Side Effects of Steroids

Steroids and the side effects of steroids usually crop up in conversations regarding extraordinary athletic feats and suspiciously prominent muscle tone. The side effects of steroids are legendary. There is categorical evidence that the detrimental effects of steroid use have ruined many a promising athlete’s career.

Athletes abuse steroids because these drugs, which inhibit the production of natural hormones, have short-term performance boosting properties. In other words, it is possible to perform certain feats requiring unusual physical strength and endurance for short periods.

However, anyone who uses steroids for non-prescribed purposes is asking for trouble. Their medical uses include the suppression of the human immune system so that certain other medicines can work. In this context, they can be useful medical tools and doctors provide for the side effects of steroids by medical means.

The side effects of steroids depend on the extent of their use and the user’s preexisting physical condition. With extended use, they are always dangerous and can cause a number of extreme, long-lasting and sometimes irreversible health problems. The side effects of steroids include stunting of growth in adolescents, the appearance of masculine physical characteristics in women and of feminine ones in men, unfavorable change in sexual characteristics in both genders and psychiatric complications.

Although there exists no real documentation of psychiatric problems as a result of steroid side effects, one often hears of the so-called ‘roid rage’ –apparently brought on by excessive steroid use.

The side effects of steroids can also extend to premature heart attacks and strokes. Extensive medical evidence links steroid use with liver tumors and kidney failure, too. Many people contract HIV, hepatitis and other fatal diseases because they inject steroids under non-sterile conditions, meaning that they use infected needles.

By using a steroid, one suppresses the production of certain natural hormones. This is because the human body adjusts itself automatically when it detects external supplementation of its natural chemicals. This can lead to serious health problems, most especially in the production of estrogen (the female sex hormone) and testosterone (the male sex hormone). By disrupting or enhancing the production of these natural hormones, the user courts disruptive changes in his or her physical and even mental environment.

The liver processes steroids along with other chemicals. There has been considerable hype about steroid-induced liver damage and not all accounts are true. Nevertheless, there is sufficient scientific evidence to indicate that extended steroid use can and does lead to irreversible liver damage.

Steroids also interfere with cholesterol levels, though there is considerable dispute over whether this presents any serious health risk. Steroids often reduce HDL cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein) which is far from harmful in most cases. Moreover, steroids can elevate LDL cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein) which medical practitioners refer to as the ‘good cholesterol’ because it assists in protecting the arteries by delivering unused cholesterol to the liver, which breaks it down.

One of the indubitably detrimental side effects of steroids is gynocomastia, or the development of breast tissue in males. The reason is that they cause an excess of estrogen in the body. Other side effects of steroids include acne and the aggravation of existing acne.

The upshot is that, while the side effects of steroids are often not as extravagant as popular press makes them out to be, they certainly do tamper with the body’s natural; functioning. With excessive use, steroids can cause permanent and even fatal health damage.