It is a well known fact that anabolic steroids can be very effective in treating various different health conditions such as anemia, rashes, abnormal weight loss and others. In addition to that, anabolic steroids are very helpful for bodybuilders and athletes as they are highly effective at increasing total muscle mass, overall performance as well as strength levels and therefore, they are widely used by sportsmen and athletes for physique and performance enhancement purposes.
Other than this, is known that the steroid medications are helpful for improving the body’s immune system as well as to boost your metabolism, plus to everything, they are known to help people to boost their bodies’ healing/ recovery rate and efficiency. There are many other positive aspects of anabolic steroids and we know that they can be helpful for various different needs.
They have obvious and really appealing benefits many people are being attracted to, however, this all comes with a price – and that’s the steroids’ side effects which should be learned and noted. The steroids’ side effects have been widely mediatized and most people know only about their side effects. Regardless if you are here to find out exactly what type of side effects steroids can offer or you are here to learn about the side effects to know what to expect if you think about using steroids – we hope that this article is going to be beneficial for everyone.
Steroids Side Effects Introduction
Is very beneficial to learn about the side effects of anything before actually using it and that’s why, learn about the side effects of anabolic steroid medications and think twice if you really want to use anabolic steroids.
The overall occurrence of steroid side effects as well as their intensity and frequency is highly dependable on a number of factors. It go from no side effects whatsoever up to extremely dangerous and life threatening side effects. It all very much depends on these factors. Some people may get no side effects or very little side effects, others might receive extremely bothering side effects or permanent health damage.
It depends on the steroid type (as there are steroids milder than others), on the steroid medication dosage (the amount you use), the length of the time that you are using steroids, your age, gender, overall health condition, your lifestyle choices (such as diet, drinking, smoking, exercises) and others – but these mentioned are the most important ones.
Remember that the overall health and own metabolism (personal tolerance) is very important too, meaning that while a steroid can work well for a person, it may not be so good for another, in same dosage and length of time.
Other than that, there are adults and teenagers who both may receive negative side effects from using anabolic steroid medication but teenagers are at much higher risk of receiving negative side effects and more of them, such as the risk of losing the bone growth so teenagers won’t reach their normal full height they would naturally. But other side effects are more intense with teenagers too and that’s why is recommended to use steroids (unless recommended and prescribed by a doctor) only for adults.
Other than this, if you are using anabolic steroid medication on a regular basis for quite a long period of time, there are various of reasons why it could be pretty hard for you to stop using it. One of the reasons is the possible withdrawal symptoms which you may receive and they can be: depression, feeling very tired, loss of appetite and others.
Anabolic steroids are offering common side effects which are pretty frequently noticed in many people using them and there are rare side effects that are noticed only in few people. Common side effects are usually those that are tolerable and going away in a while after stopping using steroids. The rare and side effects are those that can be permanent and they can be serious side effects.
Common Side Effects of Anabolic Steroid Medication
There are physical and psychological side effects which you can get from using anabolic steroids. One pretty common (among the most common) side effects is the change in the mood and behavior that the steroids may cause. Usually, the side effect is aggravated by using higher doses and is seen mainly in people who use steroids on a regular basis. Such people can experience irritability, they may feel unexplained anger as well as feelings of persecution.
In some cases, people may become delusional too. But most often, depression is seen, irrational behavior, including mood swings, anger and aggression. While a boost in controllable aggression in the gym is very helpful, it may get out of control and become a detrimental aggression too.
Anabolic steroids are also known to boost energy levels and is quite obvious that higher energy levels is a very good thing when talking about sports and bodybuilding, but in a long term it may become a side effect when it turns into insomnia or other sleeping issues.
- But except for the psychological side effects, there are physical negative effects which most people are mostly familiar with, that’s because they are even more common than psychological ones and they are easily noticed. Those are the side effects which tend to catch people’s attention when talking about a person using anabolic steroids or not.
There is weight gain which is one very common side effect and while it may be helpful to gain a bit of weight when you’re hard training, you may gain weight around the face, the back of the neck and on the abdomen – some areas that are unnatural to gain weight, non appealing and give away a person using steroids.
- There are also side effects being caused by the spike in androgenic levels and these types of side effects are mainly seen in people genetically prone to get them. They include hair loss which is quite a problem for young men, oily skin as well as acne and it can lead to a really bad acne condition if left untreated and also abnormal hair growth on various parts of the body such as chest, back, arms, legs, on face etc. There are other side effects related to androgenic activity.
