The dangers of anabolic steroid use

Frank is a former steroid user (his name has been changed as he has requested to remain anonymous). He took the drug for a few months, in what’s known as a cycle, before competing in a bodybuilding competition. He confessed he had great muscle gains in that time. But shortly after the competition ended he went off the juice.

“I took some time after using and took a look at it as a whole. I don’t think it’s something that actually really harms anybody other than the individual using,” he said.

Frank admits there’s no need for him to take the drugs anymore, realizing he likely couldn’t reach a higher level in the bodybuilding world. Still, he insists he’s done the research and he feels steroids have gotten a bad name.

“It wasn’t really proper use where people were seeing problems, it was when it kind of bordered that abuse side of things,” he said.

“Any adverse side effects, they’re definitely [attributed] to long-term use, or abuse for that matter. You always see people in the media give it such a harsh, bad name and the problem is there’s no way that somebody’s going to, say, die or murder a family. Like, there’s got to be underlying issues,” he said when comparing steroids to other drugs like cocaine or crystal meth.

But a Regina-based sports medicine doctor with about 20 years of experience doesn’t see it the same way.

“Even though a steroid user may think they’re getting away with a few months of cycling a steroid the reality is that they’re often doing very dangerous practices with it,” said Dr. Mike Nicholls.

He claims it’s not far-fetched to link steroid-using men with other high-risk behaviour.

“There comes a point where an athlete crosses a line. When they cross that line to taking banned or illegal or underground substances they’ll often combine all kinds of things, including cocaine, for workouts. They start injecting drugs. There’s a huge concern. For example, with steroid users, the number one risk is Hepatitis. Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV.”

All this comes on top of side effects most are already familiar with, including increased aggressiveness (known as “roid rage”), baldness, testicular atrophy, and female masculinity. Cancer is also linked with prolonged use.

“If you replace some substance that you naturally make with super-physiological amounts from an outside source, it causes you to decrease your own natural production of things,” Nicholls stated.

He thinks there really isn’t a safe or correct way to use steroids, contrary to what Frank believes.

“Is smoking bad for you? What if I only smoke one or two cigarettes a day? Well, it’s probably less bad, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t bad.”

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by Kevin Martel

The dangers of anabolic steroid use

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