THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2005
SOME KEY FACTS
The negative side effects of steroid abuse, such as acne, gynecistic mastite, hair loss and liver failure deter some people from trying differ ent anabolic steroids. These side effects mar the individual's much desired chiseled image and could pose serious health problems.
STEROID USE
Ache
Anabolic steroid abuse increases the level of testosterone in the body, which increases the amount of sebum, a fatty secretion coming from skin's dermis layer. Sebum provides nutrients to the skin, keeps it from drying out and as Chad Touchberry, a KU doctoral graduate teaching assistant in physiology said, aids in "keeping the skin happy." Sebum lubes up the pore so the hair follicle can pass easily. But when the sebum level increases, the pore clogs, becomes inflamed and immune cells gravitate to the site causing the unsightly acne commonly found on adolescents.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 5A
Hair
Anabolic steroids can speed up the balding process. The body converts the steroid into dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a substance 10-times more powerful than testosterone. DHT binds to the scalp, shortening the growth phase of hair and causing the follicle to waste away until there is nothing left. Touchberry said. Steroids do not cause baldness. They only affect people who are predisposed to the condition, he said. The process is irreversible, however, and once the hair is gone, it is gone forever.
Liver
Oral steroids, such as dienabol, usually harm the liver more than injectable steroids because oral steroids are 17-alkylated. This means an alkyl is added to the 17th carbon on the hormone ring structure, Touchberry said. Because of this added alkyl, when the body absorbs the steroid, the steroid can make its way through the liver without being destroyed. Unlike testosterone secreted by a man's own testes, which travels through the body first and then into the liver, oral steroids head directly to the liver, he said. The synthetic version of the hormone allows the testosterone to pass through the liver without metabolizing. The continued abuse of steroids decreases the body's ability to rid itself of waste and increases toxicity, he said.
Storioid abuse can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. The heart muscle responds to steroids as the other muscles in the body do — by growing. Myocytes, or the heart's muscle cells, grow faster than the blood supply, causing the heart to work overtime to get the body the blood it needs, Touchberry said. When the heart muscles grow larger, there is less room for blood in the heart. It must pump more rapidly to get the same amount of blood into the body. If blood continues to flow poorly to the heart tissue, new heart cells could die and a fatal heart attack could follow, he said.
Heart
Gynaecomastia, nicknamed "bitch tits" by steroid users, resembles small soft feminine breasts and can totally ruin the hard-bodied appearance most male users seek. Touchberry said the man boobs are not just a cosmetic problem and can be indirectly related to hormone imbalance. An excessive amount of testosterone can aromatize — or get converted into estrogen — which is easier for the liver to break down. The liver is very susceptible to steroid abuse however, and when it's overworked it has a hard time breaking down even simple hormones, he said. This leads to estrogen flowing through the body and causes breasts to develop. Touchberry explains
Gynecomastia
Liz Beggs
Steroids CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
Despite a Kansas law that makes steroid possession a Class A misdemeanor — punishable by up to 12 months in the county jail or a $2,500 fine — Douglas County has not charged a single person with either the possession or sale of steroids in the last few years, said Charles Branson, Douglas County District Attorney.
"It doesn't mean that there is not a trade going on out there. It doesn't mean that there is not somebody out there who has thousands of pills or a supply of vials, and you know those people are looked at, and a lot of times those people go to federal prosecution." Branson said.
But according to Sgt. Dan Ward of the Lawrence Police Department, there has not even
been a steroid-related arrest in the last five years.
There has been an emphasis on standard drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, crack and heroine, because it is harder to develop probable cause for use of steroids, Branson said. Police are trained to detect the smell of marijuana, but they can't go into a gym, see a guy bulking up and have probable cause for steroids, he said.
But Branson said that steroids are just as important as other Schedule III drugs. Schedule III includes drugs such as heroine, cocaine and marijuana.
"I think if you talk to any of the detectives in the drug unit, I think they will tell you that as far as they are concerned if it's on the list it's on the list. And they're going to go after it just the same. I think there is probably more of an incidence of reporting of illegal activity when it's marijuana, when it's cocaine, when it's crack than when it is something like steroids," Branson said.
But the illegality of the drug has not been society's main concern. Rather, it is the ethical dilemma that surrounds steroid abuse in sports where users
— labeled as cheats — gain an unfair advantage. While concerned about steroids in sports, society has ignored people taking steroids to enhance their body image.
"Steroids are not the root of the problem," one survey respondent who did not abuse steroids wrote, "only a symptom of a society that has gone over the top."
And in this society, looks matter.
"I don't know why men need huge muscles anymore. It is not like they are out roping cattle or tilling the land." she said.
attractive. In an August 2000 study conducted by Harvard Medi-
For women, physical attraction has always been a commodity they have sold. Maybe now that the demands for men's physical attractiveness have gone up, you feel the pressure to be more attractive, said Sandra Albrecht, professor of sociology.
But Albrecht points out that these muscles men develop are just for show.
But some men believe they need these added muscles to be
ing behavior — such as steroid use — by bombarding people with images of rail-thin women and muscular men sporting six-pack abs. In an attempt to reach society's beauty standard, some women suffer from anorexia nervosa, but for men, a disorder called muscle dysmorphia afflicts individuals who desire strength and size.
more
Roberto Olivardia, professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, said that muscle dysmorphia, nicknamed bigaxeria or reverse anorexia, played into the sociocultural ideals for men.
Certain that their muscular physiques are puny and weak, muscle dysmorphia sufferers check the mirror dozens of times each day, fixated on their bodies, Olivardia said. They lift weights and exercise constantly and could even abuse anabolic steroids, he said.
"They like to look big and perfect because it makes them look tough, confident and assertive." Oliyardia said.
Brandon, although never diagnosed with muscle dysmorphia, illustrates Olivardia's point. Even though Brandon weighs 260 pounds, he said he feels small and wants to get bigger.
cal School's Harrison Pope, the researchers found men typically chose an ideal body 28 pounds of muscle heavier than their own body and thought women would choose a man with 30 pounds more muscle, even though a preliminary study showed women preferred men without the added muscle.
These men come to this assumption because of a society that encourages image-enhanc-
Olivardia said patients with muscle dysmorphia typically have a history of depression, which can also be a side effect of steroid abuse. Steroid-induced depression was recently blamed for the suicide of a 17-year-old baseball player in Plano, Texas. Steroid abuse can cause a hormone imbalance that some users believe can cause mood
hormonal imbalance, but because when he looked in the mirror, he didn't like what he saw. Cycling off steroids causes him to lose muscle mass, decreasing his overall size.
This hormonal imbalance has also been linked to other psychological disorders such as mood swings and steroid rage. Researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health examined these neuropsychiatric effects in a two-week long, double-blind study, in which neither the subject nor the researcher knew who took the placebo or the active agent, high doses of anabolic steroids were associated with irritability, mood swings, violent feelings, anger and hostility.
However, Chad Touchberry, a KU doctoral graduate teaching assistant in applied physiology, said that there hadn't been any longitudinal studies to definitively link rage with steroid abuse, although anecdotal evidence abounds, much of it focusing on the violent behavior of athletes.
But current and former users admit steroid use influences behavior.
Matt, a former KU club sport member recalls how steroids affected his behavior negatively. "I already had a temper, but they made it worse. I was edgy and unpleasant to be around," he said.
He frequently lost his cool and snapped at his unsuspecting mother.
Former bodybuilder Larry Barber said while he was lifting with other body builders who used steroids, arguments and fights broke out regularly.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6A
swings,
steroid rage
and depression
Brandon said he suffered mild depression only when he cycled off of steroids, not necessarily because of his
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