Steroids are chemicals, often in the structure of hormones, that your body makes naturally. They bind to hormone receptors in the body.
Steroid a family of terpenoid lipids widely distributed in nature that presents a relatively rigid common structure named gonane formed by four fused alicyclic rings.
They help your organs, tissues, and cells do their jobs. You need a healthy balance of them to grow and even to make babies. “Steroids” can also refer to man-made medicines.
Steroids are commonly used to treat various conditions such as asthma, arthritis, and inflammation. In many cases, they are known to be lifesavers.
Divided into two categories – Corticosteroids and Anabolic-Androgenic steroids.
Anabolic steroids bind to the androgen receptors, whereas corticosteroids bind to the glucocorticoid receptors – leading to different effects on the body.
Corticosteroids are types of drugs used to treat medical conditions. “Anabolic steroids” are drugs that replicate human sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen, which are taken illegally and often abused to alter one’s physical appearance.
Let’s dive in further into steroids.
- What are catabolic steroids?
- Functions of corticosteroids
- How corticosteroids are used?
- Side effects of catabolic steroids
- What are Anabolic Steroids?
- Functions of anabolic steroids?
- How anabolic steroids are taken?
- Side effects of Anabolic steroids
- Patterns of anabolic steroid use.
- Use of anabolic steroid in teens
- Steroid taking decision
- Anabolic steroid abuse.
- Maintaining an Anabolic State
- Dietary Supplements
What are catabolic steroids
Catabolic steroids or glucocorticoids or corticosteroids are the steroids that the body naturally produces as part of the body’s response to stress.
The word catabolic comes from the Greek word meaning to “throw down,” and these steroids help break down large chemicals into smaller ones.
Functions of corticosteroids
Corticosteroid like Cortisol manufactured by adrenal glands, helps glycogen metabolize into glucose.
It is also required for many other basic functions of the body, including protein, fat, and carbohydrate metabolism.
When cortisol binds to the glucocorticosteroid receptor, it activates a metabolic pathway that suppresses inflammation and immune responses.
Corticosteroid drugs, like prednisone, slow or stop the immune system processes that trigger inflammation.
How corticosteroids are used?
Corticosteroid creams can be applied to the skin to treat poison ivy rashes, or contact dermatitis.
Corticosteroids in pill form can be taken to treat allergies, as well as autoimmune disorders like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.
Inhaled corticosteroids are effective in treating asthma.
Corticosteroid injections into joints can treat inflammation related to sport injuries or arthritis.
External steroids may be taken in different ways but the age when one start abusing also differs.
Side effects of catabolic steroids
Side effects depend on the dose and how long you take the drug.
Short-term use can cause weight gain, puffy face, nausea, mood swings, and trouble sleeping. You might also get thinner skin, acne, unusual hair growth, and spikes in blood sugar and blood pressure.
Taking high doses of corticosteroids for a long time can cause serious side effects like brittle bones that break easily (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.
Because corticosteroids turn down your immune system, taking them makes you more likely to get infections.
Other side effects are muscle weakness, eye problems (including cataracts), and a higher risk of diabetes.
What are Anabolic Steroids?
Anabolic steroids include all synthetic, or human-made, derivatives of the male sex hormone testosterone and its structure mimic the structure of testosterone in the body, both oral and injectable.
The proper term for these compounds is anabolic-androgenic steroids.
“Anabolic” refers to the building blocks for muscle cells, bone, and other tissues within the body and “Androgenic” describes the increased male secondary sexual characteristics.
Examples of anabolic steroids are testosterone, methyltestosterone, danazol, and oxandrolone.
Functions of anabolic steroids?
An anabolic steroid, testosterone naturally produced by the body, regulates bone and muscle mass and fat distribution, as well as sex-drive (libido) and red blood cell production.
Testosterone can be prescribed to treat hypogonadism in men, or to prevent the loss of muscle associated with HIV infection.
Anabolic steroids, Dihydrotestosterone are performance-enhancing drugs and act by increasing lean muscle protein synthesis and body weight, without increasing fat mass.
Health care providers can prescribe anabolic steroids, Nandrolone to treat hormonal issues, such as delayed puberty and to kick-start growth and development.
