Steroids Case
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In recent years there has been many stories, of athletes especially in baseball, that have gotten caught using steroids. What many people dont understand is that this is very damaging to the body, both psychological and physically. This paper explains how steroids are damaging physically to the body. It also shows some good examples of short term, and long term effects that steroids give to the body physically. Also include in the paper how steroids affect the brain psychologically and showed a real good case in which steroids had affected a professional baseball player. With the psychological effects, I included some short and long term effects also. This paper shows how both HGH and Anabolic steroids are damaging to the body.
Steroids are one of the worlds most destructive drugs to your body. Yet every sport season there is a new story about professional athletes using a form of steroid in baseball. Steroids in sports are drugs, which are injected, or taken by pill, to better your game and make you do inhuman things. Over the years there have been many instances where people have illegally taken in this drug and have been caught. Despite steroids taking your game to a better level, they have many negative, physical and psychological side effects that are damaging to the body.
Steroids were invented by “A doctor by the name of Dr. Ruzicka (2009), who in the early 1930s created it for medical purposes, essentially to fight conditions like cancer and AIDS (“The use of,” 2009). Many years later, professional athletes found a way to use steroids in a sporting environment. Steroids started to reach the athletic environment in 1970 when Olympic performers were caught using it. With time, many more athletes became aware of this drug and what it did and steroids became more popular. In 1983, ten track and field athletes were disqualified from the Olympics for abusing steroids to better their game (“The use of,” 2009). This was just the start.
Steroids are mainly byproducts of the male hormone testosterone. When taking steroids you are putting extra testosterone into your body, which eventually causes rapid muscle growth. As humans, the use of steroids can cause body problems such as “high blood pressure, HIV/AIDS (when taken with shared needles), fluid retention, depression, anxiety, mania, low sperm production, and over-exertion” (“The use of,” 2009). Other effects include development of breasts in men, growth of facial hair in menstrual in women, faded testicles, pattern baldness, and increase risk of prostate cancer. Steroids also cause psychological effects. Some of the many psychological side effects include edginess, impatience, paranoid feelings, severe mood swings, obsession with body image, and angry and violent outbursts known as “roid rage (“What steroids do,” 2011).
Anabolic steroids are synthetically produced versions of the naturally occurring male hormone testosterone. These steroids are taken by pill or injection, and usually by cycles. Taking these in cycles means that people have a schedule that they take them in, usually weeks or months. This at first can have positive effects on the brain but can very quickly turn negative. Anabolic Steroid users usually say that they are feeling well, unconquerable or very happy. If they continue to use steroids it may result in much greater mood and behavior change. According to Pasbjerg (2003) “Many steroid users become aggressive, more hostile, or they may elude symptoms of various mental illnesses like schizophrenia, mania, and deep depression. (Pasbjerg, 2003). Anabolic steroid use is linked not only to roid rage and sudden mood changes, but also to higher incidence of suicide. In an ESPN article, I read a case in which a wrestler killed his wife, four-year-old kid, and himself because of roid rage. When found dead at the scene they also found needle marks all over his arm. This is one of the many cases (Fisher, 2007).
One of the most common short-term side effects is Edema, in other words water retention. Edema is basically the swelling in the ankles, knees, feet and wrists. This condition can be constant for some people while taking steroids( Mayo Clinic, 201l). Another very common short-term side effect is the atrophy of the testicles. This condition causes the testicles to shrink and is caused by testosterone coming from another source other than the testicles themselves, causing them to shrink. (Steven, 2010). The last common sort term effect is jaundice. Jaundice is failure of bile flow that causes yellowish pigmentation of skin, tissues, and body fluids (Lindsay, 2006). This is when you start to fade in skin pigment and takes a while to get back.
Some of the long-term effects are the effects that most steroid users severely overlook. One of the major harmful effects is on the cardio vascular problem. High cholesterol is linked with steroid use and this increases the chance of blood clots to the heart or the brain, which can result in death or sever disability. As the body tries to cope with the massive muscle mass that it is quickly building, there is an extra burden on the heart to supply blood. This can also cause death from heart attacks, which is common throughout steroid use. Problems with the liver are another long-term effect that is overlooked throughout steroid users. According to many cites “Steroids are scientifically proven to cause liver damage, known as Peliosis Hepatitis (“Side effects of,” 2008). These are among the many long-term side effects of steroids.
A big reason why steroids arent good for the human body is the psychological effects it has on the brain. The most common psychological effect is “roid rage”. “Roid Rage” is when people who take doses of steroids start to act in a very aggressive manner to other people (Ellis-Christensen, 2012). In a video I watched, the pitcher Rodger Clemens was throwing to the batter Mike Piazza. When Clemens delivered the pitch, Piazza swung and broke his bat witch ricocheted toward Clemens. As Piazza was running towards first, Clemens picked up the broken bat and chucked it at Piazza running up the first base line (“Rodgers roid rage,” 2012). This shows that in the game of baseball, Players have roid rages, which can be harmful to others. Another psychological effect is obsession with body image. This is common because of the way your body looks while of the drug steroids. People usually dont stop looking at themselves in the mirror when this is the case. This is just a few of the many psychological side effects.
Baseball, “Americas game”, will never be the same due to the abuse of steroids in the game. The use of steroids in the sport of baseball will be around forever because people see that this drug is letting