Looking to bulk up for summer and considering using steroids?
Do they really cause your testicles to shrink?
Or is that just a myth?
Are some steroids good for you?
Or do they all cause life-threatening cancers and infertility?
I’ll explain.
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Ever wonder how those bodybuilders get so big?
Are you hoping to gain a competitive edge by taking performance-enhancing supplements
or drugs and wanna know what the side effects are?
Are there any other ways to get big quick without taking steroids?
Today we’re going to go over all of this.
Hey everyone, I’m Dr. Jordan Wagner.
I’m an emergency room doctor who treats everything from COVID to gunshot wounds, burns, you name it.
I’ve created this video series to help answer some of your medical questions
and the questions that I get from patients each and every day.
If you find this video helpful, please do me a favor and subscribe.
Here’s the deal, while some may have gotten their muscles and
athleticism through a strict regimen of weight-lifting and diet and training.
Others may have gotten yoked through the use of illegal steroids, or in other words,
performance-enhancing drugs.
In fact, an estimated 3 to 4 million Americans for instance use steroids,
to gain muscle mass for sports or to enhance their appearance.
So maybe you ask what’s the big deal doc?
I wanna get huge for the summer, it can’t be that bad, right?
Well not exactly, some steroids could have major health consequences on your body that
you definitely should know about and I’ll go into all of that but first things first.
What the heck are steroids?
On a very basic level, steroids are chemicals, often hormones, that your body makes naturally.
They help your organs, tissues and cells do their jobs and you need a
healthy balance of them to grow and for other various processes in your body.
But this term steroid can also refer to man-made substances as well.
There are two main types of steroids, the first are corticosteroids steroids.
Corticosteroid steroids are a class of drug that lowers inflammation in the body, they also
reduce immune system activity, ease swelling, itching, redness, and allergic reactions.
Doctors like myself often prescribe them to help
treat diseases like arthritis in the knees, elbows, or for asthma.
And these corticosteroid steroids have legitimate medical uses.
But these are not, I repeat not the steroids that trying to take to get big in the gym.
Those are the second type of steroid called anabolic-androgenic steroids.
Often called slang terms like Arnolds, gym candy,
pumpers, roids, stackers, weight trainers, and juice in certain fitness circles.
Anabolic steroids are synthetic substances similar to the male sex hormone testosterone.
They work by stimulating muscle tissue to grow and bulk up in response to training
by mimicking the effect of naturally produced testosterone in the body.
These types of steroids can remain in the body anywhere from a couple of days to about a year,
and they have become popular because they can improve endurance, strength, and muscle mass.
Also, these types of steroids can also be prescribed for delayed puberty or
for medical conditions that lead to muscle loss, such as cancer or AIDS.
But doctors rarely ever prescribe anabolic steroids to young,
healthy individuals to help them build muscles.
And without a prescription from a doctor, these types of steroids are illegal.
Alright, what are the common side effects of taking anabolic substances specifically?
Aside from the small effects of increased acne and hair loss when somebody abuses steroids,
medically, gender mix-ups happen.
What I mean by this is men can grow breasts, experience shrunken testicles,
and reduced sperm count.
Women on the other hand who take anabolic steroids can grow beards,
experience reduced breast size, and experience deepening of their voice.
But these are not the only side effects, steroids can have major life-threatening effects as well.
There are reports of an increased risk of developing liver cancer in the body.
And if you don't develop cancer some steroids are known to cause
tumors that form in your liver called hepatic adenomas.
Although these tumors are not cancerous, they can rupture and cause serious bleeding in the liver.
Your liver isn’t the only organ that can be at risk either.
The use of anabolic-androgenic steroids is associated with compromised
heart pumping and atherosclerotic plaque, meaning
you could be at increased risk for coronary artery disease and left ventricular dysfunction.
Together these effects can reduce the supply of oxygenated blood
to the heart and from the heart to the arteries.
Not to mention high blood pressure, increased levels of bad cholesterol, mood swings,
aggressive behavior, testicular atrophy, aka shrinking of your testicles,
lowered sperm count, and infertility, and many many more serious side effects.
In other words, steroids throw your body way out of whack and can send you six feet under
when not taken under direction of a doctor.
Do performance-enhancing drugs boost performance?
Some athletes may appear to achieve physical gains from such drugs, but at what cost?
It’s common sense people.
The long-term effects of performance-enhancing drugs haven't been rigorously studied.
And short-term benefits are tempered by many risks.
No matter how you look at it, using performance-enhancing drugs is a risky business.
There are several research-backed supplements
which can aid in natural and safe quests for muscle gains.
I’d recommend instead checking out supplements such as creatine monohydrate,
essential amino acids, and whey protein powder.
These supplement’s safety and effectiveness
are backed by a significant amount of scientific research, and by the way they are legal.
As a reminder, it’s always best to run any type
of supplement that you want to try by your primary care doctor first.
Alright, that’s been a quick steroid conversation, with me Doctor Wagner.
Have you or anyone you know ever taken steroids and experienced any of these side effects?
Please let me know in the comments, and also let me know if there are any other
medical questions that you’d like me to answer, I’d love to hear them.
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Thank you so much for watching and stay healthy my friends.
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