Don’t abuse steroid

Medically, steroids-containing drugs are used to control overactive immune systems or reduce swelling.

Experts at webmd.com say doctors prescribe anabolic steroids to treat certain specific medical conditions, including “the muscle wasting seen in people with AIDS, delayed puberty or loss of testicular function."

Even then, scientists say, when physicians prescribe steroids, the quantity is small, and it is monitored while the treatment lasts.

He says steroid can be taken orally, as an injection or as topical creams.

 Whichever way you apply it, this is a prescriptive drug, but it is common knowledge that people abuse it.

 Indeed, in modern sports, it seems athletes cannot perform unless they are powered by anabolic steroids with which they build muscles and generally boost performance.

But then, while steroid abuse is peculiar to high-premium athletes, people who don’t have anything to do with sports also use it.

 Worse is the fact that unlike the doctor’s prescription that is supervised and advised for a limited period, those who habitually abuse anabolic steroids tend to use them ad infinitum and sometimes in large, harmful doses.

Yet, epidemiologists say the side effects of anabolic steroid abuse ranges in severity from developing liver cancer to having stubborn acne that refuses to respond to medication, while it may also lead to psychiatric problems as time goes on and as dosage increases.

“The liver and cardiovascular and reproductive systems are most seriously affected by steroid abuse,” says the online portal, steroidabuse.com.

 An epidemiologist, Mr. Segilola Araoye, notes that it can lead to enlarged breasts in men (medically called gynecomastia).

Again, a Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology, Oladapo Ashiru, says when abused to dangerous level, anabolic steroids can result in the shrinking of a man’s testicles (medically called testicular atrophy), with consequent reduction in sperm count.

“Urine retention and strain on the bladder can lead to urinary tract infections, bladder or kidney damage, bladder stones, and incontinence — that is the inability to control urination,” Ashiru writes.

 On the long run, the individual may develop prostate cancer, he warns.

You can then imagine when a man in his 30s, because of anabolic steroid abuse, has to experience these symptoms that are rather peculiar to men in their 70s!

It’s not only men who show adverse reactions to anabolic steroid abuse.

 Women who abuse the drugs also face the music, experts warn. In addition to suffering from hypertension.

Increased cholesterol level and kidney impairment, women who use anabolic steroids in illicit manner risk developing baldness that are rather peculiar to men.

 Again, their voices may become deepened like that of a man, while they also grow hairs in  unusual places such as the chest and the chin (beard); and instead of having smooth, soft skin, their skin may become coarse, experts say.

They are also prone to developing permanent enlargement of the clitoris, disruption of the menstrual cycle, and permanent infertility.

The possibility of contracting HIV is real among those who inject anabolic steroids, experts fear. Abegunde says, “For one reason, it’s because of the probability of using a needle that has already been contaminated by an infected person.

“On the other hand, anabolic steroids give dangerous mileage in sexual performance by enhancing the libido.

 As a result, the user may become sexually insatiable, whereby he/she is always looking for more partners. The end result is not too difficult to guess,” he warns.

He enthuses that the users can suffer cardiovascular events resulting in heart failure and stroke.

In addition, a recent research by psychologists at the Fenway Institute in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States of America, reveals that teenagers who take steroids face a number of serious side effects, including heart and liver disorders, high blood pressure, and dangerous aggression.