ANABOLICS AND STEROIDS




Anabolic Steroids


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Anabolic-androgenic steroids are man-made substances related to male sex hormones. Anabolic refers to muscle-building, and androgenic refers to increased masculine characteristics. Steroids refers to the class of drugs. These drugs are available legally only by prescription, to treat conditions that occur when the body produces abnormally low amounts of testosterone, such as delayed puberty and some types of impotence. They are also prescribed to treat body wasting in patients with AIDS and other diseases that result in loss of lean muscle mass. Abuse of anabolic steroids, however, can lead to serious health problems, some irreversible.

Today, athletes and others abuse anabolic steroids to enhance performance and also to improve physical appearance. Anabolic steroids are taken orally or injected, typically in cycles of weeks or months (referred to as cycling), rather than continuously. Cycling involves taking multiple doses of steroids over a specific period of time, stopping for a period, and starting again. In addition, users often combine several different types of steroids to maximize their effectiveness while minimizing negative effects (referred to as stacking).


Health Hazards
The major side effects from abusing anabolic steroids can include liver tumors and cancer, jaundice (yellowish pigmentation of skin, tissues, and body fluids), fluid retention, high blood pressure, increases in LDL (bad cholesterol), and decreases in HDL (good cholesterol). Other side effects include kidney tumors, severe acne, and trembling. In addition, there are some gender-specific side effects: For men — shrinking of the testicles, reduced sperm count, infertility, baldness, development of breasts, increased risk for prostate cancer. For women — growth of facial hair, male-pattern baldness, changes in or cessation of the menstrual cycle, enlargement of the clitoris, deepened voice.

For adolescents — growth halted prematurely through premature skeletal maturation and accelerated puberty changes. This means that adolescents risk remaining short for the remainder of their lives if they take anabolic steroids before the typical adolescent growth spurt.

In addition, people who inject anabolic steroids run the added risk of contracting or transmitting HIV/AIDS or hepatitis, which causes serious damage to the liver.

Scientific research also shows that aggression and other psychiatric side effects may result from abuse of anabolic steroids. Many users report feeling good about themselves while on anabolic steroids, but researchers report that extreme mood swings also can occur, including manic-like symptoms leading to violence. Depression often is seen when the drugs are stopped and may contribute to dependence on anabolic steroids. Researchers report also that users may suffer from paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability, delusions, and impaired judgment stemming from feelings of invincibility.

Research also indicates that some users might turn to other drugs to alleviate some of the negative effects of anabolic steroids. For example, a study of 227 men admitted in 1999 to a private treatment center for dependence on heroin or other opioids found that 9.3 percent had abused anabolic steroids before trying any other illicit drug. Of these 9.3 percent, 86 percent first used opioids to counteract insomnia and irritability resulting from the anabolic steroids.


Extent of Use
Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey MTF annually assesses drug use among the Nation’s 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students. Annual** use of anabolic steroids remained stable at under 1.5 percent for students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades in the early 1990s, then started to rise. Peak rates of annual use occurred in 2002 for 12th-graders (2.5 percent), in 2000 and 2002 for 10th-graders (2.2 percent), and in 1999 and 2000 for 8th-graders (1.7 percent). Eigth-graders reported significant decreases in lifetime and annual steroid use in 2004, as well as a decrease in perceived availability of these drugs. A significant decrease in lifetime use was also measured among 10th-graders for 2004.

Most anabolic steroids users are male, and among male students, past year use of these substances was reported by 1.3 percent of 8th-graders, 2.3 percent of 10th-graders, and 3.3 percent of 12th-graders in 2004.

Most young athletes can attest to the fact that the competitive drive to win — and win at all costs — is fierce. Besides the glory of bragging rights and the satisfaction of personal gain, often times young athletes compete in the pursuit of greater dreams — a medal for their country, a college scholarship or a place on a professional team.

For a growing number of athletes, winning at all costs includes taking performance-enhancing drugs. Some may appear to achieve physical gains from such drugs, but at what cost? The truth is, the long-term effects of these drugs haven't been rigorously studied. And short-term benefits are tempered by many drawbacks.

Take the time to learn about the benefits, risks and many unknowns regarding purported performance-enhancing drugs. You may decide that the benefits aren't worth the risks.


Exercise physiology: The basics

In most amateur and professional sports, the athletes who win are those with the greatest strength, speed or endurance. Each sport requires specific skills, such as the ability to kick a ball a certain way or hit a home run. Doing so with not just excellent but instead extraordinary strength, speed or endurance marks the difference between a good player and an elite player.

Sheer strength is determined by two factors: amount of muscle and the ability of nerves to stimulate muscle contraction. Some elite athletes perform special exercises specific to their sports to improve the neural stimulation of their muscles, and many do weight training to build more muscle. Some, especially professional athletes, also take hormones, supplements and man-made (synthetic) drugs to induce their body to build even more muscle.

