Anabolic steroids mimic the male hormone testosterone. People use anabolic steroids to increase muscle mass. But steroids may have serious side effects.
Anabolic steroids can come as:
- tablets or capsules
- a liquid you inject
- powders
- gels
- patches
Any anabolic steroid use has risks for your health - even for a short time or at low doses. Starting anabolic steroids before age 21 can affect your growth or hormone development.
Other names for anabolic steroids
Other names include: anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS), steroids, roids, juice, nandrolone, restandol, striant, sustanon, tren, trenbolone
Medical use of anabolic steroids
Anabolic steroids have very few medical uses.
Doctors sometimes prescribe anabolic steroids to treat:
- hormone deficiencies
- conditions that cause loss of muscle mass, such as cancer and AIDS
The information on this page is about using anabolic steroids without a prescription.
Steroids outside the healthcare system may be counterfeit, contain unexpected ingredients or vary in strength. This can increase the risks to your health.
What we mean by non-medical use of a medicine
Non-medical use is when someone uses a medicine in a way that does not follow medical guidelines.
This can include when someone uses a medicine:
- they bought in the illegal drug market - this can be online or in person
- that was not prescribed to them
- in a different way or quantity than their doctor prescribed
Effects of anabolic steroids
The effects of anabolic steroids can vary depending on:
- your age, size, weight and sex
- if you have any health conditions or mental health difficulties
- how you take the drug
- the strength of the drug
- how much you take
- if you take alcohol, medicines or other drugs at the same time
- where you take the drug and how you feel before you take it
- if you have taken the drug before and how often
People take anabolic steroids to increase muscle mass as part of a body-building programme. There are many types of anabolic steroids that can have different effects.
How you may feel or behave
You may feel:
- aggressive (roid rage)
- paranoid
- agitated
- irritable or angry
- low or sad
Effects on your brain and body
Anabolic steroids can cause:
- liver or kidney problems
- high blood pressure (hypertension)
- fluid retention
- high cholesterol
- acne
- problems sleeping
- hallucinations - you see, hear or feel things that are not there
- stunted growth - if you take anabolic steroids before you stop growing
- blood clots
- irregular heart rhythm
- an enlarged heart
- heart failure
- heart attack
- stroke
Other effects on males
In males, anabolic steroids can cause:
- reduced sperm count
- smaller testicles
- infertility
- erectile dysfunction (problems getting an erection)
- baldness
- tummy pain
- breast development
- higher risk of prostate cancer
When you take anabolic steroids, your body stops making testosterone. When you stop taking steroids, it can take weeks, months or more for your body to make testosterone again. The time it takes can vary by person. Some people need medical treatment.
Other effects on females
In females, anabolic steroids can cause:
- growth of facial and body hair
- decreased breast size
- a swollen clitoris
- a deeper voice
- an increased sex drive
- period problems
- hair loss
Anabolic steroids and mental health
Using anabolic steroids has links with an increased risk of:
- depression
- anxiety
- mood swings
- mania
- psychosis
- thoughts of suicide
- antisocial personality disorder
- body dysmorphic disorder - an intense focus on your appearance that affects your daily life
- muscle dysmorphia - an intense focus on your size or muscle mass that affects your daily life
If you take anabolic steroids and have mental health difficulties, you can get help for both. You can talk to your GP if you feel shame, anxiety or distress about the way you look.
Managing your social feeds to protect your mental health
Some social media accounts show unrealistic bodies and standards. People may use special lighting, camera angles, filters and editing apps to create photos. Some people may say their body is natural when they use substances to change their body.
To protect your mental health, you could:
- unfollow accounts that make you feel bad or insecure
- mute accounts that you may not want to permanently unfollow
- block anyone who harasses you
- use 'not interested' or 'hide' buttons on posts that make you feel bad or anxious
- mute keywords to stop seeing posts with content on certain topics
- interact with other positive content that makes you laugh or inspires you
- set app limits if you want to reduce the time you spend on social media
Anabolic steroids and dependency
Regular use of anabolic steroids can cause dependency.
Signs of dependency can include:
- withdrawal symptoms
- continuing to use a drug even when it causes you harm
Anabolic steroids do not usually cause tolerance. Tolerance is when you need to take more of a drug to get the same effects.
Withdrawal symptoms
Withdrawal symptoms from anabolic steroids include:
- depression
- low motivation to do things you would usually do (apathy)
- anxiety
- problems concentrating
- insomnia
- anorexia
- lower sex drive
- extreme tiredness (fatigue)
- headaches
- muscle and joint pain
How long do anabolic steroids stay in your system?
It can be hard to know how long anabolic steroids stay in your system.
There are tests to detect anabolic steroids. But different types of tests have different detection times.
Sports organisations may test for specific levels of anabolic steroids.
Things that affect how long a drug stays in your system
The time it takes for a drug to leave your system depends on many things.
For example:
- how much you took
- how often you take the drug
- how strong the drug was
- your age, sex and metabolism
- your general health