Steroids and Teens

 

Teens using steroids

Your teenager looks at professional athletes and sees a famous person, who appears to be in good physical shape, is playing superbly at his or her sport, and is earning millions of dollars. Ironically, media stories about steroids may paint an attractive picture of the drug for ambitious young athletes - our boys and girls.

Risks of abuse

Steroids are hormones that the physical structure uses to cause physiologic activity, such as growth or metabolism. Performance-enhancing steroids, sometimes mentioned as anabolic or androgenic steroids, are artificial variants of the male hormone testosterone. Man-made derivatives of natural steroids have a lot of legitimate medical applications, such as treating asthma, skin problems, impotence, osteoporosis, breast cancer, and inflammation. When taken under a doctor’s supervision and in regular doses, steroids are not generally bad. However, persons using steroids for their performance- enhancing qualities are using doses 10 to 100 times higher than would ever be dictated.

Steroid use by high school students has been on the rise since the early nineties. When we say steroids and high school students, we probably think of football game players and wrestlers. Muscle building athletes could be the evident users, but more teenagers are turning to steroids as a way of dealing with their personal body image issues.

Warning signs

How do you tell if your teenager is utilizing steroids? While there are a lot of signs to watch for, parents sometimes overlook the most visible one: fast muscle growth. Other perceptible signs of steroid abuse are acne, which could become intense and show up in areas such as the back or chest; jaundice; and hair loss. Females could go through a changing of the voice, growing of facial and body hair, and reducing breast size, while breast growth (gynecomastia) happens in males.

Modifications in behavior as well could be an indicator of steroid use. Your child may show a new-found obsession on working out and on body image. Side affects include enhanced aggression and physical attraction from higher testosterone levels, euphoria, confusion, sleeping disorders, pathologic anxiety, paranoia, and hallucinations.

Talk to your child

If you are not convinced that your child is using steroids and you just need to talk to him about the drug, remember to keep it simple. Talking about the long-term health risks, such as cancer and heart disease, will mean little to teenagers, who can not imagine becoming older than 30. Even with a great anatomy, it is hard to look irresistible when you’re a female growing facial hair or have terrible acne.

When speaking to your child about steroids, be ready to talk about different subjects that could cause a child to be influenced to take the drug. Be prepared to discuss the pressures your child may be dealing with in competing sports. It’s significant to stress, in words and in your own behavior, favorable choices that promote a healthy lifestyle.

As parents, encourage your child’s school to look into these programs. If your child is already utilizing steroids, an active intervention is configured to motivate a person to accept help. If not able to act upon an active intervention, professional persons are free to help you.

When parents find that their youngsters are using steroids, they have 2 choices: do nothing or get involved. Refusing or ignoring the problem of steroids won’t make it disappear. When it comes to children and steroids, the single serious alternative is to get involved and remain implicated.

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