Steroid Use Isn't Limited to Professional Baseball Players

Age old problem: as early as the first Olympic Games in 776 BC, athletes have been altering training and dietary regimens to enhance performance. Particularly in today's society where professional athletes can make millions of dollars a year and are treated like celebrities, the temptation to gain a competitive edge is rife. And athletes are trying to gain that critical edge.

Anabolic steroids were first used to enhance muscle mass in the 1940s and throughout the 1950s and 1960s their use was rampant in sports. In 1967, the International Olympic Committee was the first sports organization to ban steroids.

Major League Baseball first came under fire in 2002 when a former MVP, Ken Caminiti, told Sports Illustrated that at least half the players were using steroids. This was followed by a tell-all book by Jose Canseco corroborating Caminiti's comments. Recently, baseball's all-time home run leader, Barry Bonds, was indicted in connection with the use of performance enhancing drugs. Former Senate majority leader George Mitchell is leading the investigation of steroid use in baseball.

Anabolic-androgenic steroids are synthetic derivatives of the male hormone, testosterone. Anabolic comes from the Greek meaning "to build," with androgenic meaning "masculinizing." Steroids are occasionally prescribed by doctors to treat certain medical conditions, such as hypogonadism or impotence. They work by increasing protein synthesis in muscle cells, stimulating the body to release endogenous growth hormone, and reversing the effects of the body's naturally occurring cortisol, which is a catabolic hormone. A net effect of these actions is increased muscle mass and strength.

When baseball's steroid scandal hit the news, Jimmy Kimmel joked that "Former baseball star Jose Canseco has a new book out. It's a tell-all biography in which he claims he injected his former teammate -- superstar Mark McGwire -- with steroids....Mark McGwire vehemently denies the accusation -- he got so angry when he heard about it, he picked up his house and threw it onto the freeway." The problem is that the potential side effects of anabolic steroids are not laughing matters.

"High blood pressure, increased cholesterol, acne, clotting disorders, liver damage, depression, and psychosis are but a few of the adverse effects of steroids," says Dr. Joshua Dines, a sports orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery and the Joe DiMaggio Sports Medicine Center in Manhattan. Men may report impotence, development of breasts and shrinking of their testicles. Females may experience masculinization, including facial hair growth and menstrual cycle abnormalities. In children, anabolic steroids can cause premature growth arrest.

And, while rare, fatal effects have been reported. "Athletes have died of strokes and heart attacks secondary to prolonged steroid use" adds Dr. Dines. There is also one reported case of a bodybuilder who contracted HIV by sharing needles used for steroid injections.

Ironically, athletes that take steroids to improve performance set themselves up for other sports-related injuries. Dr. Dines further comments that "anabolic androgenic steroid use can alter the microscopic structure of tendons, increasing their risk of rupturing." Achilles tendon, quadriceps tendon and distal biceps tendon tears have all been associated with steroid use." Another potential effect of steroid use occurs when athletes stop using them. The muscle strength gained by steroids helps protect ligaments and tendons that are exposed to excessive strains by athletes involved in repetitive motions, such as throwing. When the steroids are discontinued, the muscles lose some of their strength, increasing the stresses seen by the ligaments. According to Dr. Dines, "Though anecdotal, we are seeing an increasing number of elbow ligament injuries in throwers, which may be due to some players no longer using steroids."

The problem is not isolated to professional sports. Some high-school athletes view using steroids as their ticket to a college scholarship; and a number of college athletes take steroids to increase their chances of turning professional. A review by the "American Academy of Pediatrics" found that anabolic steroid use by adolescent athletes was as high as 11 percent for boys. And, in 2005, a study by the Center for Disease Control reported that 6.1 percent of high school students had taken anabolic steroids.

Very soon, the Mitchell Commission will report their findings on such drug abuse, possibly "naming names" of many major league baseball players that are currently revered by millions of Americans. While it is unclear how the report will affect the way we as a society view this generation of baseball players, what is certain is that the illegal use of anabolic steroids is dangerous for both the user and those that view these athletes as role models. And all to the detriment of sports and those who enjoy them. Dr. Dines quips that "using these drugs is a sure way to end up in the loss column."

Read more news and blog posts on the Mitchell report on steroids in baseball here.

Comments

[splashy]

There is too much money involved. It always corrupts things.

[Drivelphobe]

The medically managed use of anabolic steroids for athletes or anyone else who feels the need for their benefits, should be allowed. Under medical supervision, the "patient" would be monitored and abuse would be curtailed.

When individuals have free access to these pharmaceuticals, a potential problem exists. I have personally been around steroid use for over 50 years and have never witnessed an adverse reaction like the ones I read about. As for the personality disorders, I am convinced that they were in place without the use of steroids. May of the users were psychotics and had multiple psychiatric disorders.

Like any other pharmaceutical, there are valuable applications which must be evaluated with the side-effects in mind. Improved human performance is a legitimate use in my opinion and should be available to all competitors on an equal basis. Are these really any different than the use of vitamins, analgesics, vasodilators, oxygen, astringents, and any other commonly used means to improve athletic prowess?

