The use and abuse of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) is on the rise and this is not just among athletes but also in the general population.

“Since many of the side effects of anabolic steroids are manifested in the skin, dermatologists are in a unique and favorable position to detect their use, if they are aware of such clinical signs,” says Michael J. Scott III, D.O., M.D., clinical associate professor of dermatology, Western University of Health Sciences, and co-director of the Seattle Dermatology Center, Seattle.

From Modernmedicine.com:

Whether administered orally or by injection, anabolic androgenic steroids can cause many side effects in patients who use and/or abuse them. They include a very muscular/athletic build, gynecomastia in males, striae, alopecia, aggravation of an existing case of acne or a new case of acne (including an increase in comedones, sebaceous cysts or cystic acne lesions), rosacea, seborrhea, androgenic alopecia in both males and females and hirsutism (particularly in females).

Other adverse events that can occur outside of the dermatologic field include testicular atrophy, a decreased sperm count and libido. According to Dr. Scott, most of the side effects can revert back to a normal state approximately four to six months after the patient ceases to take the offending steroid. However, some side effects may be permanent.

“Once alerted to this possibility during a dermatological examination, the dermatologist has an excellent opportunity to make users aware of the potential hazards and dangers of taking such drugs.”

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Illicit use of HGH (human growth hormone) has become common among young American male weightlifters, according to a new study published in The American Journal on Addictions.

The study also disclosed that illicit use of HGH in this population is often associated with polysubstance abuse involving both performance-enhancing and classical drugs.

From Starglobaltribune.com:

Results found that 27 (12 percent) reported illicit use of HGH and/or its close relative, insulin-like growth factor-I. All of these 27 men had also used anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), and 15 (56 percent) also reported current or past dependence on opioids, cocaine, and/or ecstasy.

These findings suggest that illicit HGH use is common, and is usually associated with abuse of both AAS and ordinary street drugs.

“The long-term risks of high-dose HGH use are little studied, but available evidence suggests that long-term high-dose HGH may have serious medical consequences, including cardiac, endocrine, and respiratory effects, as well as increased risk for certain cancers,” Brennan notes. “Our findings suggest that mounting illicit HGH abuse may represent a dangerous new form of drug abuse with potentially severe public health consequences.”

The researchers were led by Brian P. Brennan, MD, MSc, of McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

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Powerlifter Virender Singh from India has been suspended by the International Paralympic Committee for a period of three years.

The suspension happened due to an anti-doping rule violation by Singh and will rule him out of the next Paralympic Games in London in 2012.

From Telegraph.co.uk:

Virender returned an adverse analytical finding for methandienone metabolites and 19-norandrostenedione, both exogenous anabolic androgenic steroids, in a urine sample provided on Dec 14 last uear in an out-of-competition test at the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Para Games in China.

Those substances are included in the 2010 Prohibited List and consequently prohibited under the IPC Anti-Doping Code, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC).

Virender told the IPC that he did not have a Therapeutic Use Exemption, which some disabled athletes are permitted to have, to explain the adverse analytical finding and that he accepted the Anti-Doping Rule Violation.

“As a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC), the IPC remains committed to a doping free sporting environment at all levels,” a spokesperson for the IPC said.

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Steroid use in teens and unhealthy weight control behaviors are commonly linked with participation in sports with real or perceived weight specifications, as per University of Minnesota researchers.

The link between weight-related sports and unhealthy weight-control behaviors is alarming, according to Marla Eisenberg, Sc.D., M.P.H., assistant professor at the University Of Minnesota Medical School Department Of Pediatrics.

From Sciencedaily.com:

“It is encouraging to see that the majority of young people who reported using steroids in 1999 stopped using them as they got older,” said Patricia van den Berg, Ph.D., lead author of the study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. “But even given this decline, between one and three in 100 teens still reported using steroids within the last year when asked again 5 years later.”

Researchers conducted the longitudinal study with more than 2,000 adolescents to examine changes in eating patterns, weight, physical activity, and related factors over five years. Participants completed two surveys, one in 1999 and one in 2004, to determine if there were changes in steroid use.

