Steroids

Steroids Lesson Part1

9.ATOD.1.1: Explain the short-term and long-term effects of performance-enhancing drugs on health and eligibility to participate in sports.

General Facts

• Once viewed as a problem strictly associated with body builders, fitness "buffs," and professional athletes, the abuse of steroids is prevalent in today’s society.

• This is an alarming problem because of increased abuse over the years, and the ready availability of steroids and steroid related products.

• The problem is widespread throughout society including school-age children, athletes, fitness "buffs," business professionals, etc. 

• Teenagers are the leading group of steroid users due to body appearance – 1/3 are not athletes

• Both males and females abuse steroids. 

What are anabolic steroids?

• Simply Put: Synthetically produced variants of the naturally occurring male hormone testosterone.

• Both males and females have testosterone produced in their bodies: males in the testes, and females in the ovaries and other tissues.

• The full name for this class of drugs is androgenic (promoting masculine characteristics)anabolic (tissue building) steroids (the class of drugs)

Poll

Have you ever taken ibuprofen before?

• Yes

• No

Open Ended

Why did you take the medication?

You took the medication for a purpose.

Every medication has a desired effect. You might of took it to stop a headache, reduce inflammation, relief pain, help relief menstrual cramps, reduced a fever etc.. But the undesired side effects could be hemorrhage, vomiting, anemia, decreased hemoglobin and hypertension.

So the same for steroids.

There is a desired side effect that user are looking for but use also comes with the unwanted side effects as well.

Open Ended

What physical side effects happen to a male during puberty?

Androgenic Side Effect (Undesired Effect)

• refers to the physical changes experienced by a male during puberty, in the course of development to manhood

• males and females have similar effects 

• This property is responsible for the majority of the side effects of steroid use.

Anabolic Effect (Desired Effect)

• refers to promoting of anabolism, the actual building of tissues, mainly muscle, accomplished by the promotion of protein synthesis.

How Are They Taken?

• Injection (most common)

  Using non-sterile needles can result in blood-borne diseases

• Orally (most common)

• Pellet implantation under the skin 

• Application to the skin (e.g. gels or patches). 

• Steroids are taken anywhere from 1 up to 100 times the normal therapeutic doses of anabolic steroids. 

Multiple Choice

Anabolic Steroids mimic which male hormone?

• tetanus

• estrogen

• testosterone

Multiple Choice

The androgenic side effect refers to tissue building mainly muscle.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

The anabolic effect is the desired side effect of steroid use.

• True

• False