I believe that mild estrogens like nolvadex do little to restore HPTA. Only time will do. IMO...Anti-estrogens alone do not do much to restore endogenous testosterone release after a cycle. Normally they only foster LH by blocking the negative feedback of estrogens. You don't want the test you start producing to aromatise, and have to deal with excessive estrogenic side effects so 6-OXO is the logical choice.
okay....i have given this a fair amount of thought and devoted some time into researching it.
6OXO is an aromatase inhibitor, meaning that it will prevent the test that you are making from converting to estrogen at whatever percentage it does so at in the body. nolva is an estrogen blocker (effectively) that replaces/nullifies actual produced (not converted) estrogen at the receptor level. we all know this. what isnt so clear is this:
(1) does 6OXO block estrogen that your body produces (because estrogen is produced 2 ways, see above)?
(2) does nolva occupy the receptors that estrogen aromatized from test would normally occupy?
when i think of the first few days of PCT, i think about how horrible my estrogen-testosterone ratio is. it isnt this way because my test is aromatizing - it's because my body has cranked up the estrogen to keep my hormones up. unless someone can show that (1) is true, then nolva is far superior to 6OXO for PCT. after the first week or two when you do most of your recovering, your test is back up to the point that the estrogen that aromatizes from it dominates the total percentage of estrogen in your body, and at that point 6OXO would be completely sufficient.
and MAVS - anti-e's DO encourage your body to jumpstart test (clomid moreso than nolva) because when the estrogen is not being used like your body wanted, your body is forced to excrete more hormones to balance. thus, test jumps. granted, this is conjecture as i have never seen a study where a user comes off PCT and gets hormone levels checked every day for 2 weeks. you'd think there would be one of those by now.
in the meantime, the sides from nolva are minimal at normal dosages, and it is the proven choice among AAS users because it definitely works. you wont see pros with 6OXO in their gym bags unless they are doing a commercial for it. the only downside i have seen from nolva is the estrogen rebound post-PCT which has been documented. i tend to think this is very rare and the user(s) did not decrease dosages in the proper way.
off topic - BigPJ - looking good bro! (in an entirely straight way) that doesnt look like a natural (ie. not hormonally enhanced) body though. still, much respect for size AND cuts. you could go NPC with a little more work (or as-is, depending on the competition)
i'll take rep points for spreading this knowledge/inquiry around...