by Anthony Roberts --
Dostinex (Cabergoline) is a dopamine
agonist. Dopamine is a chemical, found in the brain, which transmits
nerve impulses and is involved in the formation of epinephrine. More
likely than not, this is why the Life-Extentionistas are very big on
this drug. Dopamine is also released by the hypothalamus,
and hormone can inhibit the release of prolactin from the anterior lobe
of the pituitary, so given all the bad things that we have already seen
to be a result of excess. If you use anabolic steroids, Dostinex will
help you reduce the chance of any of these prolactin related side-effects.
It has actually been shown in numerous studies to have a very high success
rate in lowering prolactin and prolactin related conditions and side-effects
(1) (2).In fact, for management of hyperprolactinemia
and it’s symptoms (got milk?), Dostinex is the preferred treatment in
terms of effectiveness as well as having very few undesirable side effects
(3). It does this very well for both men
and women, it should be noted…almost identically actually (4)
Since it lowers prolactin
very efficiently, Dostinex will even get rid sexual dysfunction caused
by excess prolactin (5) (which is (anecdotally
at least) highly correlative with the use of certain steroids like the
Nandrolones and
Trenbolones (Deca and Tren). This is great news for
everyone who loves Tren and Deca, because those two steroids are really
great additions to almost any cycle- but many people avoid using them
because of the possibility of them causing impotence (often called “deca
dick”).
Using Dostinex will allow
you to include steroids like Tren and Deca in any cycle- and even combine
them in the same cycle- without worrying about sexual dysfunction. In
fact…even if you aren’t experiencing any sort of sexual dysfunction,
Dostinex will shorten the time you need to recover and gain an erection
between orgasms, and can significantly enhance all parameters
of sexual drive and function (6). In other words, if you’re not worried
about sexual issues and you take Dostinex anyway…it’ll still help you
out in bed. And from what I have heard, it’s well worth the money for
that effect.
Of course you can actually
use Dostinex safely for an extended amount of time (many studies go
on for months if not years, and its efficacy and safety are well documented),
but women need to be more careful than men, and certainly need to discontinue
using it if they’re pregnant or trying to conceive. SO Dostinex can
help you, the average steroid user, by combating gyno-like effects,
as well as galactorrhea, and sexual dysfunction. Sounds great,
right? Of course it is…but since Dostinex is a dopamine agonist, which
means it’s good for a whole lot more.
You see Dopamine is what’s called a monoamine, which is naturally
produced in the body by modifying an amino acid.
Dopamine
And it’s this structure which makes it
very interesting to us. Dostinex as you already know is what’s known
as a dopamine “agonist”- or substance that triggers a response in a
specific body tissue or group of cells by binding to specific receptor
on or inside the cells, as if it were actually the bodily substance
that usually binds to that receptor. Probably the one that most people
are familiar with, with regards to agonists is ephedrine, which is an
andrenergic agonist. This is why ephedrine makes you feel “wired”…it
“feels” like adrenaline to your body. Cabergoline is a dopamine agonist…which
makes it “feel” like dopamine to your body.
Dostinex
So what does that mean? Well,
in the brain, dopamine helps control the flow of information
from other areas of the brain. So a dopamine agonist will help you process
information more quickly, and possibly improve your memory also. Some
athletes use Dostinex because it helps them learn new motor skills more
quickly and thus they can learn new techniques or plays at a faster
rate than their competition; needless to say this gives the athletes
using Dostinex a huge advantage over their competition. This ability
to work on your bodies information pathways and nervous system are doubtless
why it’s been successfully been used to fight Parkinsons disease (7)(8).
But does this actually work in real athletes?
