Anabolic Steroid Side Effects That You Need To Know
Synthetic versions of men’s naturally occurring hormone testosterone are known as anabolic steroids.
Fitness fanatics like athletes and bodybuilders are the primary users of anabolic steroids, claiming they improve their physical performance and provide them with a competitive edge. In addition, strength and lean body mass are said to rise with steroids.
Anabolic steroids are also thought to shorten the time needed to recuperate between exercises, allowing users to exercise harder and develop their endurance and strength even more.
Some non-athletes also use anabolic steroids to enhance their endurance, size, and strength and eliminate body fat, which they believe enhances their physical beauty.
On the other hand, most of them are already aware of these side effects. In addition, they may include internal and external organ side effects like eyes. In a few cases, sudden weight loss was observed due to hormonal imbalance, as hormones and weight loss are related in some cases.
Androgenic anabolic steroids, which promote male traits, are the official term for this class of drugs. Winstrol, Equipoise, Durabolin, and Deca-Durabolin are a few of the most commonly used anabolic steroids.
Anabolic steroids are often referred to by their slang (street) names, such as Pumpers, Weight Trainers, Gym Candy, Juice, Stackers, Roids, and Arnolds.
This article will examine some of the many side effects of anabolic steroids.
Contents
Side Effects Of Anabolic Steroids
Here are some of the side effects of anabolic steroids:
Short Term Effects
- Hair Fall
Anabolic steroids have several unpleasant side effects for people who do not need them for medical reasons and could concurrently induce hair loss in men and hair growth in women.
Male pattern baldness may affect both sexes because of the elevated testosterone levels brought on by anabolic steroid use.
DHT (Dihydrotestosterone), a product of the conversion of testosterone, harms hair follicles, causing them to get thinner and finally die.
Simply put, anabolic steroids are testosterone in a synthetic form, and they could have a significant impact on your hair.
While anabolic steroids are prescribed to treat hormone imbalances and conditions that lead to muscle loss, they are also frequently misused by athletes seeking an edge in the competition leading to the loss of their hair.
- Skin Problems
Any skin problems, like acne, are frequently linked to the excessive use of anabolic steroids. These concerns are comparable to those that male adolescents encounter during puberty as a result of the rise in testosterone.
The usage of anabolic steroids frequently results in acne. Acne conglobata is a particularly severe type of acne that could appear both while taking steroids and even after they have been stopped.
Anabolic steroid use could also cause female skin to look coarser. Because of the unhygienic methods utilized for steroid injections, skin infections could develop at the injection site.
At the injection sites, skin abscesses are another possibility that has the potential to migrate to internal organs. Stretch marks are another problem that results from the rapid expansion of muscles.
- Diarrhea
It seems that some people may experience diarrhea after taking a large dose of anabolic steroids. This is a result of the digestive system being impacted by anabolic steroids.
Not everyone who takes anabolic steroids, nevertheless, will get diarrhea. You could take several steps to lower your chance of experiencing diarrhea brought on by anabolic steroid use.
Anabolic steroids’ ability to irritate the stomach could in rare circumstances result in gastrointestinal bleeding. If you’re also taking some other steroid, this is considerably more likely to occur.
This may manifest as dark-colored tarry feces or coffee-colored vomit. This is a medical emergency in either case.
Long Term Effects
- Kidney Problem
Different anabolic steroidal effects could have an impact on the kidney. They could exacerbate acute kidney damage, chronic kidney disease, and glomerular toxicity.
The inflammatory cytokines and pro-apoptotic and pro-fibrotic mediators are overexpressed, and reactive oxygen species are produced.
Endothelin production is increased, and the angiotensin-aldosterone system gets stimulated by the overuse of anabolic steroids.
Although anabolic steroids may have negative effects on the kidney in various ways, including tubule functions, glomerular filtration rate, and kidney size, there is no solid clinical data to support this claim.
- Liver Problems
A rare disorder known as peliosis hepatis, in which blood-filled cysts grow in the liver, has been linked to anabolic steroid abuse. The cysts could rupture, leading to internal bleeding and, in extreme cases, death.
You are even more vulnerable to the effects of steroids if you have a major liver condition like nonalcoholic fatty liver disease or cirrhosis. Anabolic steroids are a major cause of liver damage cases or liver issues.
Over usage of anabolic steroids may result in lower levels of good or HDL cholesterol, higher levels of bad or LDL cholesterol, and significant liver toxicity within a short period.
- Cancer
The usage of anabolic steroids to treat brain tumor symptoms including the accumulation of fluid in the brain may reduce the potency of immunotherapy medications used to treat these tumors.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors, a class of immunotherapy medications, have shown promise in treating some patients with particular forms of cancer, such as melanoma and lung.
However, these medications may interact with anabolic steroid use.
Anabolic Steroid Side Effects In Men
It’s possible that you may not believe that anabolic steroids could cause man breast. But they could in a matter of weeks or even months.
That’s because certain bodily enzymes could change testosterone into estradiol (a type of estrogen), which stimulates the growth of breast tissue.
Your breast tissue will never return to its normal size once it has expanded.
Anabolic drugs result in hair loss because they raise your testosterone levels dramatically. Within a few weeks or months of beginning anabolic steroids, you may start to notice some of your hair thinning.
The hormonal cause of hair loss, or alopecia, is high amounts of testosterone.
In fact, testosterone is so effective at inducing hair loss that hair-restorative medications like Propecia actually function by suppressing the hormone.
Even once your steroid run is over, your hair won’t grow back once it’s lost. Your sperm count may decline and your testicles may shrink because of all the additional testosterone from these steroids.
Excessive amounts of steroids could inhibit the production of follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone, which instructs the testicles to generate sperm.
Almost half of all steroid users experience sperm production issues. Once you stop the medication, it will ultimately reverse itself, but it may take months or even years for it to return to normal.
Anabolic Steroid Side Effects In Women
Anabolic steroid use in females may lead to the masculinization of formerly feminine traits. An enlarged clitoris, clitoromegaly, increased body fat, and loss of breast tissue are problems that might occur.
Even after stopping the use of steroids, swelling of the clitoris may remain a permanent condition.
A deeper voice, as well as growth and expansion of the facial and physique hair, are other characteristics that become more pronounced in women.
Steroid users who are females may also develop irregular menstrual periods. More or less frequent menstruation, or even no menstruation in rare situations, could be signs of these disorders.
The menstrual cycle usually returns to normal after the use of steroids is ended, but the recovery time might vary from a few weeks to months depending on the length of steroid usage, dosage, and medication class.
Any abnormalities brought on by the body’s overproduction of testosterone and the imbalance of the female body’s natural hormones are the causes of these abnormalities. Later on in life, these alterations may have an impact on infertility.
Conclusion
The use of anabolic steroids is unlawful and is prohibited by medical organizations. Nevertheless, some athletes still use anabolic steroids because they believe they have a competitive advantage.
If an athlete is found using anabolic steroids, as has happened in numerous high-profile cases, his or her career could be ruined.
Additionally, there are several negative health effects as well that may cause a number of health issues among anabolic steroid users.
People should put in a lot of effort and live in a healthy manner, which includes eating healthy meals and exercising regularly without the use of steroids.