Anabolic steroids can be prescribed by a doctor in the case of cancer, or AIDs, but should never be self-prescribed.
How anabolic steroids are taken.
Though most of the anabolic steroids needs to be injected into the muscles to be effective, some may be taken by mouth and others applied as a cream or gel to the skin.
These doses may be 10 to 100 times higher than doses prescribed to treat medical conditions.
Structure of Anabolic steroids
Side effects of Anabolic steroids
Anabolic steroids have several side-effects that show the ugly side of the drug, especially because these are taken in extremely high doses. They can cause both short-term and long-term side-effects, which adversely affect the regular abusers.
Common side effects of anabolic steroids are extreme mood swings, manic behaviour, anger, aggression, insomnia, irritability, and lack of good judgement. The improper use of steroids in teens might lead to stunted bone growth and height, kidney impairment or failure, liver damage, and increased risk of heart attack or stroke.
People who use steroids to enhance their appearance by increasing muscle and decreasing fat may suffer from muscle dysmorphia or abnormal perception of their own body.
Continuous use of AASs can lead to problems such as tolerance. They may even cause the body to stop producing its own testosterone, bad acne and fluid retention.
In men, this causes shrinking of testicles, hair loss, lower sperm counts, infertility, breast growth and risk of prostate cancer. Women may have male-pattern baldness, facial hair growth, periods that change or stop, breast shrinking, and a permanently deeper voice. After abusing this drug males may end up thinking that they are perpetually too small and weak, and females may think themselves fat, even though that perception may not be actually true.
Many abuses anabolic steroids to satisfy their desire for recognition and fame as they are determined to win at any cost. Despite evidence that these drugs can inflict irreversible physical harm and have significant side effects.
Steroids are serious drugs and drugs are addictive. Discontinuing use often leads to withdrawal and depression, which creates a lack of physical drive or social interaction among users.
Patterns of anabolic steroid use.
Some people use AASs continuously, but others try to minimize their possible adverse effects through different patterns of use. Cycling, stacking, and pyramiding are three common ways that anabolic steroid abusers take their drugs.
Cycling: Usually people take steroids for a period of 6 to 12 weeks with regular injections, followed by 4 weeks to several months of rest and then restart again.
Stacking: Users combine several different types of steroids or incorporate other supplements in an attempt to maximize the effectiveness of the steroids. This is called “stacking.”
Pyramiding: Pyramiding combines the cycling and stacking. One or more steroids are begun in a low dose and the dose gradually increased until halfway through the cycle where the amount is maximized and it is then tapered to zero by the end of the cycle.
But some of the individuals also start abusing it for several other reasons.
Use of anabolic steroid in teens
Use of steroids among teens is generally minimal.
But steroid use among teens has seen a slight increase in the last few years.
The 2016 NIDA-funded Monitoring the Future study has shown that misuse of steroids among 8th and 10th graders is much less compared to 12th graders.
In 2010, 1.2 percent of high school students admitted of using steroids. However, 1.56 had experimented with them in 2015 and further 1.65 in 2017.
Steroid taking decision
People abuse steroids for a variety of reasons, but most do it to increase body performance and appearance.
There may be peer pressure to use anabolic steroids in some sports because of a fear that normal training will not be enough to succeed.
There is also the perception that other athletes are abusing steroids and gaining an unfair advantage.
A program has been developed for both male and female high school sport teams (ATLAS for guys, ATHENA for girls) for coaches and leaders to enforce the danger in using these drugs.
Anabolic steroid abuse.
Anabolic steroids are particularly known for having a bad rap over the years due to their abuse by sportsmen and bodybuilders. Their performance- and muscle-boosting powers have led to widespread misuse and abuse.
Athletes and bodybuilders misuse these drugs in an attempt to increase the ability to exercise, allow muscles to grow, boost performance, improve their physical appearance, and prolong endurance.
Often times, drug abusers of steroids take 10 to 100 times more than would be prescribed by a physician to treat a condition or illness.
The user tries always to take enough anabolic steroid along with minimizing the risk of side effects and the potential of being caught.
Numerous books and web sites discuss the benefits and risks of different techniques to maximize the effect of a variety of steroids on the body.
