What is steroids

What Are Steroids?

The word “Steroids” has different meanings. Steroids are chemicals, often hormones that are made in your body naturally. 

Their job is to help your organs, tissues, and cells do their job. You need a healthy balance of steroids in your body to grow and even to reproduce. “Steroids” are also known as man-made medicines. 

Steroids are hormones of 2 types:

  • Anabolic Androgenic Steroids – like testosterone, that help in building muscle and masculinization (hair, deep voice, sex). 
  • Corticosteroids – like cortisone or prednisone, anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressant agents for acne, rashes, asthma, or bronchitis. 

What Are Corticosteroids?

Corticosteroids are medicines that fight inflammation in the body. These man-made steroids work like a cortisol hormone produced in your adrenal glands. 

Cortisol slows down your immune system and prevents it from making substances that cause inflammation. Corticosteroid drugs, like prednisone, work the same way. By slowing down or stopping the immune system to carry out the processes that trigger inflammation. 

They can ease symptoms of:

  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Asthma
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD)
  • Lupus and other autoimmune disorders
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Rashes and skin conditions like eczema

What are Anabolic Steroids?

Anabolic steroids are also known as man-made testosterone, which is a male sex hormone that helps in building bigger muscles. They can be taken in the form of tablets or can be injected directly into the muscle. Testosterone Steroids can be legally prescribed if your body is not making enough testosterone. 

An example of people cured by anabolic steroids is boys with delayed puberty. People who lose muscle mass because of cancer, AIDS, and other health conditions are also prescribed anabolic steroids by doctors.

How Do Steroids Work? 

By modifying testosterone to prolong its impact, steroids influence the androgen receptors on certain cells including muscle cells increasing tissue production. 

Steroids also stop the effects of cortisol, a muscle-destroying hormone. Exercise increases the availability of androgen receptor sites. Steroid use with physical exercise increases muscle size and strength. 

The saturation of these receptor sites is the main goal. Some users stack steroids, use them in combination, an oral combined with an injectable. Others use it in cycles, increasing then decreasing the dose for 6- 18 weeks, and then there is a time when they don’t use, to keep the receptors sensitive and avoid consequences, which occurs when one stops using steroids.

What Are the Positive Effects of Steroids? 

Though it has its dangers steroids have been proven to be useful in a lot of cases as well. People suffering from health issues at a certain point of their disease might need steroids to fully recover from what they are suffering from:

Some of the benefits of steroids are:

  1. Possible increase in muscle mass.
  2. Increase in strength.
  3. Mobilization of fat stores. 
  4. Increase in erythropoiesis (red blood cells)

Are Steroids Bad for You?

Today hundreds of people take steroids, some for bodybuilding some of us have other medical conditions for which they have to take them for a while and some of us are spending the rest of our life on them.

So the question here is are they bad for our health? Which is quite a common question these days as people tend to take steroids more than ever, summing it up in a quick sentence, anything medication taken in access is bad for health no matter if it’s steroids or any other kind. So yes people who take them for a longer period do face a lot of dangerous issues that are even worse than the disease they are trying to cure. Muscle-boosting powers of steroids have led to widespread misuse and abuse, especially in bodybuilding People tend to use extremely high doses. Some even take 10 times more than legally prescribed for health problems.

There is an increased risk of joint-related injuries because the increase in muscle mass is not accompanied by a corresponding increase in the tendon, ligament, or joint size or strength. Steroids may weaken tendons and rapid weight gain may present a higher risk of injury. Using it more than you need, will result in a change in your body which will stop your androgenic glands from making testosterone. In men, the most common overdose issues cause smaller testicles, lower sperm counts, infertility, and breast growth. Women can face male-pattern baldness, facial hair growth, periods that change or stop, and a deeper voice. Younger people who use them can face impaired growth and development in bones. High doses end up leading you to extreme mood swings, anger, and aggression.

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