Since the 1950’s some athletes and bodybuilders have been using anabolic steroids. In the 1980’s and 1990’s the use of steroids took a different turn, now the average person looking to get a better body and even middle and high school students looking to overcome Body Image problems or to perform better in their sports started getting into taking the drug. The idea was that they could get more from their workout without putting as much effort into it. Negative side effects are being ignored in the quest to get the perfect body or be the perfect athlete.
Studies show that indeed long-term use of anabolic steroids can take a heavy toll on a person’s body. The abuse of oral and inject able steroids is associated with higher risk for heart attack and stroke. The abuse of oral steroids can cause serious liver problems. Steroid abusers who share needles are also at a risk of getting HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B and C, and Bacterial Endocarditis.
Many abusers who inject steroids are at risk when they share needles or use unsterile injection techniques. Some steroid preparations are manufactured illegally under unsterile and unsafe conditions. Sharing needles and using unsterile techniques can put abusers at a risk for acquiring life threatening viral infections, such as HIV/AIDS Hepatitis B and C. Abusers also can develop infective endocarditis, a bacterial illness that causes a potentially fatal inflammation of the inner lining of the heart.
Steroid abuse has been associated with Heart Attacks and Strokes even in athletes under thirty years of age. Steroids, particularly the oral types, increase the level of low-density lipoprotein and decrease the level of high-density lipoprotein. An increase or decrease in these levels can increase the risk of atherosclerosis, a condition in which fatty substances are deposited inside arteries and disrupt blood flow, the result of which could be a heart attack or stroke. Steroids also increase the risk of blood clots forming in the blood vessels, which could disrupt blood flow and do damage to the heart muscle.
Anabolic Steroids affect the body’s hormonal system by disrupting the production levels of hormones in the body, causing reversible and irreversible changes. Reduction of sperm and testicular atrophy are some of the reversible affects. Male pattern baldness and breast development are some of the irreversible affects.
Rising levels of testosterone and other sex hormones normally trigger the growth spurt that occurs during puberty and adolescence. Subsequently, when these hormones reach certain levels, they signal the bones to stop growing, locking a person into his or her maximum height. When a child takes steroids the artificially high sex hormone levels can cause the bones to stop growing sooner than they would have.
Liver tumors and a rare condition called peliosis hepatic are also very serious side effects of Anabolic Steroid abuse, in which blood-filled cysts form in the liver. The tumors and the cysts are at risk of rupturing causing internal bleeding.
As well as the many health problems associated with steroid abuse there are also cosmetic side effects. Severe acne, cysts, oily hair and skin are all side effects of abuse. Although these side effects are not life threatening they can take away from a persons outward appearance.
Source: National Institute of Health website
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