Males who take large doses of steroids, typically experience changes in sexual characteristics. The drug can trigger a mechanism in the body that can actually shut down the healthy functions of a male reproductive system. They may experience a shrinking of the testicles, called atrophy, accompanied by a lowered sperm count, a lessening of sexual desire, infertility, and an enlargement of the prostate gland that men under fifty usually do not suffer from. Men will often develop breasts like those of a woman.
Women who take steroids are seen as being especially endangered because of the increased amounts of testosterone. Testosterone steroids are androgenic drugs, which means they promote masculinity, as seen in the young basketball player mentioned above. Although women produce small amounts naturally, it is a male hormone. The testosterone present is kept in balance with estrogen, the female hormone. Like testosterone for males, estrogen gives females their feminine characteristics. The woman may bald, grow excess bodily hair, including a moustache, they lose the gentle curves of their body, their skin roughens, weight is gained, the voice deepens, the clitoris mat enlarge, and the their menstrual cycle may change or end. An unborn child is also endangered, female's unborn babies will develop such male traits as extra hair, and all unborn children, according to a few doctors, are subject to be handicapped and deformed.
However, these are only side effects and may not happen to everyone, but continued use of steroids may lead to serious health conditions ranging from merely irritations such as acne, bad breath, and aching joints. But can easily lead to life threatening problems. It is said that steroids can also lead to heart attacks and even strokes. Steroids cause extreme bloating because they create an imbalance of chemicals in the body and to regain that balance the body holds water. This extra fluid raises the blood pressure and could cause strokes and heart-attacks. Steroids are also suspected of bringing on liver and kidney failure. The steroids seem just as capable of destroying tissues as creating it.
Steroids are most commonly known to been taken by athletes to enhance their performance in competitions. Steroids such as Durabolin, Winstrol, Anavar, and Pregnyl taken by athletes contain testosterone or chemicals that act in similar way to testosterone. Testosterone is found in men and women, but in women it is present in much smaller amounts, mainly because it is produced in the testicles in men. More than one hundred and twenty steroids are based on the hormone testosterone.
Steroids were not always used for sports, they started out the same way most drugs did, medicinal purposes to treat diseases as such Addison’s disease. Victims of starvation and severe injury also profited from its ability to build new tissue quickly. They also helped prevent muscle tissue from withering in patients who had just had surgery.
Basically anabolic steroids control the bodily functions that are normally under control of the bodies natural testosterone. As well as turning women into men and men into manly-er men it has a stimulative effect on skeletal muscle mass, some visceral organs, the hemoglobin concentration, and the red blood cell number and mass.
Of course, most people take anabolic steroids illegally to stimulate growth in muscle cells. Once a person is born, he/she will not grow anymore muscle cells throughout their life. So when muscle mass increases it is the individual cells growing in girth to compensate for either an increase in work, or the release of androgen hormones (found in all anabolic steroids.) Exercise alone can stimulate the girth of muscle cells to increase by anywhere from thirty to sixty percent. The presence of androgen hormones allows for even greater growth. Anabolic steroids act like our natural androgen hormones in that they stimulate anabolic metabolism in the muscles. Anabolic metabolism involves the build up of larger molecules from smaller ones and includes all the constructive processes used to manufacture the substances needed for cellular growth and repair. As a result of steroids stimulating anabolic metabolism, muscles increase in size to a substantially greater size than they would have been if the individual only exercised.
Doctors take different views on prescribing steroids. Most dislike the use of them in sports, and some will not prescribe them at all for use in sports. They see them as dangerous for healthy individuals, and the taking of drugs to get a winning edge they see as cheating. Others don't like steroids, but will prescribe them, knowing their patient, if not given them by their doctor, will get them from somewhere else. This way they can regulate them, tell the patient the correct way to use them, and keep an eye on them. Still others doctors consider steroids safe when administered under medical supervision, which includes carefully regulating dosages and watching for the first signs of trouble.
Other doctors recognize the possibility that although sometimes steroids do serious harm, the same can be said of minor drugs, such as aspirin. Millions of people take aspirin daily, because the benefits greatly outweigh the risks, and suffer no harm as a consequence, and the doctors feel the same is true about steroids. When under medical supervision, doctors feel their patients are safe because of their good physical condition and the drugs can be stopped if trouble begins to show. They feel that with steroids, much like with aspirin, the benefits greatly outweigh the risks.
Steroids are dangerous when used incorrectly, and should be used only under medical supervision. It has undesired side effects for men, women, and even the unborn. When abused steroids are no longer anabolic, they stop building the bodies tissue and start tearing it down as anything will when used in excess.
