Anabolic steroids are drugs that mimic the activity of testosterone in the body. The influence of anabolic steroids is usually divided into two types: anabolic effect, which helps to increase muscle mass, and androgenic, which develops and strengthens male sexual characteristics.
Anabolic steroids can be prescribed in
You can buy steroids in USA as a medicine by a doctor if you have a medical condition, such as in the case of hypogonadism. However, in USA and around the world, anabolic steroids are prohibited for bodybuilding and improving athletic performance.
In USA, according to the pharmaceutical order, it is forbidden to import anabolic steroids that are not approved by the Ministry of Health, and it is forbidden to sell them without a doctor’s prescription. In the US, anabolic steroid surveillance is similar to dangerous drug surveillance.
Inappropriate use of anabolic steroids
The unauthorized use of anabolic steroids and other substances that improve achievements is known mainly in competitive sports (doping), but the circle of people using
by these substances is much wider.
Young people and adolescents use these drugs for bodybuilding, improving their appearance and improving athletic performance in competitive and non-competitive sports. In the United States, about two-thirds of people who use steroids are bodybuilders who do not compete. In bodybuilding, steroids are almost always used in combination with prescription drugs and nutritional supplements that affect the body in various ways, and this increases the risk of developing inter-drug reactions. Bodybuilders combine prescription drugs with anabolic steroids to combat the side effects of steroids and improve their body’s capabilities and appearance. These self-medication habits sometimes cause severe side effects and the sudden death of young bodybuilders.
There is a risk that these drugs that bodybuilders take with anabolic steroids, such as Clenbuterol and Tamoxifen, may be more toxic to people taking them than the steroids themselves.
Sales of illegal anabolic steroids in USA
There are many types of anabolic steroids that are taken illegally. The most common ones are Testosterone Cypionate, Stanozolol, Metandienone, Nandrolone and Oxandrolol. These drugs are injected into the body through a syringe or orally.
Since taking anabolic steroids for bodybuilding and for improving athletic performance is illegal in USA, they are obtained illegally from criminals, on the Internet, in gyms, and from local merchants.
What are dangerous anabolic steroids
- Anabolic steroids have many different side effects, some of which are irreversible , including: behavioral / psychiatric disorders, cardiovascular system disorders, liver and kidney disorders, sexual and sexual dysfunction in women and men, skin problems, endocrine disorders, increased risk of developing cancer, etc.
- Chronic steroids increase the risk of death by 4.6 times compared with people who do not take them.
- The risk associated with the method of taking steroids – the method of taking anabolic steroids for bodybuilding and improving sports achievements exposes users to the above side effects in connection with the concentrated use of many different types of drugs at the same time.
- Taking the medicine in cycles is also dangerous – taking the medicine in a row every day, then taking a break, and then resuming the drug continuously, and taking the medicine in the “stacking” mode, which consists in taking a large number of different drugs at the same time, and the duration of action of each drug is different.
- Unknown quality of steroids – steroids can be counterfeit and manufactured without observing the proper manufacturing conditions for drugs. For this reason, these drugs may include harmful by-products and bacterial infections; the composition of different doses of the same drug may vary significantly.
- Anabolic steroids are drugs that are not registered with the Ministry of Health, and their safety has never been tested, and therefore people taking them take drugs that could potentially be hazardous to health.
- Lack of medical supervision – these drugs are taken without any medical supervision, and therefore people taking them are exposed to high doses of the drug without any control.
List of side effects caused by the use of anabolic steroids
- Diseases of the liver and kidneys: impaired functioning of the liver lead to hepatitis, renal failure, bleeding in the liver and, in serious cases, the development of cancerous tumors in the liver;
- Skin problems: acne, hair loss and milk secretion;
- Violation of fertility and sexual functions, decreased sexual desire and impotence;
- Hormonal disorders: a situation may arise when the strength and muscle mass of the training person increases in the short term, but after prolonged use, the effect of steroids decreases. Thus, the hormonal balance of the user is violated, which is also reflected in an increase in the level of female sex hormone – astrogen. The effect of astrogen is the opposite of the effect of testosterone regarding the effect on muscle tissue, since astrogen destroys muscle. The result of this lack of balance can be repeated obesity and a decrease in muscle volume;
- Central nervous system: behavioral disorders affect cognitive and / or emotional functions, including the risk of psychotic paranoid disorders or mania depression. The user can be aggressive and mentally unstable (this condition is known by the term “steroid rage”);
- Tendency to chronic diseases that may develop later due to the use of anabolic steroids, such as: cancer, mainly liver cancer, and cardiovascular diseases;
- Hospitalization and death among a healthy and young population who did not suffer from any diseases in the past.
Examples of people suffering from anabolic steroids
A 20-year-old healthy guy from Sweden, who wanted to improve his results in the gym, lost consciousness during a training session and was taken to the hospital ward. Attempts to resuscitation were unsuccessful and he died. In the process of verification after his death, it was discovered that his heart was enlarged, and a urinalysis showed that he was taking anabolic steroids. The use of steroids negatively affected the work of the heart and led to loss of consciousness and the death of a young man.