Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Anabolic steroid use may cause all of the following side effects EXCEPT Select one: a
Negative effects of anabolic steroids
What are the effects of prolonged steroid use
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Anabolic Steroid Abuse
Anabolic steroids are synthetically produced variants of the naturally occurring male hormone testosterone. Both males and females have testosterone produced in their bodies. Males are in the testes, and females are in the ovaries and other tissues. The full name for this class of drugs is androgenic anabolic steroids. Some of the most abused steroids include Deca-Durabolin, Durabolin, Equipoise, and Winstrol. Deca-Durabolin is a highly used steroid that has very few androgenic properties which means it provides outstanding gains with undesirable side effects when used responsibly. Equipoise is a derivative of testosterone, which exhibits strong anabolic and moderately androgenic properties. Lastly, Winstrol is a synthetic anabolic steroid derived from dihydrotestosterone. The common street names for anabolic steroids include arnolds, gym candy, pumpers, roids, stackers, weight trainers, balls and bulls, and juice.
The two major effects of testosterone are an androgenic effect and an anabolic effect. “Androgenic” refers to the physical changes experienced by a male during puberty, in the course of development to manhood. Androgenic effects would be similarly experienced in a female. This is responsible for the majority of the side effects of steroid use. The term anabolic refers to promoting of anabolism, the actual building of tissues, mainly muscle, accomplished by the promotion of protein synthesis.
Abuse of anabolic steroids differs from the abuse of other substances because the initial abuse of anabolic steroids is not driven by the immediate euphoria that accompanies most drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, but by the desire of abusers to change their appearance and p...
... middle of paper ...
... are forming the liver. Both the tumors and the cyst are found to be able to burst, causing internal bleeding. Using steroids can also cause one to get acne all over their skin, cysts, and oily skin and hair.
Infections from anabolic steroid abuse is highly in effect. Many abusers who inject anabolic steroids may use non sterile injection ways or share contaminated needles with other people who also use steroids. Some steroid preparations are manufactured illegally under non sterile conditions. These factors put abusers at risk for receiving viral infections that are life threatening, such as HIV, and hepatitis B and C. Steroid abusers can also develop endocarditis, which is a bacterial infection that causes a potentially fatal inflammation of the inner lining of the heart. Bacterial infections can cause pain and abscess formation where there are injection sites.
One way steroids affect players is the effect on the mind and mental health of users. When baseball players take steroids, they put their bodies at risk. The risks include psychiatric symptoms such as bipolar disorder (Mitchell 55). Studies have shown that if baseball players get involved with steroids, there is strong chance they will experience symptoms like bipolar disorder or severe depression. Steroids also affect the cardiovascular system. They can cause heart attacks and increased or decreased cholesterol levels, and also cause the heart to become enlarged (Mitchell 55). The cardiovascular system faces tragic effects when people decide to use steroids. The liver is affected by steroids also, as the liver can become impaired, become cancerous, and thus cause skin to yellow (Mitchell 55). The f...
National Institute of Drug Abuse. "Anabolic Steroid Abuse." National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). N.p., July 2001. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.
"The Behavioral Effects of Anabolic Steroid Use." DUJS Online. Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science, 29 Apr. 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2014, from http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/news/the-behavioral-effects-of-anabolic-steroid-use#.U5TTDfmwJ-A.
The problems with performance enhancing drugs are that they give the user unfair advantages over other athletes and come with many health risks such as baldness. Steroid use can result in very substantial legal consequences and can ruin the user’s reputation. There are many alternatives to steroids but not all of them are safe. Different organizations have different rules on steroids, but in most cases, the user can get suspended, fined, or even both. Various types of steroids can have various short-term or long-term side effects. There are several types of steroids, the most popular ones being anabolic steroids. Historically, steroids have been around for many years, but the debate surrounding them started recently, more specifically a few decades ago. An important term to know is anabolic steroids which are made to work with the user’s muscle mass. Another term to know is clarified by Ida Walker, author of the book, Steroids: Pumped Up and Dangerous, published by Mason Crest Publishers in 2008, defines, peliosis hepatis is a rare condition in which cysts filled with blood form in the liver, if the cysts were to pop then internal bleeding would occur. A positive argument about steroids is stated by Adrianne Blue, author of the essay, “Performance Enhancing Drugs Should Be Legal,” published in the book Athletes and Drug Use, published in 2009, disputes, “Blue concludes that legalizing performance- enhancing drugs can protect athletes from dangerously abusing them.” The utilization of performance enhancing drugs has left a giant scar on sports and has compromised the achievements of many athletes; therefore, they are transforming the sports world into a drug filled world.
