Steroids 🚫

Steroids  is a term which is most often associated with Fitness & Bodybuilding.

Let’s talk about them in brief.

Steroids are chemicals/hormones, that are produced by our body naturally, which help our organs, tissues, and cells perform their jobs properly. We all require a healthy lifestyle (Diet, exercises etc) balance of them to grow. Steroids are commonly used by athletes and bodybuilders to build muscle mass and lose weight. These drugs influence human body’s hormonal system so that it can produce extra testosterone. 

Primarily, these were created to treat some medical conditions but people nowadays make use of these drugs to increase their muscle mass to an extreme level.

“Steroids” are also manufactured as man-made medicines. 

There are two main types of Steroids Anabolic-androgenic Steroids (or Anabolics) and Corticosteroids.

Anabolic Steroids:

Anabolic steroids  more properly known as Anabolic–androgenic steroids, are synthetic, or human-made, variations of the male sex hormone testosterone that helps build bigger muscles.You take them by mouth or get a shot into a muscle. “Anabolic” refers to muscle building, and “androgenic” refers to increased male sex characteristics.

A doctor can legally prescribe them if your body doesn’t make enough testosterone.

Negative Usage of Anabolics:

As Anabolic Steroids help in increase in size of muscle, it has become very popular these days and more of its positive medical uses most of the people use it in a negative way as to boos their muscle growth in an insane manner and that too in short period of time. Their performance- and muscle-boosting powers have led to widespread misuse and abuse. People who are very eager to build and grow their muscles to an extreme level tend to use extremely high doses of these steroids. Even some of them take 100 times the dose legally prescribed for health problems.

Anabolic Steroids Side Effects:

These steroids can cause bad acne and fluid retention. Long-term use can affect in a reverse manner by stopping the body from making testosterone. In men, this causes smaller testicles, lower sperm counts, infertility, and breast growth. Women may have male-pattern baldness, facial hair growth, periods that change or stop, and a deeper voice. Teens who use them might stunt their bone growth and height, resulting in uneven growth of their body parts, like horribly grown biceps, traps, chest etc.

Long-term Anabolic Steroid use, especially high doses, can also damage your liver, kidneys, and heart. Severe fluid retention can cause heart swelling and heart failure.

Some of the common Anabolic Steroids are sold with the brand names like : Dianabol, Winstrol, Trenbolone, Testosterone, Clenbuterol, Anadrol etc.

 

Corticosteroids:

Corticosteroids are used to dampen overactive immune responses and reduce swelling.These are also one of the type of hormones  which are either produced by the body or are man-made. They’re medicines that quickly fight inflammation in your body. These lab-made steroids work like the hormone cortisol, which your adrenal glands make. Cortisol keeps your immune system from making substances that cause inflammation. Corticosteroid drugs like prednisone, work in a similar way. They slow or stop the immune system processes that trigger inflammation.

Corticosteroids are classified as either:

1. Glucocorticoids (anti-inflammatory) which suppress inflammation and immunity and assist in the breakdown of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins.
2. Mineralocorticoids (salt retaining) that regulate the balance of salt and water in the body.

Synthetic Corticosteroids
On the other hand mimic the actions of naturally occurring corticosteroids and may be used to replace corticosteroids in people with adrenal glands that are unable to produce adequate amounts of corticosteroids, however, they more often are used in higher-than-replacement doses to treat diseases of immunity, inflammation or salt and water balance.Examples : Bethamethasone, Prednisone, triamcinolone  etc.

Some examples of Systemic oral/inject-able corticosteroids?

• hydrocortisone (Cortef)
• cortisone
• ethamethasoneb (Celestone)
• prednisone (Prednisone Intensol)
• prednisolone (Orapred, Prelone)
• Fludrocortisone (Florinef)

Medical Use: Corticosteroids are generally used to treat conditions that cause irritation and swelling.

Corticosteroid Side Effects:

It depends on the dosage and for how long you are taking the drug. If used for Short-term also, it can cause nausea, weight gain, puffy face, mood swings, and sleeping issues. Also, as corticosteroids turn down your immune system, taking them makes you more likely to get infections. If used for Long-term, it can cause serious side effects like osteoporosis, slow growth in kids, and a life-threatening condition called adrenal insufficiency, where the body cannot respond to stress such as surgery or illnesses and a  much higher risk of diabetes.  

Here are some of the people affected with the usage of high dosage of Steroids without any medical advice or suggestions and real need to have them: