Information on Steriods
What is it?
- Steroids are replicates of the male sex hormone testosterone.
- Steroids are known as ?anabolic? which means building up tissue. Steroids, because of their anabolic effect, involve protein synthesis for building muscle size.
Common Name
Rhoids
Juice
How is it taken
Steroids are injected into muscles or taken orally.
The Scoop on Steroids
- Steroids are legally manufactured for medical uses in treatment of anemia, severe burns, and some types of breast cancer.
- Steroids are banned in most sports; any athlete found using them is usually disqualified or suspended for a long time and stripped of any titles they may have gained while they were using steroids.
- There is widespread use of steroids in the body building sport due to the ability of steroids to increase muscle growth along with weight training.
- Some athletes practice "steroid stacking" by using three or more kinds of oral or injectable steroids to get quicker results in their physique.
- Injectable steroids result in the risk of spreading or contracting infections such as Hepatitis or HIV when sharing needles.
- Steroid users risk more than 70 side effects, which includes physical and psychological reactions like jaundice, stroke, acne, liver tumors, mood swings, low or high sex drive, aggressive behavior and others included in the list of short-term and long-term effects below.
- Steroid users may take from 20 to 200 times the recommended dosage to build muscles.
Short-term Use
- Increase in muscle growth
- Increase in muscular strength
- Increase in body weight
- Hair loss
- Acne
- Low or high sex drive
- Mood swings
- Irritability
Long-Term Use
- Suppression of body's own production of testosterone
- Sterility in males
- Irregular menstrual cycle in women
- Damage to the heart, liver, and kidneys
- Liver cancer
- Impairs growth or stunted growth
- Stroke
- Depression
Behavior of User
- Energetic
- Competitive
- Confident
- Aggressive
- Moody
Withdrawal
- Loss of Appetite
- Depression
- Fatigue
- Sleep disturbances
- Headaches
- Lack of sexual desire
Sources:
1. About Steroids. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
2. Kuhn, Cynthia, Scott Swartzwelder, and Wilkie Wilson. Buzzed. W. W. Norton and Company. New York: 1998
3.
http://www.drugfreeamerica.com
