Commonly known as steroids, corticosteroids are a type of anti-inflammatory medication. They are usually used to treat rheumatologic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels). Steroids, also called corticosteroids, are anti-inflammatory drugs used to treat a variety of conditions. Some athletes take pure testosterone to increase their performance.
Anabolic steroids used by athletes are often synthetic modifications of testosterone. Health care providers use anabolic steroids to treat some hormonal problems in men, delayed puberty, and muscle loss due to certain diseases. However, some people misuse anabolic steroids. Because anabolic steroids are derived from testosterone, they can have profound effects on the hormone levels of male and female abusers.
Steroids also reduce the activity of the immune system, which is the body's natural defense against diseases and infections. There is also an ongoing debate about steroid testing and other drug testing in professional baseball. Examples of drugs that serve as alternatives to anabolic steroids include clenbuterol, human growth hormone, insulin, insulin-like growth factor, and gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB). The NFL suspended running back Mike Cloud of the New England Patriots, defensive Lee Flowers of the Denver Broncos and Keith Newman of the Atlanta Falcons for violating the league's steroid policy.
Many athletes take anabolic steroids in much higher doses than prescribed for medical reasons. In addition, the 2002 survey also determined how easy it was for school-age children to obtain steroids. Under federal and New York State law, anabolic steroids can only be prescribed by a licensed prescriber after a face-to-face examination of a patient. Because steroids are often injected, users who share needles or use non-sterile injection techniques are also at risk of contracting dangerous infections, such as viral hepatitis and HIV.
Therefore, the popularity of performance-enhancing drugs, such as anabolic steroids and anabolic steroid substitute products, are the choice of some people to achieve these goals. Some people are taking dietary supplements that act as precursors to steroids without any knowledge of the dangers associated with their abuse. Take the time to learn about the potential benefits, health risks, and the many unknowns related to so-called performance-enhancing drugs, such as anabolic steroids, androstenedione, human growth hormone, erythropoietin, diuretics, creatine, and stimulants. Steroids are popularly associated with doping by elite athletes, but since the 1980s, their use by non-male athlete weightlifters has exceeded their use by competitive athletes.
The full name of this class of drugs is androgenic (which promote male characteristics) anabolic steroids (tissue building) (the class of drugs). If a person shares needles, syringes, and other equipment to inject steroids into a vein (IV), into muscles, or under the skin, small amounts of blood from the person infected with HIV can be injected into the bloodstream of the next person using the equipment.
