear occurred. That is the only strange part. I didn’t have an event that I can remember causing it. My guess is that I did it at the gym when training back. Wednesday morning when I work up my neck was extremely sore and I thought maybe I slept on it wrong. I was very lucky it could have easily ended a lot differently.

I have to stay on a prescription blood thinner for 3 months and no gym, soccer, or anything strenuous during that time. I realize the bigger picture here but it will be extremely hard for me to stay away from any physical activity during this time.

One question I have is I started test 300mg per week 5 weeks ago. You think it’s ok to drop the dose some and run it during those 3 months until I can return to normal activity? Does a low dose of test cause the blood to thicken?

[rado]

Bro....glad you're ok.seriously. ..stop all AS period! Recover and think about the family then everything else will follow.

Scary stuff I bet...

Be safe and let the docs check you out while you're clean

[MattG]

Damn man that's horrible! Glad ur OK now...I agree with Rado, just come off and let your body get back to normal while you deal with the next few months...no sense in risking anything over a small test dose that won't do much for you anyways ya know?

[Bouncer]

Scary situation for sure. Real easy to forget how fragile we actually are. One little thing goes wrong and our life is changed forever. Glad your ok bud.

The blood thinner will thin the blood regardless of being on test or not so you could stay on if you wanted to. But just think about how primed your body will be if you come off everything and stop training for 3 months. When you get back into the gym and get back on AAS your body will grow like a weed. It will be tough but at least that way you have something to really look forward to.

[Mr I]

1) really glad your ok
2) glad your a sensible guy which I know you are
3) I've just taken five months out for the first time in 27 years training. I figured my health and mobility come first and I wanted to bodybuilding my internal skeletal structure back so it last for another 40 years. That's the way I would look at your situation. You want to bodybuilding that arterial lining back.

In regards to your question about TRT, it does generally cause some increase in red blood cells which in turn increases the viscosity of the blood. With me 500mg per week has not in the past taken them above normal levels, but with blm for example, he was very sensitive to it so that amount would have sent his way over. Keep on mind, I'm only talking about test here; Eq, deca, and drop. Are all far worse culprits for this.

Now, what you have to keep in mind in your case is that unbeknown to the physicians is that your on T. When they prescribe a thinner they will want to achieve a certain viscosity range, not above, but not below either (thry don't want you bleeding out from a paper cut lol).

So

If you've been on 300 mg for a long time, your thickness is probably at a constant and I would stay at that and let them alter the thickness with the thinners from that constant.

If you stop T now, it takes three weeks to get out, in the interim they prescribe thinners based on your current thickness, you get a double effect and it might drop you below target range. Get me?

Otherwise in answer to your question most HRT doses are about 250 mg enanth every ten days.

Vitamin e is also a thinner.

Watch fir counter indications here

From another angle, keep an eye on things that dilate or constrict vessels. NO dilates . viagra maybe. Smoking constricts. I would steer clear of all.

Three months is nothing

Ficus on healing as I have been doing

[Bouncer]

mr.i brings up a good point that I think might be missed in his post. if chadd is now on a blood thinner and he comes off the test, is there a danger that his blood actually become a bit too thin due to the combination of the medication and coming off the test? would it actually be safer for him to stay on the low dose test while he runs the thinner?

my hunch is that the lower dose test wouldn't make that big of a difference if he just came off but its something at least thinking about.

[Bouncer]

by the way chadd, you a fishoil user? I know we are starting to get into bro science territory but everything i've read says that fishoil acts as a thinner as well. might want to just consider using that after the 3 months of thinner medication is over.

[MattG]

Excellent point on the blood thinning situation Mr I, didn't think about that. Chadd, I doubt you wanna do this, but the best thing for you to do is be honest with your Dr and tell him you've been on test. Gonna be an uncomfortable talk, but probably the best thing to do to get treated properly...

[Mr I]

If chadd has been on 300mg test for a long time. Stay in that constant.

Say nothing to the docs and let them use their thinners to put you in range.

Simple.

[Mr I]

I do however wonder if there is a lesson in here somewhere for us all at about 40 years old.

[MattG]

If chadd has been on 300mg test for a long time. Stay in that constant.

Say nothing to the docs and let them use their thinners to put you in range.

Simple.

Makes sense...but he's only been on test for about a month he said...

[Bouncer]

he hasnt been on long. he cycles. as he said in his post, he only started 300mgs 5 weeks ago. considering the dose and the short period on, i doubt it's having much of an effect on his blood.

[Mr I]

Then drop to 250 e10d

[chuckz28]

Sorry to hear that bro. Take some time for your cardiovascular health to recover. Your muscular health can take a couple months off. I agree with Bouncer, you've been on for such a short period and low dose it shouldn't have caused any changes to your blood. If it were me I'd drop all and maybe a very short pct.

[Bouncer]

Then drop to 250 e10d

that's very close to natty levels. I don't see the point in staying on at all in his situation. if it was a guy that was running 500+ mgs for years I'd completely agree with you.