Overall, 1.7 percent of boys and 1.4 percent of girls between the ages of 15 and 23 reported steroid use in 2004. Those that reported use early on were 4 to 10 times more likely to use later in life.

Anabolic androgenic steroids are synthetic derivatives of testosterone, the male sex hormone, used by sportsmen to improve muscle mass, body strength, and performance.

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According to researchers at the University of Minnesota, unhealthy weight control behaviors and steroid use in teens are commonly associated with participation in sports with real or perceived weight specifications.

It is worth noting here that anabolic androgenic steroids that are synthetic derivatives of the male hormone, testosterone, are used by professional sportsmen for enhancing the levels of body strength and muscle mass besides improving the level of performance over a continuing period of time.

From Sciencedaily.com:

“It is encouraging to see that the majority of young people who reported using steroids in 1999 stopped using them as they got older,” said Patricia van den Berg, Ph.D., lead author of the study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. “But even given this decline, between one and three in 100 teens still reported using steroids within the last year when asked again 5 years later.”

Researchers conducted the longitudinal study with more than 2,000 adolescents to examine changes in eating patterns, weight, physical activity, and related factors over five years. Participants completed two surveys, one in 1999 and one in 2004, to determine if there were changes in steroid use.

Overall, 1.7 percent of boys and 1.4 percent of girls between the ages of 15 and 23 reported steroid use in 2004. Those that reported use early on were 4 to 10 times more likely to use later in life.

Marla Eisenberg, Sc.D., M.P.H., assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School Department of Pediatrics, remarked that the association between weight-related sports and unhealthy weight-control behaviors is concerning.

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The use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) increases the risk of certain types of musculoskeletal injuries, as per an unprecedented survey of retired National Football League players reported in the March issue of the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.

Senior author Kevin Guskiewicz, Ph.D., A.T.C., Professor of Exercise and Sport Science and Research Director at The Center for the Study of Retired Athletes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said compounded medical complications appearing with use of steroids with negative impact on joint health could cause chronic diseases later in life.

From Medicalnewstoday.com:

Overall, 9.1 percent of the players said they had used AAS. Those who played positions requiring the greatest size and strength had the highest rates of steroid use: 16.3 percent for offensive linemen and 14.8 percent for defensive linemen. Among players who played primarily during the 1980s, 20.3 percent reported using AAS.

Players who used AAS reported more injuries affecting the joint ligaments and cartilage almost literally from head to toe. Steroid users had higher rates of neck “stinger” or “burner” injuries; herniated spinal disks; elbow injuries; injuries to the knee ligaments and menisci; and injuries of the ankle, foot, and toes.

There was no steroid-related increase in the risk of injuries to the muscle itself, such as biceps or triceps ruptures, and no increase in shoulder injuries. Somewhat surprisingly, AAS use was not associated with an increased risk of tendon injuries. Based on previous studies, the researchers had suspected that tendons might be at increased risk because they could not match the rapid increase in muscle size and strength.

The lead author was Scott Horn, D.O., of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the UNC School of Medicine.

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According to an article in an issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, the use of anabolic androgenic steroids could be linked with an antisocial lifestyle such as acts involving arms and fraud but does not appear to be linked with violent crimes or crimes against property.

As per background information in the article, non-prescription use of steroids has been associated with a number of psychiatric conditions and changes in behavior.

From Sciencedaily.com:

When individuals referred to testing from substance abuse centers were excluded, the association between steroid use and weapons offenses remained significant. “One possible explanation for this finding might be that criminals involved in heavy types of crime, such as armed robbery or collection of crime-related debts, derive an advantage from being muscular and/or having a heavy build,” the researchers write. “The well-documented increase in aggressiveness associated with anabolic androgenic steroid use might also be advantageous in carrying out premeditated crimes against people.” Also in this analysis, the association between steroid use and fraud disappeared, and the risk for crimes against property became lower among those testing positive for steroids than among those testing negative.

Although steroids are primarily associated with violent outbursts of anger and impulsive behavior, these results suggest that they may also be linked to crimes involving preparation and advance planning, the authors conclude. However, additional research is required to assess the motives behind and effects of steroid use by criminals.

