Anabolic steroids are powerful hormones. They affect the entire body. Some of the side effects are common to all users. Other side effects are specifically related to your sex and age.
Men who take anabolic steroids may:
- Develop breasts
- Get painful erections
- Have their testicles shrink
- Have decreased sperm count
- Become infertile
- Become impotent
Women who take anabolic steroids may:
- Grow excessive face and body hair
- Have their voices deepen
- Experience menstrual irregularities
- Have an enlarged clitoris
- Have reduced breast size
- Have a masculinized female fetus
Both men and women who take anabolic steroids may:
- Get acne
- Have an oily scalp and skin
- Get yellowing of the skin (jaundice)
- Become bald
- Have tendon rupture
- Have heart attacks
- Have an enlarged heart
- Develop significant risk of liver disease and liver cancer
- Have high levels of "bad" cholesterol
- Have mood swings
- Fly into rages
- Suffer delusions
Teens who take anabolic steroids may:
- Have short height due to arrested bone growth
- Girls may suffer long-term masculinization
Since steroids are often taken by injections, there is also the risk of getting HIV or hepatitis infection from an unsterile needle or syringe.
Doctors believe there are a lot of side effects of steroids. They are not good. It is like Russian roulette. Five people may take them and have no long-term problem. The sixth may end up dead.