In our days, most people have set the goal and dream to have the perfect body. They believe by having this image, they will be popular and/or attractive. People want to achieve the body that they desire, like a super star, a hero in a Hollywood movie, a strong soldier, and an Olympic athlete. However, what are the extent people will go to get the perfect body? The biggest problem for those who dream to have a beautiful body today, as many people know, is the consumption of steroids. It is amazing what people and athletes will do to enhance their performance, strength and muscle size by taking steroids. Whether right or wrong people who use steroids to become the fastest and strongest will prevail, so who would turn down a substance that could turn them into a super athlete and a muscle man? The purpose of this essay is to inform the reader on the popular anabolic steroids that most people use and the positive and negative side effects of steroid use on its users and finally my personal point of view.
Anabolic steroids are drugs derived from the male hormone testosterone. They promote muscle growth and increase lean body mass. Although anabolic steroids have many approved medical uses, some athletes and others seeking to improve performance and physical appearance abuse them. These nonmedical uses are illegal and carry many health hazards. There are many signs that one can look for in a person who is suspected of using Anabolic Steroids. There is dramatic gain in weight and muscle mass over a short period of time (NIDA September1997). Another is severe acne. Others could be water retention, baldness or hair loss, even in the worst cases severe and sometimes violent mo...
Mood disorders occur more often in these cases, due to hallucinations, delusions, and incomplete thoughts. Children receiving anabolic steroids have elevated levels of depression and anxiety, as well as aggression, fatigue, and tears. These effects happen more often as behavioral changes. Patients with recurrent anabolic steroids induced mood disorders have high psychotic traits. That causes problems in depressed, manic, or mixed states including suicide. Antidepressants help in some cases, but may cause agitation or psychosis. Most patients will be cured if doctors reduce their dosage or if they discontinue the anabolic steroids. Steroids can also cause cancer. For example, testicular cancer, also called, malignant neoplasm of testis, is cancer that starts in the male organs that make male hormones and sperm (testicles). Risks of this cancer include; White American men between the ages of 20 and 34 are more likely to get it than any other race, infection with the human immunodeficiency virus, and lastly is having undescended testicles. Stay away from anabolic steroids to reduce your chances of getting
You’ve all seen them, the enormously large muscle-heads at the gym, the participates of the World’s Strongest Man Competition, the amazing offensive tackles, and the lightning fast runners. They were all unnaturally strong, and looked like gods. You tend to obsess over how beautiful their bodies are, how strong they are, or how fast they can run. All you can think about is reaching that level of athletic excellence, and nothing will hold you back. At times like these some people tend to take the quick fit to get closer to their idols, in the form of steroids. But what individuals tend not see is the horrible side effects that accompany the use of these anabolic steroids. These powerful drugs have both positive and negative results from their use. Along with increased strength and size, users of steroids suffer from a wide range of sicknesses such as cancer, shrinkage of testicles, bad acne, hair loss, damage organs, intense mood swings, and impotence.
Abstract: Since the beginning of sports competition, athletes have always looked for some kind of edge over their competitors. They will do whatever it takes to be one of the elite, and that includes injecting supplements into their bodies to make them bigger, stronger, and faster. Steroid use is probably one of the most common drug misuses in sports competition. Athletes found that with anabolic steroids, one could become a better athlete twice as fast. Not until 1975 was the drug first banned from Olympic competition because of the health risks it produced.
