Package leaflet · information for the user
Methandrostenolone 10 mg
Methandrostenolone (Methandienone)
Read all of this leaflet carefully before you start using this medicine
- Keep this leaflet. You may need to read it again.
- If you have any further questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist.
- This medicine has been prescribed for you only. Do not pass it on to others. It may harm them, even if their signs of illness are the same as yours.
- If you get any side effects, talk to your doctor or pharmacist. This includes any possible side effects not listed in this leaflet.
1.What Methandrostenolone is and what it is used for
Methandrostenolone, also called metandienone, is a man-made relative of testosterone, the main male sex hormone. It belongs to a group called anabolic steroids, which means its main job is to help the body build and hold on to muscle and other tissue. Your doctor has prescribed it for you to help you regain weight and strength after a serious illness, injury, operation or long treatment with steroid tablets. It is a prescription medicine and has been chosen for your situation only.
2.What you need to know before you use Methandrostenolone
Read this section before you take the first tablet, and tell your doctor about every illness you have had and every other medicine you take.
Do not use it if
- Do not use it if you are allergic to methandrostenolone or to any of the other ingredients listed on your carton.
- Do not use it if you are pregnant, think you may be pregnant or are breastfeeding — it can seriously harm an unborn baby.
- Do not use it if you have cancer of the prostate gland or cancer of the male breast.
- Do not use it if you have severe liver disease or have ever been told you have a liver tumour.
- Do not use it if you have a high level of calcium in your blood.
- Do not use it if you have severe heart failure or severe kidney disease with a lot of protein in your urine.
Warnings and precautions
- Talk to your doctor before using it if you have any liver trouble. This tablet is chemically altered so that it survives being swallowed, and that change is hard on the liver. Your doctor will take blood tests before you start and at intervals afterwards. Tell your doctor straight away if your skin or the whites of your eyes turn yellow, your urine goes dark, or you get pain in the upper right side of your stomach.
- Talk to your doctor before using it if you have high blood pressure, heart failure, kidney disease, epilepsy or migraine — this medicine makes the body hold on to salt and water, which can make all of these worse.
- Talk to your doctor before using it if you are a man, because part of this medicine is changed in your body into a female hormone. This can cause tender or swollen breast tissue, which sometimes does not go away on its own.
- Talk to your doctor before using it if you are older or have prostate trouble; your prostate will be checked before you start and from time to time afterwards.
- If this medicine is for a child or teenager, the doctor will check bone growth with X-rays regularly, because it can make the bones stop growing too early and reduce final adult height.
- Women should tell the doctor promptly about a deepening voice, new hair on the face or body, or changes in periods, as some of these changes can be permanent.
- Never take this medicine to build muscle or improve sporting performance and never share it. Used in that way it causes liver tumours, heart disease and lasting hormone damage, and it is banned in sport.
Other medicines and Methandrostenolone
Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking, have recently taken or might take any other medicines. In particular: blood-thinning medicines such as warfarin, because this medicine strengthens their effect and can cause serious bleeding, so your clotting tests will need checking more often; medicines for diabetes, including insulin, because your blood sugar may fall and your doses may need lowering; steroid tablets such as prednisolone, which together with this medicine make you hold much more water; and ciclosporin after a transplant. Mention herbal products and supplements too.
Pregnancy, breastfeeding and fertility
Do not take this medicine if you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant. It can seriously harm an unborn baby, especially the sexual development of a baby girl. If you could become pregnant, use a reliable method of contraception and discuss this with your doctor. Do not breastfeed while taking it. In men, this medicine reduces the number of sperm you produce and can make you unable to father a child while you are taking it, and sometimes for a long time afterwards.
Driving and using machines
This medicine is not expected to affect driving or the use of tools and machines. Some people feel headachy, dizzy or on edge, or sleep badly. If that happens, do not drive or use machines until you feel normal again.
3.How to use Methandrostenolone
Always take this medicine exactly as your doctor has told you. Check with your doctor or pharmacist if you are not sure. Swallow the tablets whole with a glass of water. The number of tablets and the timing are decided by your doctor for you personally and are written on your pharmacy label; never change them yourself. Treatment is usually given in short courses with breaks in between, and your doctor will tell you when to stop. If you forget a dose, take it as soon as you remember unless it is nearly time for the next one, in which case skip it — never take a double dose. If you take too many tablets, contact your doctor or your nearest hospital straight away and take the carton with you.
4.Possible side effects
Like all medicines, this medicine can cause side effects, although not everybody gets them.
Stop and get medical help straight away
- Yellowing of the skin or the whites of the eyes, dark urine, pale stools or pain in the upper right side of the stomach — possible liver damage.
- Sudden severe stomach pain with faintness, very pale skin or collapse — this can mean bleeding inside the liver and needs emergency care.
- Breathlessness, sudden weight gain or badly swollen legs — your heart may be struggling with the extra fluid.
- An erection that is painful or lasts more than four hours — go to hospital.
- Swelling of the face, lips or throat, a widespread rash, or difficulty breathing — signs of an allergic reaction.
Other possible side effects
- acne and oily skin
- difficulty sleeping
- swollen ankles, feet or hands from holding water
- weight gain that is mostly water
- headache
- mood changes, irritability or feeling unusually aggressive
- in men: tender or swollen breast tissue, smaller testicles, fewer sperm, more frequent erections
- in women: deeper voice, extra facial and body hair, irregular or absent periods, enlarged clitoris
- feeling sick, indigestion or loss of appetite
- changes in blood fats, blood sugar and liver blood tests
Reporting of side effects
If you get any side effects, talk to your doctor or pharmacist — including any not listed in this leaflet. You can also report them directly to us at pv@ergopharm.net or through our reporting form, and to your national reporting system. By reporting side effects you help provide more information on the safety of this medicine.
5.How to store Methandrostenolone
Keep this medicine out of the sight and reach of children. Store it below 25 °C in the original blister or container, away from light and damp. Do not use it after the expiry date printed on the carton and blister; the expiry date is the last day of that month. Do not use a tablet if the blister is damaged or the tablet is broken or discoloured. Do not throw medicines away down the toilet or with household rubbish; return anything you no longer need to your pharmacist.
6.Contents of the pack and other information
The active substance is methandrostenolone (metandienone). The strength of your tablets, in milligrams, is printed on the carton and on the blister. The other ingredients are lactose, maize starch, povidone, magnesium stearate and colloidal silica; the full list is on the carton, so check it if you have been told you cannot tolerate certain sugars. The tablets are white, round, uncoated and scored across one face. They are supplied in aluminium blister strips inside a carton, or in bulk containers, in pack sizes from 10 to 100 tablets; not all pack sizes may be available in your country. Every carton carries a printed verification code and a GS1 DataMatrix square that can be checked at ergopharm.net/verify to confirm the pack is genuine. Manufactured under GMP conditions by Ergopharm, Vadodara, Gujarat, India.