Steroids are synthetic hormones designed to treat medical ailments…
Steroids were developed as medical treatments and they come in two
varieties. Anabolic steroids are the kind you hear about the most. They
behave like male sex hormones, and doctors prescribe them for treating
problems like late puberty as well as significant muscle loss in
patients with cancer and AIDS. But they’re often used illicitly by
athletes who are addicted to winning.
Corticosteroids are less controversial and treat things like allergic
reactions and autoimmune diseases. Cortisone is one common example,
which doctors use to treat the pain and swelling that comes with skin
conditions like bad insect bites and poison oak. Prednisone is another
corticosteroid, which treats autoimmune diseases including lupus and
arthritis.
Both types can be taken orally, injected muscularly, or rubbed on the skin.
…that work by speeding up muscle growth…
There are lots of different types of anabolic steroids,
but most of them beefify similarly. When we work out, we create tiny
micro-tears in muscle fibers. When the muscle regrows and heals, it
grows back a little bit larger, and repeating that process over time is
how we get hard and massive (that’s the idea anyway). The male sex
hormone testosterone facilitates that muscle growth. Anabolic steroids
do the same thing but better and faster. They also speed the
muscle-healing process by blocking the stress hormone cortisol, which
breaks down muscle tissue. That can mean less down time for athletes who
go into overtime.
…but are often abused and used illegally…
Because anabolic steroids are so good at growing muscle, athletes
sometimes use them to enhance their performance or improve their
physical appearance—even though it’s almost always verboten. From
baseball players to boxers to body builders, steroids have scandalised
the world of amateur and professional sports for decades.
Abusers might take up to 100 times more drug than you’d find in a
medical dose. That spells danger. So to try to take a shit ton of drugs
with fewer side effects, some folks use a cocktail of steroid types—like
oral plus injectable—which is called stacking. Pyramiding, i.e.
administering doses in 6 to 12 week cycles, is another method for trying
to make steroids work better but decrease the incredibly nasty side
effects (see below). There’s no scientific evidence, however, that
stacking or pyramiding works.
… which can lead to exceedingly unpleasant and dangerous side effects …
The potential side-effects of anabolic steroid abuse include: liver
tumors, jaundice, high blood pressure, increased cholesterol, kidney
tumors, fluid retention, severe acne, testicle shrinkage, reduced sperm
count, infertility, baldness, breast development, prostate cancer and
(my favourite!) an enlarged head. Women experience increased facial
hair, male-pattern baldness, changes or cessation in menstrual cycle,
and deepening of the voice. Adolescents could halt their growth because
the drugs can cause early skeletal maturation and acceleration of
puberty.
And that’s not all! Steroids can cause emotional problems, including
dramatic mood swings that have been known to lead to violence, i.e.
“roid rage,” depression, paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability,
delusions, and impaired judgment.
And then there’s the possibility of needle-born diseases including HIV and hepatitis B and C.
In it to win it!
… but some folks decide the risks are worth it because the drugs make you harder, faster, stronger…
Despite the nasty side effects and the increasingly strict rules
against using steroids in sports, the list of athletes who have been
caught or strongly suspected of doing using steroids anyway is long.
Barry Bonds is one the most famous cases—he was convicted in 2011 of
obstruction of justice for lying about this steroid use.a