- Plus, there are side effects that are the result of the spike in estrogenic levels. Not all anabolic steroids offer estrogenic activity and this spike, but those steroids that do offer them are very likely to offer some common side effects such as: fluid retention offering a bloated look especially to your face and stomach, puffy muscles look, gynecomastia – the condition known as man’s breasts or more vulgar – “bitch’s tits” where the nipples are growing and then the breasts. There are also other side effects associated with the estrogenic side effects.
Rare But Serious Side Effects of Anabolic Steroid Medication
If you heard that anabolic steroids are potentially harmful and dangerous to the point that they may be fatal then that’s true. Although such outcomes are very rarely occurring and is mainly the user’s fault for not following a proper guidance about how to use steroids – you need to know about them so you could avoid such things to happen.
There are serious side effects associated with the use of steroid medication and although they are rare – they may still occur. Some side effects are long lasting or they can be even permanent. You could damage your health or lead to death. But then again, all of these side effects are only seen in people who use steroids carelessly.
- Some of the worst side effect include liver and kidney damage to an extent that it could lead to liver diseases, liver failure or even liver cancer. This especially applies to steroids that are taken in form of a pill although there are many injectable steroids that may damage kidney or liver as well. Generally, such side effects are seen in people who use high dosages for too long periods of time. The side effects can be avoided by using it in short periods, in normal doses and without already having pre existing kidney or liver damage when starting to use steroids.
- Another dangerous side effect associated with the use of steroid medication is the heart condition. That’s why is so important to use steroids only if you don’t have any heart conditions and without using them for too much in higher doses than recommended. A heart attack or stroke can occur.
- Having blood issues or hypertension means that you should avoid steroids too because another side effect associated with the use of steroid medication is high blood pressure which is very likely to be seen by continuously running steroids, especially in high doses.
- The use of anabolic steroid medications are known to have a negative impact on the cholesterol and that’s why people with cholesterol conditions should avoid them. The steroids have been linked with the lowering of good cholesterol levels (HDL) and increasing the bad cholesterol levels (LDL).
- People using steroids for longer periods and higher doses than recommended are greatly increasing the risks of receiving diabetes and there are cases when people may receive eye issues as their vision would be negative affected too.
- Another thing that was mentioned is that the steroids are capable to make your skin oily and make you develop acne. This very much depends on the persons’ own genetics, but higher doses of certain steroids especially taken for longer periods are very likely to offer very bad negative side effects in terms of acne and other skin diseases. Such diseases can become really severe in case you won’t stop using the steroids after their appearance.
Female Side Effects While Using Anabolic Steroid Medication
Women are generally having a much lower tolerance to anabolic steroids than men do due to a number of reasons. There are certain steroids that are not recommended at all for female use because of the possible very nasty side effects and those that women can use are generally recommended at doses much lower than men. Women should be especially careful if they use anabolic steroids.
They generally can develop all the side effects that a man can plus the virilization side effects. Women are more prone to get the side effects that men can at even lower doses plus the virilization are those side effects that are turning a woman into a man. Virilization is also known as masculinization. They are the changes that make a male body different from a female body, but with an improper use of anabolic steroids, women are turned into men through the virilizing side effects.
- They include: deepening of the voice, reduction in breast size, shredding head hair, abnormal hair growth on body and face, clitoral enlargement, irregular menstrual cycles and others.
Anabolic Steroid Medication Side Effects Conclusion
In the end, anabolic steroids are taken for 2 different reasons – either you have a medical condition and you get the steroid medication prescribed by a doctor for your condition, either you’re using them for physique and performance enhancement.
- In the first case, we recommend everyone to use the steroid medications exactly as mentioned, recommended and prescribed by your doctor. Do not use more or less and do not use them more frequently. In case you have any issues – ask your doctor right away. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, doctors are there to help and to guide you through your healthy recovery.
- If we’re talking about the use of anabolic steroids for physique and performance enhancement then the situation is different taking in consideration that the dosages are generally much higher for such purposes compared to dosages of steroids for medical conditions and there’s no doctor that would offer you a guidance of using steroids for such purposes. The problem is that there’s no doctor to guide you and higher doses generally mean more side effects.
That’s why is so important to learn about steroids in the first place. Learn about each steroid in particular, how to properly use them and so on and so forth. Also, before using steroids, even after you’ve learned enough about each steroid in particular, you need to have tests done on your health, proving that you’re healthy enough to use anabolic steroid medications.