Well, actually, that’s why I started reading about Dostinex. See, I
have the fortune of being able to basically call some of the most famous
strength coaches in the world whenever I want. And, recently the last
time I spoke to one about training and anabolic steroids, I asked him
about different training programs for a person on steroids- and his
answer said that it depends on whether that person was taking a nootropics
or not. And as you may remember, Dostinex is a nootropic. It was that
conversation that made me really take a closer look at Dostinex. And
of course, that strength coach told me that his athletes have used nootropics
with great success. The down side of knowing internationally renowned
strength coaches is that their sense of humor is usually a little off,
and if you have the fortune of being able to pick their brains on training,
you also invariably have the misfortune of ending up on their group
e-mail list which gets you a whole host of bizarre forwarded e-mails…
In fact, when you don’t
have enough dopamine, you may even have difficulty concentrating…low
dopamine levels have also been cited as a possible underlying cause
for Attention deficit disorder (ADD) and Attention deficit/ Hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD). In fact, many several medications used to treat ADD
and ADHD will also serve to stimulate dopaminergic, and this could be
one of their possible mechanisms of action.
Dopamine is also what’s
called a “pleasure chemical”…it’s usually released by your body when
you experience a rewarding experience such as eating your favorite food,
having sex, winning the lottery….whatever. Interestingly, since this
“happy” effect is felt when you are satiated from food, it’s highly
possible that Dopamine agonists will cause you to feel “full” more often
and decrease desire for food without the discomfort that dieting usually
brings. Dopamine is released when you eat a nice big meal…so…a dopamine
agonist like Dostinex may make you not want to eat as much, and help
you feel full even if you don’t eat enough. Dostinex, therefore, may
be of great interest to precontest bodybuilders and other dieters, who
want to avoid some of the discomfort and anxiety that calorie restriction
can bring.
Certain recreational
drugs also have a lot to do with their effects on dopamine. Cocaine
is what is known as a dopamine transporter blocker; what this means
is that it competitively inhibits dopamine uptake to increase the amount
of time released dopamine is active in your body. This makes you feel
good, while the dopamine is floating around your body. Methamphetamine
is another illicit (illegal) recreational drug that acts on dopamine
as well. It actually serves to competitively inhibit dopamine uptake
as well as increasing dopamine flow through a dopamine transporter pathway.
That’s how those drugs make you “feel good.” Dostinex is, of course,
neither physically nor mentally addictive, but since it is a dopamine
agonist, its users often experience an enhanced positive sense of well
being. So besides helping with all of the things discussed earlier,
Cabergoline will also just make you feel damn good.
So now that I told you
about it, I’ll tell you how much Dostinex do you need to start experiencing
these effects…or basically, how I’m going to use it, now that I did
all this research on it!
From the reading I’ve
done, you only need about half a milligram (1/2mg) a week to experience
all of the anti-prolactin, prosexual, antidepressant, and cognitive
effects of Dostinex, but that’s on the very low end of the effectiveness
scale. This stuff has an extremely long active life in the body, so
once a week dosing is fine…but if it were me, and I were taking this
stuff, I’d probably be using about .25mgs-.5mgs twice a week.
It should be taken before
bed-time, because it may actually help you sleep a bit better, (9),
Can be taken with or without food and not alter the
pharmacokinetics (how it functions in your body) (10), and (incidentally)
according to the literature is a much more efficient drug than
Bromocriptine
(11).
I think once people find out about this
drug, it’s going to find it’s way into quite a few bodybuilders’ cycles
alongside Tren,
Deca, or both…and athletes are going to take advantage
of it’s uses for skill acquisition and motor co-ordination help…and
all the other stuff…the prosexual properties and general “feel good”
properties of Dostinex make it a great choice for anyone interested
in …err…feeling good and having better sex…which I suspect is basically
everyone, not just bodybuilders and athletes. I guess I should have
paid more attention to this stuff when it started appearing on those
Life-Extension club pricelists a decade ago…but at least I figured it
out now….even if I happen to be a bit late on this one.
Cabergoline is the chemical
name of active ingredient in Dostinex.
Dostinex is a registered trademark of Pfizer Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
Dostinex Prescribing Information
