The Hazards Posed by Anabolic Steroid Use
Steroids are often used by athletes and body builders to enhance their performance and appearance. Steroids are a man made substance created to treat medical conditions caused by low testosterone levels and diseases that cause a substantial loss of lean muscle mass in the body. The term anabolic specifically refers to muscle-building. Most individuals that use steroids take the substance orally or via injection in cycles of either weeks or months. Many users will combine different types of steroids to accelerate and maximize the results.
Steroids pose many health hazards to those that choose to use them. Some of the side effects can vary based on age and sex. Adolescent aged individuals can irreversibly stunt their growth. The steroids precipitately mature the skeletal system halting the growth. Steroids will also advance puberty. Steroids cause women to grow facial hair, subject them to male pattern baldness, and cause a deepening of the voice. In men, steroids will cause infertility, baldness, shrinking of the testicles, and development of breasts. Steroids will also increase the risk of prostate cancer.
In addition to the gender and age specific health hazards posed by steroid use, there are other, more serious health hazards posed to anyone choosing to use steroids. Anabolic steroids have been found to cause liver tumors, jaundice, cancer, and fluid retention. Steroid use will also result in high blood pressure and can lead to high cholesterol. Steroids increase the number of bad cholesterol (LDL) in the system and reduce the good cholesterol (HDL) that helps balance your cholesterol level. Steroid abuse will lead to kidney tumors. And for those individuals concerned with appearance, steroids cause severe acne.
Many people that use steroids believe the results outweigh the risks. Perhaps it is because these individuals believe they will not suffer the more serious health maladies caused by steroid use. The problem with that kind of thinking is that you don’t know until it is too late to prevent it. The medical dangers of steroids are only a fragment of the hazards that steroid use exposes the user too. The mental health side effects are also significant; depression, uncontrolled anger, extreme mood swings are also factors that are known to cause dangerous, and sometimes, deadly behaviors. Before deciding to use steroids to help achieve your goals, think about the long term risks you are exposing yourself too.
