Time to Start Testing

Time to Start Testing

The use of steroids today is out of control. According to the HHS 2002 Monitoring the Future Survey, about 1 out of 40 high school seniors reported last year that they had used andro in the past year. In high school, there are many student athletes willing to do anything to become a professional athlete. The need to be superior makes the negative effects of steroids invincible. Professional athletes don't help the problem much either. They are never tested and many are caught using steroids. There needs to be a stop to all of this.

Many Americans seek short cuts to larger muscles and greater endurance with anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Steroids are drugs that act like chemical in the body. Most steroids are transformed into testosterone when they enter the body. Testosterone is a male growth hormone. While user may gain short-term results, they are seriously shortchanging their health.

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 effects 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 it 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.

Although steroids have many negative effects, they have many needed medical purposes. Androgens have many legitimate medical uses, such as the use for treatment of hypogonadal men to compensate for the lack of endogenous production. Anabolic steroids are also helpful for the treatment of certain adolescent diseases, some types of anemias, and for a relatively rare form of edema. Other clinical uses focus on the tissue building and anti-catabolic effects, such as in the treatment of burn victims, AIDS, or HIV positive patients, or patients malnourished from disease or old age.

Probably one of the most well known ways for using steroids other than for the building of muscle for competition is for it's quick healing results of inflamed or swollen joints after just a few days of use. Today, pharmaceutical companies make dozens of different corticosteroid drugs to treat allergies, asthma, skin inflammations, arthritis, and connective-tissue diseases such as lupus. Athletes use these drugs for quick rehabilitation, which may cause even more damage to the muscle or joint.

The most well known reason for people using steroids is for the quick muscle growth. Anabolic steroids have been around for 40 years. At first they were recognized for their ability in improving strength and stamina but now they are condemned as unnatural and dangerous to the health of an athlete, especially younger ones.

Throughout the history of sports, athletes have looked for ways to gain an edge over the competition. If done the right way athletes enhance their performance through vigorous training and practice. As the years have progressed some athletes have decided that this isn't enough. They have tried to further their athletic skills though drug use.

A basic description of how steroids work, without using a bunch of medical terms and different types of amino acids, is that they are supplements that the body transforms into testosterone in the body. Some of them can boost the levels as much as 1500% . It boosts the formation of red blood cells in men and enhance their ability to carry oxygen. Testosterone also makes facial hair coarser and skin thicker. Men who takes steroids can also become very aggressive as the testosterone fuels aggression. In women it can also boost their testosterone and cause then to get male features such as facial hair, coarser skin, broad chin, and a deeper voice.

Steroids are bad for all people but especially the young and old. In the younger people it can stop hormones from being released and you will not grow to your full height. In older people it can cause the enlargement of the prostate which can lead to prostate cancer.

Every year younger and younger kids are wanting to improve their bodies through the use of steroids. People who you would think are the most self-conscious about health are the people who take this dangerous drug. They are the athletes. The salaries are so large that there is more expected of them than can be achieved through natural working out and practice. They feel they have to do what they have to do to stay ahead of the game and competition no matter what the consequences.

The drug abuse problem is starting to take its toll on younger people as well. Teenagers have started to use the drug before they are even out of high school. There needs to be a better way to educate children before it is too late. Schools need programs set up to help with this problem. There is also a problem with athletes that use the drugs because they are role models for the children.

Professional athletes that use the drugs are setting a bad example for the rest of society. When athletes are caught using drugs they will usually go to a drug rehabilitation program, pay a fine that doesn't really mean anything because it doesn't compare to the salaries that they are paid, and serve a short probation. When they return to the game you don't hear another word about their drug abuse. The problems are swept under the rug and the athletes are once again built up to be super heroes. This gives teenagers and even children of younger ages the idea that they can use the drugs because their favorite athlete does and he doesn't get in any trouble.

Good examples of athletes that are made to look like heroes are Mark McGwire and Florence Griffith Joyner.

Mark McGuire uses androstenedione. It is an over the counter drug but technically it does the same thing as steroids. Little studies have been done, but as far asinvestigators can tell it is transformed into testosterone in the body. McGuire's use of the drug was exposed in the news across America, but is was over-shadowed by his battle for the home run title. Very few people even talked about the fact that McGuire used performance enhancing drugs to help his build muscle faster. After he won the home run title he was once again looked at