While the effects of steroids can seem desirable at first, there are serious side effects. Excessive use can cause a harmful imbalance in the body's normal hormonal balance and body chemistry. Heart attacks, water retention leading to high blood pressure and stroke, and liver and kidney tumors all are possible. Young people may develop and a halting of bone growth. Males may experience shrinking testicles, falling sperm counts, and enlarged prostates. Women frequently show signs of masculinity and may be at higher risk for certain types of and the possibility of birth defects in their children. The psychological effects of steroid use are also alarming: drastic mood swings, inability to sleep, and feelings of hostility. Steroids may also be psychologically addictive. Once started, users, particularly athletes, enjoy the physical "benefits" of increased size, strength, and endurance so much that they are reluctant to stop even when told about the risks. Major athletic competitions, including the Olympics, routinely screen athletes to prevent steroid use.
Some of the ill effects of the drugs are damage to the kidneys and liver. A person can also alter the balance of the natural hormones. This can cause detrimental affects to the body. The effects of you natural hormones being out of balance can last several years after being off the drugs. Some male user form breasts due to the use of steroids. Because of the increase in testosterone, steroids can cause serious acne problems. When used by teens is can cause stunted growth. Other side effects include genital changes, water retention, yellow eyes, coronary artery disease, ligament injuries, high blood pressure, changes in cholesterol levels, sterility and liver disease. The list goes on and on. Women that use steroids run the risk of male pattern baldness. Some effects of steroids are even worse. Some people fall into comas after injecting the drugs, some may even die from the injections (Kalawalski 13-15).
“Steroids are any type of a large group of fat-soluble organic compounds, as the sterols, bile acids, and sex hormones most of which have specific physiological action” (Dictionary.com). When our bodies are still developing, the effects of steroids can be dangerous and can also be permanent (“Above”). Steroids are made out of substances such as nandrolone, stanozolol, testosterone, fluoxymestrone, and oxandrolone. Sometimes people say when you can’t pronounce something, you probably shouldn’t use it. In the 1940’s testosterone began to be widely used in competitive sports, but the dangers of loading up on testosterone were not yet clear (“History”). Instead of using steroids for a bad reason, there is a medicinal purpose. Cortisteroids can treat arthritis, asthma, lupus and multiple sclerosis, eczema and rashes, and some types of cancer (“Steroids: Medline”). Also, steroids can be used to treat anemia, to improve weight loss due to severe illness, and to treat osteoporosis. Steroids can only be sold to you by a pharmacist f...
Steroids can seem harmless to the uninformed user but they actually have harmful side effects. According to the article “News examines relationship between steroids and heart-related deaths,” published by New York Daily News, “The study (presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Chicago on Nov. 12, 2006) shows that deaths jumped from 476 from in 1980-1992 to 987 from in 1993-2005. Overall, 1,463 young athletes died between 1980 and 2005”(NY Daily News). This is a terrifying statistic and will only continue to rise.
Steroids became an option to athletes in the Olympics and other major sporting events during the 1950’s. But this use of steroids among athletes only became widely apparent when Canadian sprint runner Ben Johnson tested positive for steroid use after winning the gold medal for the one hundred-meter dash during the 1988 Olympics (Francis, 45). Now a skinny fifteen-year-old can just walk down to the local gym and find people who either sell or know how to get in contact with those who sell the drug that will make him envious of his friends. Steroids are an attractive drug. While steroids seem harmless to the unaware user, they can have a risky effect. Most of the time whether the users are new or experienced, they do not know the dangerous consequences steroids can have on their bodies and their minds. Though steroids cause a relatively insignificant number of deaths in our society, the banning of steroids is justified because steroids have a lot of side effects not known to the uninformed user.
Another dangerous substance is anabolic steroids. People use anabolic steroids as an illegal way to enhance their testosterone levels within their body as well as increase their muscle mass. Every time someone uses anabolic steroids it is considered abuse because using anabolic steroids is never recommended to you by any officials. Side effects of the drug can result in paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability, delusions, and impaired judgment from a large ego. (Steroids) Long term effects include euphoria, confusion, sleeping disorders, pathological anxiety, paranoia, and hallucinations.