Girls and Steroids

“Buff” is hip in the girls locker room. This trend is driving girls into the weight room to pump iron and beef up. Some girls are weighing in on steroids to make the cut. Now subject to the pressures long felt by boys to bulk-up and bulk-up fast, the answer for many girls is anabolic steroids, a synthetic form of the male hormone testosterone.

Patrice Crenshaw, a 16 year-old wrestler, remembered the first time she was approached with steroids, “They didn’t tell me any of the negative stuff, about the facial hair, about the hoarseness in the voice, about not being able to reproduce.”

Patrice declined the offer, but, an estimated 175,000 high school girls have taken anabolic steroids in their lifetime. High schoolers make up seventy-five percent of all steroid users.

The mirror may offer immediate gratification for these girls, but the long term effects can be costly. By pumping testosterone into their bodies, girls are taking chances with breast shrinkage, osteoporosis, sterility, diabetes, premature aging and, if taken in large enough doses, liver tumors.

“Glory today isn’t worth horror tomorrow,” said Lemar Fleming, M.D.

“They didn’t tell me any of the negative stuff, about the facial hair, about the hoarseness in the voice, about not being able to reproduce.”

--Patrice Crenshaw, Age 16

The Long and the Short of It All

Long Term Side Effects

Osteoporosis
Premature Aging
Diabetes
Sterility
Hardening of Arteries

Short Term Side Effects

Facial Hair Growth
Deepening of the voice
Acne
Menstrual Irregularity
Aggressive Behavior

What Parents Should Know

Girls have more opportunities than ever before to become involved and compete athletically. From all-girls soccer leagues to female boxing, the sports arena is wide open. It is an opportunity girls have desired for years. It’s not all fun and games though.

The number of girls using steroids has grown by more than three-hundred percent since 1991. Goals like college scholarships, Olympic dreams and professional sports are powerful incentive for success, but college and professional sports organizations aren’t playing games when it comes to steroids.

An Olympic athlete testing positive for anabolic steroids once is banned from competition for two years and banned for life if convicted again. Steroids are prohibited in college and high school sports as well. So, while she’s trying to be the best, if she tests positive for steroids, she and her biceps will be on the sidelines.

Although development of male characteristics is a key sign of steroid use by females, she doesn’t have to walk in the door with a mustache one day for you to be concerned. A spontaneous increase in muscle mass is enough reason for a parent to look for other warning signs.

The use of steroids can catalyze a feeling of invincibility. Pleased with he looks and hyped with excess energy users can experience manic-like feelings, volatile mood swings and aggressive behavior.

Black-Market Drugs

Stolen prescriptions, in which steroids are made under government regulations and illegally distributed, are no longer the norm. The sky-rocketing demand for these “body buffers” has sent suppliers diving into the cubby holes of underground America concocting the $400 million dollar a year drugs.

Underground steroids are surfacing in gyms, health clubs, via mail and on campuses across the nation through the hands of trainers, fellow athletes, drug dealers and friends. When produced in the black market content isn’t guaranteed and the range of possible side-effects is unlimited. They’re a hot commodity.

They’re easy to get, and they’re dangerous.

Resources

National Institute on Drug Abuse http://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDAHome.html

United States Olympic Committee http://www.usoc.org/inside/in_1_3_7_3.html

For more information on
parenting issues contact us:
Connecting with Kids