Passing Anti-Doping Test After Finishing Steroid Cycle?

Q: I just finished a testosterone cypionate cycle of 600mg/week for 12 weeks. How long will it take until the extra testosterone is out of my system and I return to “normal”? In other words, how long before I can pass an anti-doping test after finishing this steroid cycle?

A: Figuring roughly a week for the half-life, each week your levels from the drug drop by — naturally enough — one-half.

So at 600 mg/week, it takes roughly 2 weeks for levels from the drug to drop approximately with those that are commensurate with ongoing 150 mg/week usage (600 halving to 300, then 300 halving to 150). This usually would not result in elevated blood tests because of natural testosterone production still being substantially suppressed from this, so it is not adding on top of normal testosterone but only on top of low natural production.

From the standpoint of failing an carbon isotope ratio or epitestosterone/testosterone ratio tests, this would still be far too high. But for an ordinary medical test where one didn’t want to be detected as having used testosterone, this would be long enough.

From the standpoint of wanting to bottom out as you do, this might well still be too much. Another week, roughly, assuming you were using no PCT might well be the lowest point.

The outcomes of these tests basically depend both on the amount of injected testosterone vs the amount of natural testosterone.

In the case of the E/T ratio, the test is not very sensitive and there is a wide margin allowed, so in most cases if natural production is back even at low-normal level and injected testosterone has dropped to a level commensurate with ongoing usage below 100 mg/week, the ratio will be good. I don’t know just how much this can be pushed. The above is conservative.

So for example, if using 400 mg/week, past the 2-half-lives point then if natural T production is back to at least low-normal this test usually would be passed. There have to be others though who have much more information on this and have determined exactly where it can be pushed. I have not.

On the isotopic test, it is the same consideration: amount of injected testosterone that remains vs natural production. Here, I don’t know how sensitive the test is, at all. I would tend to expect it is much more sensitive than the E/T ratio test, and therefore having for example half injected testosterone in the system and half natural T would result in failure. The ratio might well need to be — purely pulling a number out of a hat — more like 10:1 in favor of natural production.

This isn’t based on knowledge of outcomes of drug tests but on the sensitivity of mass spec. It could well do even better (or worse, depending on viewpoint!) than this. Again, this almost undoubtedly would be something that some have particularly studied how to beat, but unfortunately I haven’t.

If it were me and I didn’t have information from anyone who had specifically researched what is required to beat this test, I would allow at least four half-lives and preferably five.

I’d noticed, but never thought about, the fact that testosterone acetate became easily available a while back. Certainly acetate would be the most preferred for the purpose of rapid clearance.

About the author

Bill Roberts

Medicinal chemist

Bill Roberts is an internationally-recognized expert on anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). He received a bachelor degree in Microbiology and Cell Science and completed the educational and research requirements for a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry at a major American university.

Bill entered the nutritional supplement industry prior to completing his doctoral thesis but his education was invaluable so far as being able to design/improve nutritional supplement compounds, since it was in the field of designing drug molecules and secondarily some work in transdermal delivery.

His education was not specifically "geared" toward anabolic steroids other than expertise with pharmacological principles having broad applications. This has allowed Bill to provide unique insight into the field of anabolic pharmacology with knowledge of points which he would not have known otherwise.