Steroid Detection

(By David Steen)

The detection time of various anabolic steroids and ancillary drugs in urine or blood depend on half-life of these compounds. This means that the short-acting drugs will be detected for shorter time and the long-acting drugs for longer time.
Detection time of some oral steroids is very short, typically a few days. On the other hand, there are injectable steroids that will be present in your blood for longer than a year. Some people think that steroids can only be detected as long as they show some significant anabolic effects. This is completely wrong. No one will administer, say, Deca-Durabolin once-a-year. But this medicaments exerts considerable side-effects for many more weeks after its administration is discontinued and can be easily detected during another 18 months.
In esterified compounds, the length of action (and detection) depends on the length of the attached ester. Longer esters are breaking down for a longer time and stay in your blood, well, longer… I am listing testosterone cypionate and testosterone enenthate in one line, although testosterone cypionate is a slightly longer ester and will have a somewhat longer half-life.