Fia Klötz, M.D., Uppsala University, Sweden, and colleagues examined the links between criminal acts and steroid use in 1,440 Swedish residents tested for the drugs between 1995 and 2001.

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The ongoing allegations accusing sports to be greatly influenced by anabolic-androgenic steroids and human growth hormone use have magnified in the last few months.

With more and more reports of steroid use coming from all parts of the world, it has become important to educate young students and budding sportsmen about the effects of steroid use so that the spirit of sports is not harmed in any way.

From Journalaz.com:

MUHS has increased steroid awareness after finding two MUHS football players using anabolic drugs early last school year.

“We are still working on it. We are like everywhere else. A percentage of kids who will use these things think they will help them. I don’t think we have a big problem, but we want to take a leadership role on this,” Athletic Director Mike Boysen said.

Principal Marc Cooper said, “We emphatically stress the importance of non-use of any supplement or over-the-counter supplement. Nobody knows the long-term effects of what they are buying over the counter.”

Mike Saviness, a former NFL player whose body has been ravaged by steroid use, claims he offered to speak to MUHS students about steroids last year and was turned down. That claim was denied by Mike Boysen.

It is believed that measures as dedicated as these would surely go a long way in educating school students about the effects of steroids and curb such use in the near future.

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Steroids can have a long-lasting effect on brains of teenagers and may even flip the brain switch of adolescents for aggression that may last as much as two years, as per a U.S. study.

It was suggested by the study researchers that anabolic steroids may result in brain changes on a permanent basis, a fact that was based on results noticed in hamsters.

In the recent past, neuroscientists have shown a great concern about the rising adolescent abuse of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AASs).

From News-Medical.Net:

According to the researchers even after the drug was withdrawn, the newly vicious hamsters attacked, bit and chased the intruders, and the level of aggressiveness was 10 times greater than that of other hamsters which were only injected with oil.

Apparently the effects lasted for almost two weeks, which is the equivalent of half their adolescence.

After this period, the animals reverted to their normal playful defensiveness, but postmortems on the hamsters found there had been also been changes in their brain activity.

While they were being given steroids, a part of their brains called the anterior hypothalamus, which regulates aggression and social behaviour, pumped out more of a neurotransmitter called vasopressin.

Their full-blown aggression which was clearly drug-induced lasted for nearly two weeks of withdrawal.

Three weeks after withdrawal, vasopressin levels had subsided in line with the aggressive behaviour.

This study appeared in the current edition of Behavioral Neuroscience, Vol. 120, No. 1.

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More Americans were abusing controlled prescription drugs than cocaine, inhalants, heroin, and hallucinogens as a combination between years 1992-2003 as per a recently released report.

Joseph Califano, chairman and founder of the center and a former health secretary, remarked that the country is in the middle of an epidemic of controlled prescription drug abuse and addiction.

It was further remarked by Califano that the abuse of prescription opioids among teenagers has risen by as much as 542 percent and the explosion in prescription has brought a greater temptation and threat than the illegal street drug dealer.

From News-Medical.Net:

There are apparently hundreds of web sites advertising and selling controlled drugs, often without prescription and regardless of age, and teenagers and children can easily obtain them.

The most likely drugs to be abused were opioids, or pain relievers such as OxyContin or Vicodin; central nervous system depressants such as Valium or Xanax; stimulants including Ritalin or Adderall and anabolic-androgenic steroids like Anadrol or Equipoise.

The report says the problem can be seen in all sections of the community, across all age groups, ethnic groups and in all socio-economic groups.

In 2003, 2.3 million 12 to 17 year-olds (almost one in 10) abused least one controlled prescription drug. Girls were more likely than boys to be abusers.

The report says that teenagers who abuse drugs are twice as likely to use alcohol, five times as likely to use marijuana, 12 times likelier to use heroin and 21 times likelier to use cocaine than teens who do not abuse such drugs.

It is sad to note that controlled drugs were implicated in approximately 30 percent of drug-related emergency room deaths in the year 2002 alone. Law enforcement officials around the country have been staging a lone battle against prescription drug abuse, especially against pain killers.

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