[RickB]

I was just catching up by reading online newspapers from my old neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY. Seems the feds busted a pharmacy that was dispensing illegal steroids under the table for years.

There are suggestions of mob connections, but the real surprise is who were the biggest customers for the steroids. Athletes? Nope. Schoolkids? Nope. Body builders? Nope. Answer: COPS!!

Frightening to think that the next time you get pulled over, it could be by a muscled-up, 'roid raging man with a gun.

[Sciguy]

It serves us right as a society when we use athletes as role models! Once upon a time, when I was a kid, I had role models, too. They were my parents, who did well because they worked hard. They included other people like Marie Curie, who did well because she worked hard. I viewed the astronauts as almost gods, because they did well and got to go into space - because they worked hard. All of my role models used their brains.

Nowadays, kids seem to think that the Top Of The Heap is exclusively sports. Their role models appear to be regular guys who got rich FAST by being able to use their amped-up bodies rather than their minds.

Perhaps if we can teach kids that brains are more important than brawn, they won't revere sports stars who can't read but CAN shoot up. How to do that? Quit paying the sports celebs so damn much money. Don't go to the games or watch them on TV. Start paying college professors more. Go to college. And maybe, just maybe, teach kids that being a zillionaire might not be worth the cost of drugging to inflate mere muscles.

[newworldman777]

When I was in the navy in the 80s, I was stationed on a ship in San Diego, with Tijuana, Mexico just 7 miles south of us. Many guys aboard the ship were legally procurring steroids in Tijuana, bringing them back to the ship, and taking them. These guys spent a lot of time in the ship's gym, as did I, though I never touched the drugs. Unfortunately, I suffered from their drug usage, from their "roid rage." I recall one incident whereby a marine, obviously on the drugs, sharply and very rudely admonished me for daring to touch one of the dumbbells that he had been using. It was across the room from him, therefore I had no idea that he had been using it. Point is, these guys are a menace to themselves, and to those around them. The drugs are totally not cool, all the way around.

[darker]

Bush-Cheney crookery & corruption extends even into the sports arena.

The permissive tone they set is "anything goes...anything you can GET AWAY WITH...is okay".

Passive Americans sit on their hands and watch this mess. Wake up! Protest!

[charon]

Yes, I am surprised that anyone would be shocked by this. When I was in high school in the late 60s/early 70s, there was a gym in town where many high school and college athletes (mainly in strength-related sports like football, wrestling, basketball, track and baseball) worked out along with adult bodybuilders and weightlifters. 'Roids were in common use there, and if they were common there, all pro sports and most college sports teams must have had easy access to them as well.

I was an athlete as well and worked out there, but never used them though I knew people who did. I saw "skinny" 150 lb. guys bulk up to 180 lb. Adonises on the stuff, and competitive bodybuilders, including the holder of the Mr. Western America title, pump up with it. I also saw people who went off them deflate fairly quickly.

A neighbor of mine, who was a starting catcher for a MLB team also bulked up considerably at this time (1972). I suspected 'roids at the time, though I never asked him or heard anything to confirm it. However, I am sure many did. That's why all this fuss over Bonds seems so misplaced to me. Maybe he did, but so have thousands of pro athletes since the 60s. If his records are in question, so are all records since about 1965.

That is why I think it is unfair to single out Bonds and his records as being invalid. We know many athletes were using over the last 40 years; we just don't know which ones.

[UncleDave]

Thank You for this post. I have spent all day 'commenting' on other posts reguarding this issue. Finally someone 'comes clean' and talks truth. Steroids and HGH will eventually kill athletes who abused - I said ABUSED- them. And any amount of excuses are Just That. You wanna be a roided up Hulk and say No One in your family suffers? You are a Liar.

[wrabbitt]

Our children will reap the benefits of this mess, Drugs are the answer, not hard work,Between the Dog Fighting, and a home run record set with Steroids, sports is getting a black eye. We can't respect someone who makes millions of dollars a year and, gets caught then trys to lies their way out of it. Or gives back the medals, even if someone don't use drugs and, they are just very good at what they do, we will suspect them. A ten year old asked if Steroids are an easy way or dangerous way to beat everyone else? Dangerous of course, then why does everyone use them? Everyone don't use them. Just the winners? End of conversation...

[JFWilliam]

Check this ugly little ditty indeed...

BUSH'S PRAETORIAN GUARDS ARE AMPED ON 'ROIDS AND OTHER SHIT -- A quarter of Blackwater security guards in Iraq use steroids and other "judgment-altering substances," according to a lawsuit filed by the families of several Iraqis killed or wounded in a Baghdad shooting in September. The lawsuit accuses Blackwater of war crimes, wrongful death, assault, negligent hiring and emotional distress. WASHINGTON (CNN November 27, 2007)

BLACKWATER : THE SHADOW WAR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfu44knmLOE

If the Republicans lose in 2008, they will leave office armed and dangerous. Bush's Praetorian Guard could presage the final stage in the collapse of American democracy.