How Steroids Work

Steroid use is becoming more and more common in both sports and the general public. Steroids refer to specific types of synthetic hormones that are able to enact change within the body by interacting with cell receptors. Steroids can be both good and bad, depending on how they are used and for how long. Steroids often present a major ethical issue on whether or not they should be allowed in sports. Steroid use without a prescription from a valid doctor is currently illegal.

Anabolic Steroids
The term "anabolic steroid" refers to a synthetic concoction of testosterone that is either injected or taken orally by the user. Because testosterone is the main hormone responsible for building muscles in both men and women, it is often abused by athletes and bodybuilders in order to increase muscle mass and performance. While anabolic steroids increase the user's performance, it inhibits the natural testosterone production in the body which may lead to mood changes and even muscle loss later on in life.

Estrogen and Progesterone
Estrogen and progesterone are the two main hormones found in women. These two hormones usually balance themselves out in order to create equal proportions in the body. This is because estrogen causes many problems in the body but is responsible for normal female development. Progesterone works to combat many of the negative effects of estrogen. When estrogen/progesterone levels change and one becomes stronger than the other, specifically being more estrogen than progesterone, many health problems may occur. To counter this, estrogen and progesterone can be taken as oral steroids in order to return the hormones to the proper levels.

Corticosteroids
Corticosteroids are a type of steroid hormones in the body that control stress response, immune response, inflammation, metabolism, electrolyte levels, protein catabolism, and behavior. Corticosteroids are found in both men and women and are important to natural health. Corticosteroids may be given to patients by their doctor in order to control a wide variety of medical conditions. Corticosteroids may be inhaled, injected, taken orally, or applied as a cream.

Cell Receptors
A cell receptor is a type of protein that is able to interact with hormones in order to cause changes in the body. This is, in fact, how all steroids and medicines work. Drugs are not able to cause actual changes within a person's body but are able to bond with specific cell receptors in order to induce growth, reduce inflammation, or cause a wide variety of other changes within the body.

Side Effects
While steroids come in many forms, they can all cause negative effects if used improperly. For example, when anabolic steroids are abused, they can inhibit the natural testosterone production in the body. When this happens, the overall hormonal balance in the user's body changes. As testosterone is responsible for muscle growth (including organ muscles), stamina, male primary sex characteristics, and secondary male sex characteristics, a loss of testosterone can change much more than just biceps and abs. A loss of testosterone also means that there is more estrogen in the body which may lead to irrational mood changes, medical conditions, and even breast growth.

Alternatives
While true steroids are illegal, there is a large number of steroid alternatives that do virtually the same thing. The difference between steroids and these alternatives is that steroids consist of synthetic hormones while the alternatives turn into hormones once they are digested in the body. These alternatives offer to give the user big muscles in a short amount of time. While some of these statements may be true, most of the alternatives that exist are not FDA approved and may cause unforseen side effects.