Steroidal Use by Young Women: a Focus on Women, Steroids & Sports

Steroids, once notoriously famous for their abuse by bodybuilders, fitness buffs, and professional athletes, have found their way into wardrobes of many young damsels nowadays. Various surveys by both independent and federal agencies, including CDC, suggest that the abuse of steroids is surprisingly widespread in young women and that approximately 5 percent of high school girl students abuse steroids throughout the States. This figure reflects a small part of a big picture that includes young women in universities and married women which contribute almost equally to this rapidly growing trend, although for different reasons!

Various surveys have found that women use steroids for reasons that are often quite different from those of men. A diverse array of possible reasons has been documented by these surveys that include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Some women, who either stay alone and/or are victims of rape, use steroids because of the circumstantial tendency of feeling insecure. They feel a strong need to protect themselves and they begin abusing steroids often under the misguided beliefs that being bigger and stronger would discourage any attempts on their feminineness. So, women who have experienced physical or sexual abuse fall for steroids to boost their muscle size and not to mention, their self confidence!

• This era is gripped with "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" philosophy which creates a substantial pressure to win and perform in sports. Some athletes, both girls and boys, succumb to such pressure and resort to steroids for help.

• Surprisingly, many steroid users take the drug not to recover from injuries or for body building, but simply to look better. It has turned out to be an infectious trend to use steroids to get a fit, toned figure, particularly amongst teenage girls!

As a result, there are certain side effects of steroids which affect women specifically, and these include acne, male pattern baldness, deepening of the voice, increased facial hair growth, increased sexual desire, hypertrophy of the clitoris, extreme irritability, delusions, and breast atrophy. There may be premature growth termination due to premature skeletal maturation, changes in or cessation of menstrual cycles etc.

However, the situation becomes more complicated when the women are pregnant. Some reports indicate that steroid use by pregnant women may lead to growth retardation of the fetus. It may even lead to fetal death. However, these side effects have not been studied systematically.

To wind up, no doubt steroids are of immense medical significance but they do more damage than benefit if they are not judiciously used. So, even if you get a brain fart and you decide to pop in some pills that you think will make you toned and muscular, just let your physician know about it first for he or she may be able to guide you about many healthy alternatives that are available to increase your strength or improve your appearance!