Does Anavar cause Bloating & Water Retention in males and females?

Water retention and bloating are something that will bother most of us at some point.

You probably eat a boatload of protein and food already, so, your stomach protrudes anyway. Adding an oral steroid onto that will only make matters worse, surely?

Why Use Anavar?

Anavar or Oxandrolone is an anabolic steroid developed in 1964 by G.D. Searle. The reason for its creation, like most anabolic steroids, was to be used in the medical field. Primarily, it was to be used for increasing muscle mass and bone density in those who have suffered injuries or illnesses.

It was not long before the fitness community got word of this drug and for good reason. Anavar is a highly developed steroid, meaning the side effects are incredibly minimal.

That said, because it is so developed, the price is quite steep. Thus, it is often counterfeit – even black market Anavar.

Anavar as a performance-enhancing drug can be used for various reasons:

• Its primary use is to increase lean body mass by increasing strength and muscle protein synthesis
• It is quite popular amongst women, seeing as the androgenic side effects are few
• It is also commonly used in a cutting phase due to its inability to convert into estrogen
• It is also a favorite amongst those who prefer a leaner bulking process, as it will cause less water retention and blood pressure issues than something like Dianabol

Does Anavar Cause Water Retention and Bloating?

Water retention is defined as “… known as edema, swelling in parts of the body. You can experience water retention in the legs, ankles, or feet as well as the face and hands. It’s caused by fluid buildup in body tissues.”.

Bloating is defined as “Bloating is a condition where your belly feels full and tight, often due to gas.”.

It is important that we understand the difference between the two, so that we may draw conclusions about whether Anavar is causing either of these.

Remember when we mentioned that Anavar has a negative impact on both the kidneys and the liver? Well, it turns out that both strained kidneys and liver will lead to an increase in water retention.

This is most likely due to the fact that the kidneys are not able to do their job fully as they should.

Thus, more waste is in the blood, including more salts and other minerals, which can lead to water retention. You can keep a watchful eye on your GFR and Creatinine levels to make sure your kidneys are still in healthy condition.

Bloating on the other hand is something not everyone will deal with, and looking at the reviews on Reddit, only a few people do suffer from bloating on Anavar. There isn’t a particular mechanism by which Anavar itself will directly cause bloating, but it could be an adsorption problem.

See, Anavar still needs to be broken down in order to be absorbed.

A good rule of thumb is to take your orals away from food but with a healthy fat like Omega 3 Fatty Acids. Not only will this increase the bioavailability, but it will also decrease the likelihood of you developing bloating.

Does Anavar get rid of water retention?

On the contrary! Anavar is known to cause water retention in the first place! When looking at the mechanism of how Anavar works, we can see that Anavar negatively affects both the kidneys and the liver.

This means you will not only experience elevated GFR and Creatinine levels, but you will also experience elevated ALT and AST levels. All of these will increase the likeness of your body holding onto the salt, meaning you will have an increased chance of holding onto water as well.

The only way to try and avoid this is to ensure your kidneys are liver are as healthy as they can possibly be.

How Does Anavar Cause Water Retention in Males & Females?

We know by now that Anavar will affect the kidneys, unlike most other Oral steroids. However, like other oral steroids, it will also affect the liver. This means that by taking Anavar you will experience both elevated GFR and Creatinine levels and elevated ALT and AST levels.

These are prime conditions for your body to have a harder time filtrating the blood and hunk in your body. Less filtration and less optimal functionality of those organs mean more salt remains in the blood, which in turn will lead to water retention.

How do you stop water retention and bloating on steroids?

There is not much you can do about the bloating.

If you find yourself bloating a ton from a particular steroid, you still have a few options:

• Take something else, duh
• You can try to increase the bioavailability of the said drug by taking it with Omega 3 Fatty Acids and away from food
• Have a look at your diet. Try to see if there is anything that does not really digest terribly well, and remove it

When it comes to water retention, there is quite a lot more you can do to remedy the situation:

• Take something else, duh (that’s like drugs 101, people)
• You can do everything in your power to lower the strain on your kidneys. This means lowering blood pressure as much as possible, staying hydrated, removing caffeine completely, remaining incredibly fit, and lowering your protein intake
• Remove certain supplements like Creatine
• Adopt a diet richer in plant proteins, since they digest easier than animal proteins
• Increase the soluble fiber in your diet