Talk to any bodybuilder, from old school to modern day and they will tell you that there is absolutely no way they would ever take an oral anabolic steroid as there are several scientific studies proving damage to the liver that could be permanent or even fatal.
Oral anabolic steroids can cause Hepatotoxicity, which is injury or liver damage caused by exposure to drugs and in this case from oral TRT. The liver damage caused covers four distinct forms of liver injury – mainly transient serum enzyme elevations, acute cholestatic syndrome, chronic vascular injury and hepatic tumours including adenomas and hepatocellular carcinoma.
Gel based TRT, sub-dermal TRT and injectable TRT all have one major advantage over oral TRT and that is they enter the bloodstream in a way that bypasses the liver – thus no liver damage. Which is why bodybuilders who take anabolic steroids (which is what all TRT injectables are anyway) choose to inject.
Oral TRT has been around since the 1970’s when a testosterone undecanoate tablet was available for use in Europe. In the USA oral testosterone has only been approved for use since 2019 (due to safety concerns).
Common oral testosterone treatments include (but are not limited to) Andriol, Jatenzo, Restandol and Tlando.
Andriol and Restandol have been around for a number of years, with Restandol containing 40mg of testosterone per capsule which must be taken 4 times a day.
Restandol contains the active ingredient testosterone undecanoate at a 40mg dosage per capsule and also contains virgin castor oil and propylene glycol monolaurate. The capsule shell contains glycerol, sunset yellow (E110, FD and C yellow no.6), gelatin, opacode-WB white (printing ink) which contains propylene glycol, titanium dioxide, polyvinyl acetate phthalate, macrogol 400 and ammonium hydroxide.
Directions
The capsules are oval, transparent and orange in colour and are imprinted with the name “OrgDV3” in white. Restandol must be taken with a meal.
Precautions
Care should be taken with Restandol as some of the ingredients in the capsule may cause an allergic reaction. Various other medications may affect how Restandol works such as specific antibiotics and anti-epileptic drugs, as well as affecting how diabetic medication (insulin) works and how medication for blood clots works.
Advantages
No risk of accidental TRT transference. Non-invasive and easy to use. Potential for higher persistence and adherence to the protocol.
No needle phobia (quite common). Pain free.
Disadvantages
Higher propensity to being allergic to some of the ingredients in the capsule.
