Medical uses

Pramipexole, or just Prami for short (brand names Sifrol, Mirapex, Mirapexin), is a dopamine agonist that is used in the medical community to treat Parkinson's disease and RLS (restless legs syndrome). It has also been found to be helpful in the treatment of bipolar and unipolar depression. Additionally, it is still being researched for its ability to treat certain types of headaches, and helping antidepressant users who are experiencing sexual dysfunction.

However, this compound is also used in the bodybuilding community because of its ability to affect dopamine and prolactin. This makes it an interesting ancillary, for both on cycle and post cycle use.

Prolactin

Pramipexole can inhibit prolactin, and in order to fully understand how this benefits the user, we must first take a look at what prolactin is.

Prolactin is a nasty female hormone protein, whose levels increase during pregnancy. Yet, in spite of the fact that it is mostly associated with women, prolactin is also found in men as it spikes after ejaculation and after having children. Interestingly, researchers still do not know why mother nature gave males prolactin, but we can theorize it is likely due to keeping human population under control. When a male ejaculates after sex, he gets satisfied thanks to changes in both prolactin (which rises), and dopamine (which falls). After this occurs, males will lose interest in sex for a period of time. As a matter of fact, this is why men want to get away from women after we have sex with them.

Medical Note

It should be noted that women release their own hormone, which connects them to males after sex, called oxytocin. Males also release oxytocin, but they handle it differently.

This point of no interest in sex by males is what we call the 'refractory period,' and until prolactin starts to drop back down, the male will not have as much interest in sex. However, pramipexole will inhibit prolactin from rising, making a man's refractory period be much shorter. As a result, you can expect libido (the urge for sex) to be more frequent when using this compound. Therefore, these types of prolactin inhibitors are great to take with you on your honeymoon!

Now how does this translate into bodybuilding or fitness? Scroll down to find out, but first lets take a look at dopamine.

Dopamine

Apart from inhibiting prolactin, pramipexole works as a dopamine agonist, so those who are stuck in depression or who are addicts can get a “high” without doing sinful things. Since dopamine is a chemical in the brain, it transmits impulses while forming epinephrine. Interestingly, many people in our society have major dopamine issues, and you can just visit a bar or club at 2am, where you will see those with bipolar disorder, depression, addictions, and nervous system conditions like Parkinson's disease.

So how does dopamine work in simple terms? Lets say you crave a piece of greasy pizza, or a disgusting burger from the fast food joint - you bite into it and get a feeling of relief. However, this is not your brain saying this is good food, but its actually you getting a blast of dopamine. The same goes for the situation when you experience an orgasm while having sex with a person you just met at the bar - you get a blast of dopamine. Yet, this does not apply to purely physiological cases, since you can get the same dopamine rush when you get dealt pocket aces in poker or an ace/jack in blackjack.

All in all, if we understand how dopamine works with prolactin, it gives us an idea of how our brain works. When prolactin goes up, dopamine will drop, which is what happens when we have an orgasm. On the other hand, as soon as prolactin comes back down, dopamine rises again, so we want to go out and have sex again.

Use in steroid cycles and post cycle therapy

By now, you might be asking yourself - how does keeping prolactin down and dopamine up help us as athletes?

To answer this question, lets start first with dopamine: if we do not feel the need to bite into that pizza or eat that candy bar, it can help keep appetite under control. Since athletes always want to eat clean, this is a good thing, as it makes dieting so much easier.

Now it is the turn of prolactin: when a bodybuilder runs certain anabolic steroids that are progestin based (like trenbolone), they can get a rise in prolactin levels, which contributes to a loss of libido and many other side effects. For instance, many times we have seen gynecomastia (gyno) develop due to trenbolone use, and that is because the user abused the steroid for long periods of time without controlling prolactin levels. Luckily, pramipexole (prami) will help inhibit this prolactin rise, and avoid side effects associated with this hormone.

What's more, no matter what the athlete may use as far as anabolic steroids, there is always going to be that coming off part, where they sometimes have a massive drop in libido. Therefore, it is important to use pramipexole during post cycle therapy (PCT) and/or bridge, as it can help keep libido strong until the HPTA reaches homeostasis. In fact, this is the reason why many of those who cycle steroids will use prami during, or after cycle. In addition to that, prami may be used by those who just want sexual benefits or help with appetite suppression.

Finally, some internet parrots claim that a rise in prolactin causes 'deca dick,' which is not true. Yet, even though deca dick has nothing to do with prolactin levels, having high prolactin levels can make the situation worse. After all, prolactin is linked to a loss of interest in sex, which does not help when there are issues with your erections.

Fig 2. Generic Pramipexole tablets

Side effects

Unfortunately, pramipexole is known for having some harsh side effects. The biggest complaint seems to be the stomach issues it causes and also lethargy. The best way to prevent this is to run prami before bed with light food and water. Moreover, you need to keep the dosage where it should be, not higher. Too many people run excessive dosages of prami, which leads to more problems than benefits.

I found pramipexole to be unbearable to run. The side effects are horrible, I felt nauseous all the time, and I had no way of stopping this as long as I was on prami. While I write this for educational purposes, I personally don't support prami use at all. Especially, when better alternatives like cabergoline (dostinex) are widely available in pharmaceutical form on the market.

Half life

The half life of pramipexole is shorter than that of the more popular cabergoline (dostinex) - only 8-12 hours.

Dosage and price

Pramipexole dosages should be very conservative. I have read online that some say to run it twice per day, or recommend to run it at too high of a dose. Obviously, this is bad advice, and it will cause side effects. Hence, I recommend to dose it every other day, and start with only 0.06 milligrams (mg), before slowly working your way up to 0.25mg.

Pramipexole is a pricey drug, but it is still cheaper than cabergoline. It's only cheaper because of the crazy side effects.

Where to find

Due to its side effects and shorter half life vs. its main competitor cabergoline/dostinex, pramipexole has mostly been abandoned by research chemical sites. However, you can still find it on certain overseas pharmacy websites.

Yet, I recommend using cabergoline/dostinex instead, as it does the same thing, has a longer half life and it has way less side effects.

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