The Effects of Steroids
Introduction:
Today’s athletes will do anything to get that “winning edge” to become bigger, and stronger than the competition. With modern societies fast paced, always winning world a boost is sometimes required to get ahead of the competitors. That’s why many top athletes tend to take performance enhancing steroids. Injecting steroids into your body is an extremely controversial injection that is mostly frowned upon by the public. Many say its fine for your body and can help get that extra boost but many experienced doctors say that the long term negatives outweigh the positives of taking steroids. Nowadays younger athletes are more pressured than ever to take steroids because of pressure of under performing and to look up to their role models. What they don’t understand is that the harm done to their bodies will not just last for a short while, but instead will last a lifetime.
Findings:
First and foremost, steroids are not a “magical pill” or an injection that will give you “super human powers”. Instead, “Androgenic- anabolic steroids (AAS) are synthetic derivatives of the male hormone testosterone. They can exert strong effects on the human body that may be beneficial for athletic performance” (Hartgens F, Kuipers H., 2004).These strong effects may include becoming bigger, stronger and faster. That’s why high publicity athletes such as baseball player Alex Rodriguez or track runner Marion Jones who both admitted to using steroids. Now you must be wondering what exactly steroids are and how they affect the human body. Now steroids prime use isn’t for muscling up body builders or athletes, but it’s to fight a wide range of diseases. “Oral and injected corticosteroids (or simply “steroids”) are medications used to treat inflammation in the body. These medicines are used to treat a wide variety of diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and many other autoimmune diseases. Systemic steroids are also used to treat asthma attacks, and on occasion, severe allergic rhinitis symptoms” (More, 2009). What this means is that steroids will always be around because doctors use them for more positive outcomes than what most athletes are trying to do. Athletes started using steroids in America around the 1950’s because they were trying to compete with Soviet athletes, who were dominating strength related sports before then. The Soviets strongly relied on Anabolic Steroids but suffered later in life because of it. “In their quest for strength, the Soviet athletes also suffered from a large variety of serious side effects due to the testosterone use. These side effects included severe heart problems, sterility, and death” (Getz, 2005)
There are three common ways steroids are administered into the body; oral pills, injectable steroids, and skin patches. Most athletes use the oral pills or the injectable steroids because they tend to have a better performance. After years of study, experiments found that men who were injected experienced muscle hypertrophy, which is an increase in the size of muscle cells, and the formation of new muscle fibers were observed. Also they had increased their baseline strength by 5-20%. In patches, the steroid is applied to the skin and may deliver a steady dose through the skin and into the bloodstream. Also, there is a type of steroid that is applicable in creams and gels which are applied to the skin. Abortion of the steroid into the bloodstream is inefficient because roughly 10% of the steroid actually makes it into the bloodstream. This is the type of steroid that is believed to be taken by superstar baseball player Barry Bonds.
The negatives of taking steroids by far outweigh the positive effects. First off, even illegally buying or using steroids is against the law therefore can get you sent to prison. “Side effects of long- term steroid use includes: Glaucoma, Cataracts, High- blood pressure, Heart disease, Diabetes mellitus, Obesity, Acid reflux/ GERD, Osteoporosis, Myopathy, Increase in certain types of infections, Cushing syndrome” ( More, 2009). The most common side effect is heart disease. When frequent steroid takers reach their fifties their hearts start to become weaker and not strong enough to sustain the body. It’s kind of ironic in a way how steroids can make your heart weaker later in life. America is all about winning and being better than anybody else. We are not used to losing per say. That’s why so many young athletes in high school tend to take illegal steroids.“Despite the dangers associated with steroids, they continue to be used by males and females of all ages. In fact, use among teenagers has increased according to the 2003 Monitoring the Future Survey (MTF) funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The survey found that 6.5 percent of high school athletes used an anabolic steroid during their sporting careers. Even more disturbing is that 2.5 percent of 8th graders have experimented with these dangerous substances” (Franks, Dr. Robert R. 2008).
Now this stat may sound wrong, but I know firsthand that many high school athletes do take steroids in order to play better. They think that there are only benefits such as becoming stronger. Sadly there is another consequence of steroids. It is that of the “roid rage”. “Roid rage” is when the person who has been injected has uncontrollable fits of rage and destruction. It happens to teenagers more commonly because they can not handle the increase of testosterone in their body. First, the amount of testosterone increases dramatically when going through puberty so and even bigger increase of testosterone will most likely make the teenager go in fits or dramatic mood swings. Unlike most steroid side effects these rages occur immediately after having them injected instead of after long term use. "Roid rage" has become a characteristic of the steroid user. This psychological side effect is a sudden explosion of violent and destructive behavior that can result in severe personal injury and property damage, often without any recollection on the part of the steroid user. The steroid user obviously is risking a great deal to gain the strength and muscle size that he or she desires” (Getz, 2005). Obviously, the negatives such as “roid” rage and the emotional damage must have an impact to make athletes stop taking steroids, right? Sadly, that is not the case many athletes still take illegal steroids every year without fully knowing what will happen to their bodies.
