Ephedra has two active Ephedra Alkaloids; Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine. Ma Huang and even street drugs like “Ecstacy” are terms used to refer to the same substance derived from the plant Ephedra. This shrub-like plant is usually found in desert regions in central Asia and other parts of the world.
The plant’s leaves and some stalks are dried and processed for medicinal purposes. Ephedra makes Ephedrine, which is an FDA-regulated asthma medication. Many times Pseudoephedrine is offered as a chemically altered substance to curb the ill effects of the drug, but it is still a stimulant.
The EAC Stack (Ephedrine, Aspirin, Caffeine)
Often times these medications are mixed with other stimulants such as caffeine and then mixed with white willow bark (herbal aspirin). This is commonly known as the EAC stack. The E is for Ephedrine and the A stands for aspirin and the C for caffeine. The main trouble here is that any NSAID, in this case, the white willow bark (aspirin), causes you to hold water.
This side effect is not acceptable during the final weeks of contest preparation. Okay, that was the cue for all the manufactures running off to make the special brand of “Contest Prep Ephedra”, without aspirin.
Why is the aspirin there? The aspirin simply prevents the natural reaction of the body to ephedra and caffeine, which is to produce prostaglandins (chemicals that are involved with inflammatory reaction). These naturally occur at the moment your body starts to determine the use of any stimulant.
Ephedrine & Sex
Ephedra has an active ingredient found in many street stimulants like “Ecstasy.” Known as a date-rape drug, this product is supposed to increase your sex drive, but its long term use is likely to cause a paradoxical reaction (opposite of what a drug is supposed to do). Initially, it will stimulate a sex drive and performance; eventually, it will dull the receptor sites and cause a significant loss in libido. That basically means – you ain’t gettin’ any honey.
The other effects of this are to limit the body’s normal hormonal control mechanisms that mean you will become resistant to the drug and have to take more of it for it to be effective. Using this stimulant only during the several months prior to contest preparation will offer the most successful results.
Making this supplement part of your year-round daily diet, will result in several unwanted side effects and they take years to develop, but once you have them, they are very difficult to diagnose and treat.
One Or More Of These Symptoms Can Occur:
- Mood swings
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Insomnia
- Amenorrhea
- Loss of libido
- Hair loss
- Impotency
Ladies, trust me, there are not many scientists sitting around in labs trying to fix this little problem since there is no money in it. Most physicians will just offer the common birth control pill, which relates to water weight gain.
Ephedrine and Clenbuterol
Ephedrine and Clenbuterol are both beta-agonist and will result in the same function for weight loss. The main difference is that “Clen” has a shorter half-life of 36 hours, compared to ephedrine, which can last over two weeks.
Catalyst Makes It Happen Faster
An interesting point here is that both stimulants act as a chemical catalyst to stimulate fat burning. Some safer catalyst are available such as Synephrine, citric acid (Grapefruit) and others are being used. Basically anything acidic will speed up the fat-burning process.
What Is A Catalyst?
Catalyst, a substance that can cause a change in the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being consumed in the reaction; the changing of the reaction rate by use of a catalyst is called catalysis. Substances that increase the rate of reaction are called positive catalysts or, simply, catalysts, while substances that decrease the rate of reaction are called negative catalysts or inhibitors.
Put Some Clothes On
Other major physical and chemical catalyst exists for you to use, such as the need for oxygen and heat. Let’s face it; you are taking this drug to burn fat, right? What if other factors are available, so you can activate the fat burning process? They might be as close as your closet.
Warm clothing will cause your body to heat up quickly and if you breathe deeper, then more oxygen will enter your system and burn more fat. Now think about that, if you wear more clothing, before and after you work out, instead of the skimpy shorts (which I am known for) and the muscle shirt – That will help you burn fat.
Caution:
If you get too hot or sweat too much, you can get heat stress, heat exhaustion or heat stroke. That zaps too much energy out of your system to cool and recover. So play it smart and layer your clothing, so you can peel off clothes as you get hotter and hotter
Other factors on sweating are dependent on the wind speed, humidity, and temperature of the workout area you are in. Hot humid days can result in fast sweating, so less clothing needs to be worn. Be smart, play the conservative hand and sweat, but don’t sweat to death. If you are eating lean, then you only have so much energy to recover from a workout, let alone, recovering from extra heat stress.
Beware:
Several studies have pointed to the possible stroke and bleeding side effects of taking Ginkonoba and Ephedrine.
Beware:
Drinking alcohol with Ephedrine is likely to land you in the Emergency Department. Serious side effects occur with this combination and remember it takes weeks for Ephedrine to leave your system.
Safer Exposure To Ephedrine
Before taking pseudoephedrine, Ephedra, Ephedrine or Ephedrine alkaloids:
(Some information from the PDR)
- Tell your doctor and pharmacist if you are allergic to pseudoephedrine or any other drugs.
- Tell your doctor and pharmacist what prescription and nonprescription medications you are taking, especially medications for diet or appetite control, medications for asthma or high blood pressure, and vitamins. Do not take pseudoephedrine if you have taken an MAO inhibitor [phenelzine (Nardil) or tranylcypromine (Parnate)] in the last 2 weeks.
- Tell your doctor if you have or have ever had high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease, glaucoma, diabetes, an overactive thyroid gland, or difficulty urinating (due to an enlarged prostate gland).
- Tell your doctor if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding. If you become pregnant while taking pseudoephedrine, call your doctor.
- If you are having surgery, including dental surgery, tell the doctor or dentist that you are taking pseudoephedrine.
- You should know that this drug may make you drowsy. Do not drive a car or operate machinery until you know how this drug affects you.
- Remember that alcohol can add to the drowsiness caused by this drug or cause adverse reactions.
- Tell your doctor if you are taking Ginkonoba or any brain thought enhancement drug.
- Tell your doctor if you are taking any anti-depressant or anti-seizure medications.
- Tell your doctor if you are taking NSAIDs (Advil, Aleve, Nuprin, Asprin, etc)
The actual scientific name for this chemical is alpha-[1-(Methylamino)ethyl]benzene-methanol or alpha-[1-(methylamino)ethyl]benzyl alcohol. The key to absorption for this or any other chemical is getting the lowest active molecular weight. That means that if you make this molecule too big, by tagging on lots of other elements, then you are likely to not even have the body absorb it properly.
Final Word
So there you have it, more facts than you can shake a stick at. Think about it – just wearing warmer clothes will burn more fats and certainly, more intense training can burn more fats. If you are breathing heavy, sweating (water loss) and warm, congrats you are burning fat.