Bigger, Stronger, Faster, Deader?

What do you do when you're in the gym getting work done and some guy comes up and says, "Hey bro, you wanna get yolked super fast?"

Your first instinct is probably to yell, "Hell yes!" But then you should wonder, "Who is this weird dude interrupting my workout?" Maybe you experienced something similar in high school, in college, at a local gym or maybe even within an organized sports team. Every once in awhile, in all training circles you get a "pusher". This pusher promises you glory days ahead full of rippling muscles, less body fat, faster forty times and more chicks than a jihad death would bring you. It all sounds great, especially because the solution is a simple pill or injection daily for six to twelve weeks. This quick fix to getting bigger, stronger, faster sounds so appealing, especially because the guy who approached you promises he has ten other guys just like you on them and they are fine. But is this bigger, faster, stronger wonder drug pusher forgetting to mention his "secret" could lead you to be deader too?

The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports 2.2% of high school seniors have reported using steroids at least once. We are all well aware of the fact that performance enhancing drugs have become a staple of conversation surrounding professional and olympic sporting events, especially when records stand to be broken. Yes steroids are being used and probably more commonly now than ever. Unfortunately for the drug abusing muscle heads, high school kids who have been duped and professional athletes their "secret" to being the big man on campus may lead to an early heart related death.

The new study conducted by researcher Thomas MacDonald, MD, FRCPE, of Scotland's Ninewells Hospital and Medical School appears in the Nov. 16 issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

MacDonald and colleagues examined medical record data from more than 68,000 people with steroid prescriptions and about 82,000 people not taking steroids.

All patients were at least 40 years old when the data was collected by Scotland's National Health Service from 1993 to 1996.

Steroid types, doses, and length of treatment varied, so the researchers calculated equivalent doses for comparison. The scientists tracked participants' "cardiovascular events" including heart attack, heart failure, and stroke.

Heart disease risk was more than 2.5 times higher in people taking high doses of steroids compared with those not taking steroids.

"Treatment with high-dose glucocorticoids seemed to be associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease," write the researchers. - WebMD

Although the researchers note they did not collect extensive background information on their patients like certain lifestyle choices, the study still raises some interesting questions. It is already a known fact that steroids cause atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. This is exactly what causes heart attacks in obese people and can cause a stroke if blood is clotted on its way to the brain. This study followed patients with prescribed amounts of steroid use, which means the dosages being used were considered to be "safe" by doctors. Anabolic steroid use for performance or muscular enhancement may use dosages as high as three to five times the recommended "safe" dosages used by doctors to treat low levels of testosterone.

I believe the effects of steroid use on the heart is a silent killer and a much less known side effect of abusing the drug. There are many cases in professional wrestling where wrestlers are dying at thirty-five, forty years old of heart attacks. If you look at the NFL, you can see a lot of heart related young deaths as well. I by no means think everyone who steps in the ring or throws on the pads on Sundays is a steroid abuser. It could be the extremely demanding nature of the sport, coupled with other lifestyle choices possibly including steroid abuse, that may create a perfect storm for heart failure. Many men see success in the NFL and other pro sports without the use of performance enhancing drugs. I'm simply stating a correlation between a small population of heart related deaths and two sports where steroids are known to be used. When most people talk about the danger of abusing steroids we talk about shrinking testicles, man boobs, acne, premature balding and roid rage. These are all outwardly visible and physical side effects that may scare people away from juicing if they are concerned with their long term personal image. All of these side effects should be taken into consideration, but perhaps the most important side effect to consider is that steroids might not only leave you bigger, stronger and faster, they could very well leave you dead from heart failure.