Most of us may never know how much pressure high paid and respected athletes are under. But apparently they are under enough pressure to risk their own lives, their loved ones live and to wrongly influence many young American athletes to take this drug. Many of the athletes say that if they underperform they will get cut or not even get to play. Others will say that fact still doesn’t make it your right to inject steroids into your body. To get results work hard every day and give others a fair advantage. “Drug-prevention counseling to athletes is highlighted and the use of anabolic steroids is must be avoided, emphasizing that sports goals may be met within the framework of honest competition, free of doping substances” (C. Maravelias, A. Dona, M. Stefanidou, and C.Spiliopoulou, 2005).
The use of steroids in baseball became so bad at one point that from the late 1990’s to about 2007 it was known as the “Steroid Era”. This is when most major leaguers were on “roids” and the numbers prove it. Barry Bonds hit seventy three home runs in 2001 at an unheard of age of thirty six! The Mitchell Report was created in 2005 and it exposed all of the users in large numbers. The public was both shocked and outraged that so many players were listed as buying or using anabolic steroids. Most people knew steroids were out there but nobody knew that they were used at such an alarming rate. One ex major leaguer said that he believed half of the league has used a substance or steroid designed to perform better. “McCain is quoted in the Dec.5th edition of The New York Times explaining that his concern is not about what baseball stars Barry Bonds or Jason Giambi do to their bodies. Instead, he worries about what effect the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the MLB might have on high school athletes” (Franks, Dr.Robert R. 2008). If we want young kids to stop taking these drugs first we need to wipe it clean from the athletes that are supposedly “ role models” and then kids will not be as tempted to use them. Personally when I was about ten years old I found out that some of my favorite baseball players had used illegal anabolic players such as Rafeal Palmero and Miguel Tejada. These athletes don’t realize the psychological harm plus the bodily harm they are committing when they do these acts. Lastly, these baseball players using steroids are also hurting the game of baseball. A lot of baseball enthusiasts find this new age of baseball is tarnished and should not be viewed as compared to seasons before this era.
“Once viewed as a problem strictly associated with body builders, fitness "buffs," and professional athletes, the abuse of steroids is prevalent in today’s society. This is an alarming problem because of increased abuse over the years and the ready availability of steroids and steroid related products” (Tolliver, 2004). Body builders used to be pretty much the only ones associated with steroid use but now it has reached just about every other sport. Some people admit to taking steroids and find nothing wrong with it.They believe that its just helping them get better at what they love, no better than using a better bat or having better eyesight than other competitors. If Tiger Woods has perfect 20/20 vision is that considered cheating? How come steroids have to be the scapegoat for people to criticize when there are plenty of other gimmicks that “improve performance”? Is it cheating if I have running shoes that cost more and are better than just any old pair of sneakers? That is the argument that many steroid users are trying to push. Simply put they just want to keep getting better and better no matter what the risk or image.
“What these young athletes fail to realize is the damaging effect steroids have on a person’s physical and psychological health over time,” says Michael J. Sampson, DO, an osteopathic sports medicine and family physician at Virginia Tech and Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine. “The more we learn about these drugs, the scarier they become” (Franks, Dr. Robert R. 2008). Frequent steroid users are reaping the negative benefits from when they used them ten to twenty years ago. Liver problems run constantly throughout users and the fact that they got caught throws away not only the users reputation but he or she’s entire family. Marion Jones, famous track star, admitted to taking steroids before the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. She was stripped of all her medals and served six months in prison for lying to a grand jury. She admits that she has been “dishonored” and goes on to say “I have let my country down and I have let myself down.”
Clearly the choice to take steroids to benefit on increased performance is not a good one. Without a doctor’s permission or any symptom without the need for anabolic steroids having them can be dangerous and illegal. Sadly though, despite all of these warnings thousands of young teenagers still inject steroids in a sad attempt to become better. Now only if people would take all of these warnings in advance to help prevent this drug from ruining peoples lives.
Conclusion:
So is it worth the risk to take steroids to perform better? When thinking about short term affects it seems like the right choice to take steroids. You get bigger, stronger and faster, everything an athlete needs. But sadly underneath all of that are long term negative aspects of steroids. Most frequent users become very sick and eventually can die younger than normal. Also, it’s simply illegal to buy, have, or inject them without a doctor’s permission. Sure you may become a greater athlete for a few short years but are those few short years worth living the rest of your life without pressure and regular body functions breaking down? You decide.