The amount of muscle and the ability of your nerves to stimulate muscle contractions also play a big role in determining your speed. A larger muscle mass allows you to generate more power, which helps you perform short bursts of activity — a track sprint or short swim race — faster.


Can performance-enhancing drugs and supplements improve your performance? Here's what the research says.



Victor Conte, founder of the now infamous San-Franciso based Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO), put the row over drug abuse in sport firmly into the spotlight. His televised allegations of drug-taking affected a generation of top athletes in America, most notably Olympic triple gold medallist Marion Jones.


Anabolic steroids

Some athletes take a form of steroids — known as anabolic steroids — to increase their muscle mass and strength. The main anabolic steroid hormone produced by your body is testosterone.

Testosterone has two main effects on your body:

Anabolic effects promote muscle building. Androgenic effects are responsible for male traits, such as facial hair and a deeper voice. The anabolic steroids that athletes use are synthetic modifications of testosterone. These drugs were developed in an attempt to maximize the anabolic effects and minimize the androgenic effects of testosterone. As it turns out, these two actions of testosterone can't be separated.

Given by pill, injection or topical treatment, these hormones have many medical uses. Some of these include replacement therapy for men deficient in testosterone, helping people with AIDS maintain muscle mass and reduce muscle wasting, and treating rare types of anemia.

Why are these drugs so appealing to athletes? Besides making muscles bigger, anabolic steroids may help athletes recover from a hard workout more quickly by reducing the amount of muscle damage that occurs during the session. In addition, some athletes may like the aggressive feelings they get when they take the drugs.

However, many athletes take anabolic steroids at doses that are much higher than those prescribed for medical reasons. The effects of taking anabolic steroids at very high doses haven't been well studied.


Anabolic steroids come with serious side effects.

Men may develop:

Prominent breasts
Baldness
Shrunken testicles
A higher voice
Infertility

Women may develop:

A deeper voice
An enlarged clitoris
Increased body hair
Baldness
Increased appetite
Both men and women might experience:

Severe acne
Liver abnormalities and tumors
Increased low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol)
Decreased high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol)
Aggressive behaviors, rage or violence
Psychiatric disorders, such as depression
Drug dependence

If an injected form is used, you'll face a higher risk of infections and diseases that are transmitted in blood, such as HIV and hepatitis. And in teens, steroids can halt their normal pattern of growth and development and put them at risk of future health problems.

Anabolic steroids aren't legal substances, unless your doctor has prescribed them for medical reasons. Taking anabolic steroids to enhance athletic performance, besides being prohibited by most sports organizations, is illegal.

One anabolic steroid receivng a lot of attention is tetrahydrogestrinone (THG). Until recently, THG was marketed as a dietary supplement for enhancing athletic performance. However, researchers have found that THG is actually a chemically altered version of an anabolic steroid that is banned by most sports organizations. THG is referred to as a "designer" steroid because it's undetectable by traditional steroid testing techniques. A new laboratory test, however, now makes its detection possible. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns that athletes taking THG may be putting their health at risk — THG is an unapproved new drug and little is known about its safety.

Other common anabolic steroids include dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (Turinabol), metandienone (Dianabol), methyltestosterone (Android), nandrolone (Durabolin), oxandrolone (Oxandrin), oxymetholone (Anadrol) and stanozolol (Winstrol).


Androstenedione

Androstenedione (andro) is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands, ovaries and testes. It's a precursor hormone that's normally converted to testosterone and estradiol in both men and women.

Manufacturers of synthetic androstenedione, through vigorous marketing efforts, have claimed that their products increase your body's production of testosterone. According to proponents of andro supplements, an elevated level of testosterone allows athletes to train harder and recover more quickly.

Scientific studies that refute these claims are now emerging. In fact, these studies show that supplemental androstenedione doesn't increase testosterone and that your muscles don't get stronger with andro use.

On Oct. 22, 2004, the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004 classified andro as a controlled substance, adding it to the list of banned anabolic steroids and making its use as a performance-enhancing drug illegal.

Side effects of andro differ for men and women. In men it can actually decrease the production of testosterone while increasing the production of estrogen. Side effects in men include acne, diminished sperm production, shrinking of the testicles and enlargement of the breasts. In women, side effects include acne and masculinization, such as deepening of the voice and male-pattern baldness. Andro might also stunt your child's growth.

In men and women, supplemental androstenedione can decrease high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol). Lower HDL levels put you at greater risk of heart attack and stroke.







Gaining the competitive edge Athletic performance has more to do with skill and hard work than popping a pill or downing a super-drink, according to Dr. Laskowski. Concern is growing that young athletes will emulate sports figures who use substances of questionable value in a bid to gain a competitive edge.

"There's a danger that kids or young adults will think: 'If I want to be like that, I'll need to take something,'" says Dr. Laskowski. "There's a tendency to look for an external agent as a magic bullet, a magic pill that's going to help us perform. The truth is there isn't any."



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