Bodybuilders and weight lifters are not the only athletes to think that anabolic steroid use is their road to success.
Athletes, from strength sports like football and throwing the discus to speed sports like track sprinters and speed skaters, have attempted to use steroids to enhance performance and increase the efficiency of their training.
Sports with total number of anti-doping rules violations in 2015
For the past 50 years anabolic steroids have been at the forefront of the controversy surrounding performance enhancing drugs.
For almost half of this time no attempt was made by sport’s governing bodies to control its use.
Recently have all of the major sports governing bodies in North America agreed to ban it from competition.
These punitive measures were developed with the primary concern for promotion of fair play and eliminating potential health risks associated with androgenic-anabolic steroids.
Some of the incidents also forced the committee and government to ban the use of steroids.
Anabolic agents are prohibited at all times, both in- and out-of-competition in collegiate and professional sports.
It appears on both the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)
Several athletes who test positive for anabolic steroids were also punished and their medals were stripped off.
There is a large underground illegal industry that has grown to meet the demand for anabolic steroids and provides methods to try to avoid detection.
Tailor exercise programs are introduced so that more exercise can be done as the effect of steroid increases.
In athletes who use anabolic steroids, a cat and mouse game exist. They try to time their steroid injections so that the drug is out of their system during drug testing.
Sometimes people take masking drugs to try to “beat” the test by making the test negative. Chemists continually develop designer steroids to again prevent their use from being detected.
Bodybuilders who engage in “natural bodybuilding” aim to keep their anabolic hormones high and catabolic hormones low, but don’t use prohibited drugs to promote muscle growth.
Whereas anabolic steroids are very clearly banned, there is a grey area when it comes to a supplement called prohormones.
Prohormones are compounds that are sometimes added to supplements that turn into anabolic hormones in the body and promote muscle growth.
However, these muscle-building effects are usually short-term and prohormones are banned by some athletic associations.
You also have to be careful about purchasing any supplement that doesn’t have any third-party evaluation.
The FDA doesn’t regulate supplements and prohormones may be found in your supplements without them being listed in the product’s ingredient list.
Maintaining an Anabolic State
Weight trainers generally aim to exercise while in an anabolic state. Maintaining an anabolic state will ensure they have enough nutrients in their system to fuel their workout and provide the building blocks of protein for muscle growth.
Nutrient timing has been shown to maximize anabolic processes such as muscle building. Many weight trainers follow pre-workout nutrition regimens to optimize their bodies for building muscle. Before exercising, eating foods rich in carbohydrates and protein or protein alone helps increase strength and muscle mass.
People who weight train may also aim to take in food and drink that will provide enough nutrients to maintain an anabolic state both during and after their workouts. Within two hours after exercising, eating high-quality protein helps stimulate muscle protein synthesis.
Weight trainers also design workouts to challenge their muscles, so the body responds by building more muscle. Weight training and resistance workouts that target different muscle groups are particularly effective. Maximizing rest and recovery between workouts can also improve strength and endurance.
Dietary Supplements
You may see nutritional products and supplements labelled as either anabolic or anti-catabolic.
Anabolic products
Anabolic products provide carbohydrates, proteins, and amino acids that they claim will be absorbed quickly and available to the muscles to build more muscles.
Tribulus (Tribulus terrestris) is a dietary supplement that claims to have anabolic effects by increasing testosterone levels and muscle mass. However, these claims are mostly unsubstantiated.5
Anti-Catabolic Products
Anti-catabolic labels, on the other hand, might be added to food and supplements that take longer to digest, so they provide the needed nutrients over a longer period of time.
Anti-catabolic products slow down the breakdown of muscle. Creatine, for example, has an anti-catabolic effect on the body and helps protect against muscle protein catabolism.
Creatine can cause short-term cramping and diarrhoea. While less is known about long-term use, creatine has been linked to muscle injury and kidney problems.
Manufacturers claim that Creatine can build muscles and improve strength and stamina without the side effects of steroids, if taken in caution with small doses. Before taking any over-the-counter nutritional supplements or adding them to your regimen, you must talk with your doctor.
When taken in large doses and combined with alcohol or aspirin, or when combined with stimulants such as caffeine or ephedrine, nutritional supplements may become dangerous.
