Have you ever wondered how those bodybuilders got so big? While some may have contracted their muscles through a strict weightlifting and diet regimen, others may have headed for illegal steroid use. Below you will find all the information pertinent to this topic. Do not forget to share it with your friends on your favorite social networks, it will be of great help.
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Definition of steroids
Steroids are synthetic substances similar to the male sex hormone testosterone. They have legitimate medical uses. Doctors sometimes prescribe anabolic steroids to help people with certain types of anemia and men who do not make enough testosterone on their own. Doctors also prescribe a different type of steroids, called corticosteroids, to reduce inflammation. Corticosteroids are not anabolic steroids and they do not have the same harmful effects.
But doctors never prescribe anabolic steroids to young, healthy people to help them build muscle. Without a prescription, steroids are illegal.
Types of steroids
There are many different types of steroids. Here is a list of some of the most common anabolic steroids taken today: anadrol, oxandrin, dianabol, winstrol, deca-durabolin, and balance.
Slang words for steroids are hard to come by. Most people just say steroids. On the street, steroids can be called roids or papota. The scientific name for this class of drugs is anabolic-androgenic steroids. Anabolic refers to building muscle. Androgenic refers to the increase in male characteristics. But even scientists shorten it to anabolic steroids.
How are steroids used?
Some steroid users take pills. Others use hypodermic needles to inject steroids directly into muscles. When users take a drug over and over again, they are called “abusers.” Abusers are known to take doses 10 to 100 times higher than the amount prescribed for medical reasons by a doctor.
Many steroid users take two or more types of steroids at the same time. Called stacking, this way of taking steroids is supposed to make users grow faster. Some abusers pyramid their doses in cycles of 6-12 weeks. At the beginning of the cycle, the steroid user starts with low doses and slowly increases to higher doses. In the second half of the cycle, they gradually decrease the amount of steroids. Neither method has been shown to work.
What are the common effects?
Steroids can cause pimples to appear and hair to fall out. They can make boys grow breasts and girls grow beards. Steroids can cause livers to grow tumors and hearts to become blocked. They can even send users into violent and angry attacks. In other words, steroids throw a body out of control. Steroids grow users, but the health risks are high. True, steroids bulge out the biceps; ripple of abs; and quads. But that’s only on the outside. Steroid users can be very pleased when they flex in the mirror, but they can create problems on the inside. These problems can hurt them for the rest of their lives. In fact, steroid use can shorten their livesSteroids cause hormonal imbalances
For teens, hormonal balance is important. Hormones are involved in the development of a girl’s female traits and a boy’s male traits. When someone abuses steroids, it causes gender confusion.
Using steroids, individuals can experience shrunken testicles and a reduced sperm count. They can also end with breasts, a condition called gynecomastia.
Using steroids, girls can become more masculine. Their voices deepen. They grow too much body hair. The size of your breasts decreases.
Steroid abuse can be fatal
When steroids enter the body, they go to different organs and muscles. Steroids affect individual cells and cause them to create proteins. These proteins spell trouble.
In the liver, for example, tumors can grow and develop cancer. Steroid abusers can also develop a rare disease called peliosis hepatica in which blood-filled cysts develop in the liver. Both tumors and cysts can rupture and cause internal bleeding.
Steroids are not friends of the heart, either. Abusing steroids can cause heart attacks and strokes, even in young athletes. Here’s how: Steroid use can lead to a condition called atherosclerosis, which causes fatty deposits within the arteries to disrupt blood flow. When blood flow to the heart is blocked, a heart attack can occur. If blood flow to the brain is blocked, a stroke can occur.
Steroid use puts teens at risk for more than one cardiovascular and liver disease. Steroids can weaken the immune system, which is what helps the body fight germs and disease. That means disease and illness have an easy target in a steroid abuser.
By injecting steroids with a needle, teens can add HIV and hepatitis B and C to their list of health risks. Many abusers share non-sterile “works” or drug injection equipment that can spread life-threatening viral infections.
Dr. Samantha Robson ( CRN: 0510146-5) is a nutritionist and website content reviewer related to her area of expertise. With a postgraduate degree in Nutrition from The University of Arizona, she is a specialist in Sports Nutrition from Oxford University and is also a member of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.