For years—or rather, for as long as we can remember—when we think of oral steroids (also known as oral products), we’re referring to tablets and, more rarely, capsules. There have often been debates about when to take these oral steroids—whether to take the tablets on an empty stomach or after eating—and how much water to use when swallowing them.
Although they are not yet very widespread in Europe—though they will be very soon—in other countries, and especially in the United States, oral products in tablet form are practically disappearing, giving way to oral steroid suspensions, more commonly known as liquid steroids. There is one key difference: while tablets contain the active ingredient mixed with excipients, fillers, and thickeners and compressed into tablet form, oral suspensions consist simply of the active ingredient dissolved or partially dissolved in sterile water and come in a special bottle with a dropper.
The history of liquid oral steroids or suspensions
Active ingredients in the form of oral suspensions have always been used in laboratories and for pharmaceutical research purposes. Believe it or not, the first medicines or products to be launched on the market in this form were drugs for erectile dysfunction: when Pfizer patented Viagra, all other pharmaceutical companies wanted to join this highly profitable bandwagon, but the patent for the tablets was solely and exclusively held by Pfizer, so other companies decided to market their sildenafil in other forms, such as gels, films to be dissolved under the tongue and, indeed, liquid Viagra.
In the world of steroids or PEDs (Performance-Enhancing Drugs), the first category to be widely marketed in the form of an oral suspension was SARMs, which—as the veterans reading this surely know—were initially all purchased in small bottles with droppers. Following SARMs, SERMs and anti-estrogens also began to be sold as oral suspensions. For several years now in the U.S., oral steroids (even the most classic ones) have been available as oral suspensions and are becoming increasingly popular, to the point of having surpassed the old tablets: even here on this site,Liquid Anavar is the best-selling oral steroid, with Liquid Winstrol a close second, and yet new oral steroids like Liquid Dianabol orLiquid Anadrol are gaining more and more ground. We also find other secretagogue-type substances such as MK677
The advantages of oral suspensions over tablets.
Let’s start by acknowledging that the difference in terms of pros and cons is truly minimal, but there are definitely advantages to liquid oral steroids over their tablet counterparts.
- PUREZZA: it is not that the active ingredient in tablets is not pure (much depends on who manufactures them), but on average a tablet contains less than 50% active ingredient by volume/weight, with the remainder being thickeners, fillers, and excipients. The purity of the tablets is therefore more compromised than in an oral suspension, where we have the PURE product mixed with sterile water and only 0.3% alcohol for preservation purposes.
- ABSORPTION: suspension products are already liquid and therefore do not need to be dissolved in the stomach: this facilitates absorption and reduces the risk of stomach problems that tablets and capsules can cause: as a result, they do not cause discomfort even when taken on an empty stomach.
- CONVENIENCE: a 30ml bottle often contains almost as much active ingredient as two large boxes of the product: it is more concentrated and takes up less space, which is especially useful when traveling. Furthermore, with tablets you are limited to the size and dose of the tablet, whereas with a dropper you can use various doses. Sometimes, you can simply add the liquid suspension to a shake or other beverage and you won't even notice you're taking it.
- PRICE: Compressing tablets requires machinery and a fair amount of automation, and excipients and fillers also have their own price. Producing a box of tablets is much more expensive than suspending pure powder in water: as a result, all oral suspensions, and in particular oral steroids (which are notoriously more expensive than normal medicines), are cheaper in suspension form.
