Alek sent in a very interesting question. He simply asked what are the real objective reasons for not using steroids.
This is a good question because there is much misinformation about steroids in the general media, and the side effects and potential negative effects are usually associated with massive doses.
What then are the objective reasons to avoid steroid use?
First of all any drug taken on a chronic basis will have some side effects to deal with. In the case of testosterone and it’s derivatives the side effects (no matter how mild the drug or dose) are as follows:
Aromatization of some testosterone to estrogen and then estrogen based side effects (development of breast tissue is the most obvious)
Hair Loss (not too many guys would trade a head of hair for slightly bigger muscles)
Raised blood lipids and cholesterol. This is one of the side effects that can directly increase risk of heart disease.
Potential increased risk of prostate cancer.
Acne (it’s person to person, not everyone gets this reaction)
And finally, there is likely a set of completely unknown side effects that the scientific community has yet to uncover or have a chance to study.
This list (while not complete) is a good starting point of ‘con’s’ to using steroids. If a guy wanted to use them he would have to weigh out these vs the ‘pro’s’.
Depending on the dose testosterone can be a benefit to many guys, it’s even prescribed as an anti-depressant and to elevate mood and well being.
It may also be of use for men who are beyond 50 years of age and want to replace some testosterone to restore their circulating levels back to those of a 30 year old. This may actually be beneficial for longevity and quality of life. This is analogous in some respects to hormone replacement therapy for post menopausal women.
In the end it should be up to each individual to decide what they want to do with their body. Collecting unbiased and objective information is the key to making an informed descision.
John
