Busting a Myth: Only Oral Anabolic Steroids are Harmful to Liver Function by Jerry Brainum

 

The Internet is a great source of information, but also a terrible source of information. Sounds contradictory? What this means is that while the Internet does offer some solid science-based information if you know where to find it, it's also not unlike the Wild West in that "anything goes." That is, anyone can write anything they want on the Internet, and many even anoint themselves "experts" despite having no basis for such a title. Nowhere is this more apparent than on various sites pertaining to anabolic steroids and other anabolic drugs. Such drugs are favored by bodybuilders and athletes for their muscle-building and recovery properties. Anabolic steroids are structurally altered versions of testosterone, although testosterone itself is often referred to as an anabolic steroid. Although testosterone was discovered or isolated by German scientists in 1934, the widespread use of anabolic steroids likely first occurred just after the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. Prior to that, some isolated cases of steroid usage did exist among athletes, most notably Russian Olympic Weightlifters in the early 1950s. Indeed, a book published in 1945 written by Paul de Kruif was the first to suggest that testosterone could have beneficial athletic applications. Some have suggested that bodybuilders of that era took advantage of this hypothesis and began to experiment with testosterone, but there is no evidence of that. Another tale suggests that since testosterone was initially isolated in Germany, the German military used this to advantage during World War Two by supplying testosterone to their troops in the field. Once again, this notion of super German soldiers remains more apocryphal than factual, as again there is no true evidence to confirm this assertion. On the other hand, Hitler himself may be the first documented case of what is now known as 'Roid Rage," since his physician, a mad doctor if there ever was one named Theodor Morell, was known to provide Hitler with an early form of testosterone called testosterone propionate. One can only speculate how this use of testosterone added to Hitler's existing mental illness.

Although using anabolic steroids is most often associated with bodybuilders and athletes, the truth is that the greatest users of these drugs are young professionals and high school athletes. Neither group desires to compete in professional sports or bodybuilding contests. Instead, they believe that using anabolic steroids is the only route to a truly muscular physique.  Indeed, anyone who appears exceptionally muscular is often accused of using steroids despite any lack of proof to back up such accusations. But in many cases, they are using the drugs. Since physicians frown upon providing any information about steroids, the majority of information about steroids comes from fellow gym members or even worse, anonymous self-styled Internet "gurus" who hide behind fake screen names but are happy to dispense the "secret" drug regimes guaranteed to pack on muscular size and strength. The truth is, these various anabolic drug regimes dispensed over . . .