Steroids are anabolic drugs used most often by athletes in order to develop lean muscles. It is also known as androgenic/anabolic steroids or corticosteroids. It was once considered a magical solution for those who wanted to gain lean muscle mass. They are actually the synthetic derivatives of testosterone, the hormone that makes man, a man. Anabolic/androgenic steroids are performance enhancing drugs and are categorized in the ergogenic family. These steroids can also be used for treating certain medical conditions but strictly under the guidance of a well experienced doctor. It can be helpful in the treatment of thrombosis, breast cancer, osteoporosis etc.
When you take any type of drug for the treatment of even a mild cold, these drugs produce two types of effects on the body, therapeutic effects and non-therapeutic effects. Therapeutic effects are the intended effects of the drug on the body and the non-therapeutic effects are the side effects it has on the body. Steroid can be injected or taken orally. However, in most of the doping cases, the use of steroid includes a combination of injectable and oral preparations. In some cases, people inject steroids on the particular areas where they want to develop muscles which do not work out. It instead damages the site.
How Do Steroids Work?
There are different types of steroids. The steroid that is used by your grandma for arthritis is not the same as those used by the athletes. All sorts of drugs have their own mechanism of action though most of the drugs involve the drug receptor. The drug receptors are actually located in the cells of the body. The steroids block the cell receptors from performing other biological activities and indicate to make more proteins at a faster rate. This creation of new proteins helps in strengthening the muscles and increases the size of the muscle as well. Though anabolic steroids are quite effective but along with it there are also a number of side effects involved with it.
Side effects of Steroids
It is better described as: the larger the dose of steroid, the greater are the side effects. The use of steroid has the potential of giving rise to serious side effects. Some of the most common side effects are weakening of the muscles, diabetes, high blood pressure, deposits of fat in the chest, face, upper back, stomach etc. It also includes acne, mood swings, depression, stomach ulcers etc. It as been suggested that those who are into taking steroids must have their liver carefully monitored as it is toxic to the liver. So it is of utmost importance to keep in check that they are not damaging the liver.
