Orabolin

Pharmaceutical Name: ethylestrenol
Chemical structure: 19-Nor-17alpha-pregn-4-en-17-ol
Molecular weight of base: 288.4722




Effective dose: 20-50 mg/day
Average Street-price: $1-2 for 10 tabs of 2 mg each
Available Doses: 2 mg tabs


Brands & Products:

Organon Orabolin (B,GB,SA) 2 mg tabs
Orgabolin (NL) 2 mg tabs
(sublicense Santa) Orgabolin drops 2 mg each


Characteristics:

People who have been in this game for a long time, may remember this steroid as Maxibolin. Its most popular name. But to avoid all confusion, its now best referred to as Orabolin, because Maxibolan was taken from the market some time ago. Most experienced users will of course prefer not to remember Orabolin at all. It was a bit of a failure in all aspects.

First of all it's a 19Nor-steroid, a derivative of nandrolone. I'm no big fan of 19Nor-steroids, apart from maybe trenbolone. The lack of the 19th carbon makes them re-esterify easily, particularly suppressive of natural testosterone and above all, lends them progestagenic activity, or if you will, the ability to worsen estrogenic side-effects by binding the progesterone receptor. The sole benefit of a 19nor compound is that it has very good androgen binding properties, giving it good enough anabolic effect, but is actually androgenically reduced in androgen responsive tissues like prostate and skin. This allowed users to book decent gains without overly having to fear acne, hair loss and prostate hypertrophy as they did with testosterone. For me that still doesn't warrant the use of nasty stuff like nandrolone or norethandrolone, for some it does. But I'm pretty sure all will be in agreement that this steroid is a waste. Its similar to norethandrolone, except it lacks a 3-keto group. This group is essential for binding the androgen receptor, and without it, its safe to assume that the anabolic activity of this steroid is less than weak. Studies1 actually seem to suggest that the only anabolic activity that ethylestronol does exert, is by making a 3-keto group and thus converting to norethandrolone.

Norethandrolone (inviting you to read the profile on norethandrolone) wasn't much of a success either. It was designed to be an androgenically mild oral steroid, like an oral nandrolone (which is in essence what it was), but then Searle realized that apart from being androgenically mild it was relatively nasty and uncontrollable stuff (which is how I feel about most 19nor steroids, including nandrolone) and came out with Anavar instead, since it was better suited as a mild oral steroid. So even through conversion you don't get anything decent out of this product.

The 17-alpha-ethyl group also lends it a certain liver toxicity, which doesn't allow for long use or high doses. And high doses are really what you need for any form of favorable effect. Women may somewhat appreciate this steroid in doses of 20-30 mg day, as its androgenically the mildest you'll ever come across, with very little virilizing symptoms. Although in any case, I would still recommend Anavar (oxandrolone) over ethylestrenol. Mainly due to its reputation, its become hard to find on the black market. Virtually extinct. I for one don't really care much.

Stacking and Use:

If you have ethylestrenol, my advice is toss it or sell it to your gullable friend. It's a waste. If you must use its, remember that the gains will be next to non-existent. Using 30-50 mg per day for 5-6 weeks on end, stacked with other products are the best way to go. Make it worth your while and add in some testosterone or boldenone for example. Aromatization is minimal, so the use of anti-estrogens will not be needed during the cycle, but because 19Nor steroids are nasty, suppressive stuff, you would do wise to run HCG and Nolvadex or Clomid once the cycle is over.

References

1 Ward R, Lawson AM, Schackleton CLH. Metabolism of anabolic steroid drugs in man and the marmoset monkey (callithrix jacchus) - Nilevar and orabolin. J steroid Biochem 8 (1977) 1057-63