just took my final shot (10 wk Test E 420mg/wk)

[Nightwanderer]

All in all,
my first pinning cycle was pretty decent. Definite gains, big strength increase, etc, etc. For me, it was a big experiment to see how much strength & mass I could help my legs out with despite not being able to exercise them well. I have to say, my calves actually have a couple of inches on them that they've never had before, which is great. However, My feet swelled up so bad from estrogenic water retention that I couldn't exercise my legs nearly as much as I should have. I couldn't even fit in my shoes a lot of the time it was so bad. I'm taking some leftover Epi from my first cycle and it helps significantly with that, but, in the future if I ever do this again (hehe, and looking at my chest & arms I think I will) I may chose to go with purely androgens, or perhaps a mix of Test & tren, if it would be much more dry, considering I'm apparently extremely prone to water retention.

Just want to take a second to thank all the folks here at AM who made much of the learning possible. All I can hope for now is a smooth PCT and that I retain most of my gains. That and hope & pray a lot of the excessive bloat is purely estrogen/water related , honestly I look pretty fat right now, b ut I kept telling myself I had to just keep eating I lifting, and boy did I eat! lol It started out clean, but I spent two weeks in a hotel away from home where diet was pretty much out of my hands, and for the remainder of the time after I figured I may as well say scew it & dirty bulk.

 

[Hank Vangut]

so what's the before and after stats? weight/strength/measurements?
did you not take any AI? bloat is something that can usually be controlled quite easily. sounds like you are very prone though.

 

[Nightwanderer]

so what's the before and after stats? weight/strength/measurements?
did you not take any AI? bloat is something that can usually be controlled quite easily. sounds like you are very prone though.

the only way for me to properly have my weight measured would be if I got hydrostatic testing done, since I can't stand up without supporting myself on a fixed object (thereby displacing weight). Stupid me, I also didn't think to take tape measurements beforehand either. In all honesty, there's a lot of details like that I overlooked, and if i ever do another cycle with perscription anabolics I'll be a lot more organized about it. As far as the water retention goes, I had no AI on hand, as my PCT will consist of Tamoxifen coupled with a bottle of retain2, and possibly a bottle of ALRI's Restore, but i keep hearing things about 6-bromodione being a bad thing in PCT as it is suppressive, so I'm not sure if i'm comfortable adding it into my PCT. If I had had a major estrogen problem (gyno) I simply planned to take 10mg of my tamox daily while on. I knew water retention was an issue with test, but I viewed it as a purely cosmetic issue every time I had read about it. I couldn't have foreseen the feet swelling issue to the point of discomfort without firsthand experience. While i regret not having an AI on hand to deal with it, it was a potent learning experience for the future.

 

[Nightwanderer]

I forgot to add,
I did try taking a diuretic (namely MST's X-pel) but after 3 days
of countless bathroom trips it seemed to not affect the swelling at all. It contained caffeine, and with my blood pressure already at 140/80 I wanted to avoid stimulants if I could help it, so discontinued use.