Anabolic steroids are used by many individuals looking to either gain an edge on the competition in sports, or to improve their physique. Anabolic steroids allow your muscles to heal much more quickly after exercising, and therefore speed up muscular growth. While anabolic steroids can drastically improve your muscular performance, they are illegal and have many harmful side effects. This article will discuss a few of the harmful side effects of anabolic steroids.
The first harmful side effect of anabolic steroids is increased blood pressure, and harmful swings in your cholesterol levels. Anabolic steroids will increase LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol), and at the same time decrease HDL levels (healthy cholesterol). With increased blood pressure, and swings in cholesterol levels, an anabolic steroid user drastically increases their risk of heart disease and heart attacks. Those with previous hypertension issues face even higher risks. Depending on how the steroids are consumed, they can also cause liver failure.
Since anabolic steroids alter a body’s hormonal balance, there are various hormonal side effects as well. Acne is one of the side effects caused due to an increase in testosterone levels. Testosterone conversion, another side effect of taking anabolic steroids can cause premature baldness in both men and women. When using anabolic steroids, women have been shown to grow more body hair and develop a strengthened vocal chord, which in turn causes them to have a lower voice. Women will also experience altered and inconsistent menstrual cycles, and possible infertility.
Other sex specific side effects of anabolic steroids include gynecomastia, a condition where male users begin to develop fatty breast tissue. Men also commonly experience decrease sexual function as well as temporary or permanent infertility.
Beyond physical side effects, there are many psychological side effects associated with anabolic steroid use. The first psychological side effect of anabolic steroids is rage and aggression. Due to increase testosterone levels, anabolic steroid users suffer from uncontrollable bouts of rage, which can be extremely harmful to themselves and to others. Young men, who use anabolic steroids, report being much more likely to be involved in violent fights or crimes.
Depression is another side effect of anabolic steroids. While studies are still inconclusive on the matter, many anabolic steroid users report dealing with deep emotional swings which causes depression and thoughts of suicide.
Like many drugs, the use of anabolic steroids can be very addictive. Once an individual is addicted and begins to increase their use of anabolic steroids, they become a much higher risk of suffering from both the physical and emotional side effects of anabolic steroids.