Spotlight On Steroids

By Julie Rosenbluth, MPH, CHES for American Council For Drug Education

From high school football players to professional athletes like baseball players and cyclists, steroid use and its acceptance seems to be on the rise. While we do our best to educate our children about the dangers of steroid use, what message do they get when their favorite role models are using them and, in many cases, getting away with it?

In the wake of baseball’s steroid scandal this year and at the start of a fresh new school year, now is a great time to make sure your students are getting the right message about steroids.

What Are Steroids?

Steroids, commonly known by their street names as Juice, Roids, Gym Candy, Pumpers, Stackers, Balls or Bulls, Weight Trainers, Arnies, A’s or Anabolics, are manufactured testosterone-like drugs that are usually taken to build muscle, enhance performance, and improve appearance. While some steroids are used medically to treat many conditions including asthma, chronic lung disease, skin conditions and allergic reactions such as poison ivy, non-medical use of steroids can have serious side effects. Using steroids for cosmetic or athletic purposes is not sanctioned in the United States.

Trends In Use

While use leans disproportionately to boys, girls are at risk as well, especially those who are active in sports or concerned about their weight. Figures from the 2004 Monitoring the Future survey demonstrate a slight decrease in use by 8th and 10th graders but a significant upward trend among 12th graders at 2.5% from 1.7% in 1999 and 2.4% in 2001. However, the findings indicate that this rise might be reflective of the effect of the younger, heavier-using cohorts aging. However, disapproval of use did continue to rise, according the 2004 survey, with as many as 88% of 12th graders surveyed indicating they disapproved of use. Studies show that disapproval by peers has a significant influence on teens’ decisions to use drugs.

Of some concern was the number of students who did not perceive risk associated with steroid use. Many teens don’t have the same inherent fear of steroid use that they might with using other drugs like cocaine or heroin because their goal is to improve their physical appearance, not break their bodies down. Efforts to educate students about steroid use must focus on the negative consequences and risk of using them.

Why Do Teens Use

Adolescents and pre-adolescents are especially at risk because of the changes their bodies are going through. Adolescents go through puberty at different rates and many will feel uncomfortable with these changes, especially if their peers look different. Many girls will desire to lose weight and look lean and toned like the models they see in magazines and many boys will wish they could take on the taller, broader appearance of a man sooner. Many feel pressure from their parents and coached to be bigger and stronger on the field or in their chosen sport.

Steroids will increase muscle mass as well as endurance meaning you are able to lift more (weights), hit harder (on the baseball field), or perform longer (running and cycling and other endurance sports). However, none of these seemingly positive effects come out without both short- and long-term consequences.

Effects

Short Term

Use of steroids can increase muscle mass, strength, and endurance, but can also cause liver tumors, jaundice, water retention, and high blood pressure. Some users show bad judgment because the drugs make them feel invincible. Other users suffer from uncontrolled aggression and violent behavior called “Roid Rage,” severe mood swings, manic episodes and depression. They often suffer from paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability and can have delusions.

Long-Term

When the body experiences a build up of steroids in its system, conditions such as hypertension; high cholesterol; kidney disease, stunted growth; and heart damage are likely to occur. Women can experience irreversible deepening of the voice, shrinking of the breasts, menstrual irregularities, baldness and hair growth on other parts of the body, and genital swelling. Men can experience baldness, breast enlargement, sterility, shrinking of testicles and impotence. Steroids such as prednisone and other synthetic steroids, can cause a rise in blood sugar by blocking the effect of insulin. Over time, users can develop diabetes.

Signs and Symptoms Of Steroid Use

Unlike other drugs, steroids are not usually taken for their psycho-altering effect but for the physical changes that they bring about.

Steroid abusers often exhibit the following symptoms:

• Rapid weight gain
• Rapid muscle development
• Acne flare up
• Fluid retention
• Yellow tint in the eyes and on skin (jaundice)
• Mood swings, depression
• Aggressive behavior
• Premature balding (boys)
• Deeper voice (girls)
• Facial hair (girls)
• Breast reduction (girls
• Breast development (boys)

Talking To Kids About Steroids

• Talk about the dangers of steroids. Use some of the recent media scandal over steroid abuse in sports. Check out a recently launched ad campaign from the Major League Baseball and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America that educates youth and their parents about the dangers of steroid use and other performance-enhancing substances.
• Help students identify healthier role models and point out those who have been successful in sports without steroid use. Talk about the courage it took for those in the media to come forward with their abuse or to get help for a friend and encourage kids to do the same if they have a problem or suspect that a friend does.
• Teach students that success doesn’t come from what we look like but who we are inside. This message goes beyond steroid use but is important for teaching teens about feeling good inside and out and avoiding eating and other body dysmorphic disorders.
• Involve parents and coaches in your prevention efforts. Students aren’t the only ones who need a lesson in the dangers of steroid use. Host a training for the athletic department or develop a social norms campaign and place ads on athletic fields and locker rooms
• Encourage students to participate in sports and healthy competition but make sure to stress the importance of other activities that will make them a more well-rounded student.
• Emphasize nutrition and stress reduction to maintain holistic wellness.
• Provide intervention resources for students who have a problem.

For more tips about talking to kids about drugs in the classroom visit the American Council for Drug Education at www.acde.org, the prevention affiliate of Phoenix House, the nation’s largest substance abuse treatment provider.