Facts about Anabolic steroids

Anabolic steroids, or anabolic-androgen steroids, are well known from doping scandals. They include a number of drugs which mimic the effects of the male sex hormones testosterone and dihydrotestosterone.

anabolic steroids are administered in three common forms: oral pills, injectable steroids, and skin patches. They increase protein synthesis within cells, which results in anabolism, the buildup of cellular tissue, especially in muscles and, they reduce recovery time by blocking the negative effects on muscle tissue produced by the stress hormone cortisol.

The use of Steroids causes significant psychiatric symptoms including: aggression and violence, mania, and less frequently psychosis and suicide.

Side-effects from long-term use or excessive doses of anabolic steroids include: acne, premature baldness, harmful changes in cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and, liver damage.

children and women are highly sensitive to testosterone and can suffer unintended masculinization and health effects, even from small doses. This includes: Baldness, increase in body hair, deepening of the voice, enlarged clitoris, and temporary decreases in menstrual cycles.

When taken during pregnancy, anabolic steroids can affect fetal development by causing the development of male features in the female fetus and female features in the male fetus.

In men, anabolic steroids can cause: reduced sexual function, gynecomastia, which is a development of breast tissue in males, testicular atrophy, caused by the suppression of natural testosterone levels, which inhibits production of sperm and, causes temporary infertility.

if adolescents use anabolic steroids, a number of severe side effects can occur, such as: stunted growth, (children who fall below the fifth percentile of the reference population in height for age are defined as stunted)
advanced bone age, (meaning one will not become as tall as one was meant to be).

Other side-effects can include alterations in the structure of the heart, causing: hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, congestive heart failure, heart attacks, and sudden cardiac death.