Steriod users risk both injury and some long-term ill effects.

Anabolic steroids are forms of testosterone artificially created in a laboratory. Testosterone is a hormone necessary to build muscle and is produced naturally in the human body. It is produced in large quantities in men, but only in small amounts in women.

Their use in amateur athletes has provided the evidence to conclude that steroids can increase mass, weight and strength. Because of this desired effect, anabolic steroids have led the list of performance enhancers since their introduction into sports competition in the early 1950s, and they continue to be prevalent in some sports—notably football.

Some doctors believe that steroids make an athlete more aggresive, thereby allowing him or her to train more intensely. Others have concluded that a euphoric state with diminished fatigue is produced by steroids, so the training is enhanced. Regardless of the causes, use of steroids is thought to create certain health risks.

Hazards associated with steroid use are cancer, urinary tract problems and genital changes. If steroids are taken by injection, one also runs the risk associated with the intravenous drug user (AIDS, hepatitis, etc.) if needles are shared.

The body responds to exogenous administration of testosterone by a decrease in natural production. Anabolic steroids also cause fundamental derangement of the body chemistry, therefore, the number of physicians who will prescribe them has sharply declined.

Today between 30 and 40 percent of performance-enhancing drugs are obtained from licensed physicians. The others are purchased on the black market or illegally.

Nandrolone, the most dangerous steroid, is administered in an oil-based solution that releases its contents over weeks and months; consequently, the pituitary gland is suppressed for a long time. Adverse effects in women include deeper voices, elongation of the clitoris and increased facial hair, although not all of the effects are physical.

There is likely to be a connection between increased use of anabolic steroids in sports and increasingly violent personalities of athletes. There is a psychological shift in men taking steroids that causes the normal mixture of psychological behavior to become polarized in a more hostile, aggressive and assertive nature.

It has been suggested that some recent injuries have come about because the athletes are carrying more weight on their bodies than their frames were intended to bear. In addition, athletes who use steroids have experienced problems with healing after an injury. This is because the muscle is too heavy for its support and does not heal well.

Although anabolic steroids generally are not thought of as drugs of abuse, there are some who think the dependence that may develop is similar.

Steroid use causes fundamental changes in the body that cannot be ethically countenanced in a healthy population. Whether these changes are reversible is not known, nor is it known whether their use causes a substantial risk of later cardiovascular disease or tumors.

For more information contact Health Enhancement Services at 753-9755.