When you think of steroid use what usually comes to mind is some muscle bound guy who can’t scratch his head because his arms can’t reach or some female athlete with facial hair and a deep voice.  Well, steroids have become much more useful than that.  Steroids are now used to treat some cancer patients and AIDS patients to prevent the loss of body mass which would lower the mortality rate affecting those patients.  They are also used to help with menopause, osteoporosis and in the treatment of burn victims to help with the healing process.

Steroids used to be just a supplement that was taken by Olympic or Professional athletes and amateur weightlifters and bodybuilders, but today we find the use of steroids trickling down to high school students and even younger kids.  The detection time of steroids in the urine can range anywhere from one week to one year depending on the person’s body weight and how often the steroids were used by the individual.

Abusing steroids can have serious health consequences. Some of the health related hazards of steroid abuse are liver damage, high blood pressure, fluid retention, and severe acne, and jaundice, increase of bad cholesterol and decrease of good cholesterol.  There are specific dangers for both men and women.  For men, steroid abuse can lead to reduced sperm count, shrinkage of testicles, infertility, baldness, development of breasts and it puts them at an increased risk for prostate cancer.  For women the risks include male pattern baldness, the appearance of facial hair, a change or stoppage of the menstrual cycle, enlargement of the clitoris and deepening of the voice.  The dangers of steroid abuse in adolescents include earlier puberty changes and a stunted growth pattern due to earlier development of the skeleton.  Steroids do have a legitimate and valuable function but only if they are used properly.