Anabolic Steroids

Anabolic steroids or anabolic androgenic steroids were developed in the 1930s. These are the man made substances to develop male sexual characteristics and to promote growth of skeletal muscle. The steroids offers great potential for protein building properties, but doctors have limited their medical use.

Anabolic Steroid effects Most common use of anabolic steroid is associated with weightlifters, bodybuilders, body shaping and other male and female athletes.

In medical field, steroids are used for treating different patients having different diseases such as delayed puberty, wasting of the body due to HIV, some types of impotence, osteoporosis (brittle bones in menopausal women), some types of anemia, and itching caused by liver condition.

Other than medical field, anabolic steroids are widely used in the competitive bodybuilding field because of their ability to improve performance by decreasing body fat and increasing muscle mass.

Use of steroids in sport is illegal and international athletes are testes before the sport actually starts to prevent gaining of some unfair advantage. Anabolic steroids are specially used by men to change shape of their body.

Anabolic steroids can be taken orally by injection or along with creams or gels. The dose can be prescribed by doctors and that will depend on the age of the patient and the medical conditions.

There are two or more oral and injectable types of anabolic steroids for the use. It is called stacking. It is believed that two or more interacting steroids produce an improved result. The other type of anabolic steroid is called as pyramid. These are used in 6 to 12 week cycles and stacked steroids start with the smaller doses.

Medical uses of anabolic steroids contain few hormone problems in men, late puberty and muscle loss due to some diseases. Illegal use of anabolic steroids has been associated with many health related diseases that can range from unattractive to life threatening. These include:

Acne and cysts
Voice deepening and growth of body hair in women
Breast growth and shrinking of testicles and in men
Heart problems, including heart attack
Aggressive behavior
Liver disease, including cancer
Kidney tumor

Additionally, there are some gender specific side effects of abusing anabolic steroids.

For women - male-pattern baldness, growth of facial hair, changes in or cessation of the menstrual cycle, deepened voice, enlargement of the clitoris.
For men - reduced sperm count, shrinking of the testicles, baldness, infertility, increased risk for prostate cancer, development of breasts.
For adolescents - Because of the accelerated puberty changes and the premature skeletal maturation growth is halted prematurely.