Blog Post (1 of 3)
I would like to use my final blog posts to reopen the discussion on steroid use/abuse. I know the midterm reports were very long winded and even then I feel like some people may have been tired of one group talking and not gotten possible questions answered. I’ve read up on it a lot (admittedly on the internet so how reliable is that), but I also heard/know of several personal accounts of people using anabolic steroids. The biggest issue I see with people using steroids, aside from the fact that they are illegal, is the abuse where they do not cycle off properly. Many people use steroids with little or no unwanted side effects when they run a reasonable length cycle, and when they come off of them and stay clean for long enough to let their body get a break from them. These same people could possibly face complications down the road, but a lot of the big cases you hear about where there are serious side effects come from years of steroid use with very little or no cycling off. Another serious problem with steroid use today is that the correct dosage/cycle length really is not set in stone. This makes me pose the question ‘If people are going to use steroids (legally or not), and they can be used without people suffering serious side effects, then should research be done and credible resources be available to those to help minimize the risk associated with steroid use?’ This idea would gain a lot of opposition because if you published something informing people of what a bad cycle consists of (dose, length, stack, specific steroid) and warned them against it then some may take that as you promoting the “safe” use of steroids. I do believe, however, that as steroids are gaining popularity among more common people and not just the big bodybuilders that some type of education could be utilized and possibly help us with healthcare costs down the road by lowering associated health risks in this fashion. Let me know what you think!!
Ramsey Ferguson
I would like to use my final blog posts to reopen the discussion on steroid use/abuse. I know the midterm reports were very long winded and even then I feel like some people may have been tired of one group talking and not gotten possible questions answered. I’ve read up on it a lot (admittedly on the internet so how reliable is that), but I also heard/know of several personal accounts of people using anabolic steroids. The biggest issue I see with people using steroids, aside from the fact that they are illegal, is the abuse where they do not cycle off properly. Many people use steroids with little or no unwanted side effects when they run a reasonable length cycle, and when they come off of them and stay clean for long enough to let their body get a break from them. These same people could possibly face complications down the road, but a lot of the big cases you hear about where there are serious side effects come from years of steroid use with very little or no cycling off. Another serious problem with steroid use today is that the correct dosage/cycle length really is not set in stone. This makes me pose the question ‘If people are going to use steroids (legally or not), and they can be used without people suffering serious side effects, then should research be done and credible resources be available to those to help minimize the risk associated with steroid use?’ This idea would gain a lot of opposition because if you published something informing people of what a bad cycle consists of (dose, length, stack, specific steroid) and warned them against it then some may take that as you promoting the “safe” use of steroids. I do believe, however, that as steroids are gaining popularity among more common people and not just the big bodybuilders that some type of education could be utilized and possibly help us with healthcare costs down the road by lowering associated health risks in this fashion. Let me know what you think!!
Ramsey Ferguson
Post 2 of 3
This post will focus primarily on the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990. This is where congress declared anabolic steroids a schedule III controlled substance. This puts steroids in the same class as Vicodin, LSD precursors, and some veterinary tranquilizers. There is a specified difference between charges on personal use and intent to distribute, but this can be skewed sometimes because while many drugs are bought and sold in small amounts where it is more easily determined whether there is intent to distribute or not, that is not the case with steroids. Steroids are generally bought per cycle or per couple cycles. This means that an individual could have massive amounts of steroids for personal use of one or a couple cycles and it would be hard to differentiate between personal use and intent to sell. Many medical professionals from the FDA, DEA, National Institute on Drug Abuse, and even the American Medical Association were called on to speak at the congressional hearings leading up to the Steroid Control Act of 1990. Their evidence and arguments were disregarded when congress didn’t hear what they wanted to hear. These professionals didn’t agree with anabolic steroids being classified this way based on medical evidence, statistics, and personal accounts, but the scare of steroids was enough to override the evidence presented to them. That doesn’t make much sense, but time and time again throughout the semester we have looked at examples of how what people don’t understand scares them, and often times they are too stubborn to look at the facts that lay before them and see that some claims don’t match reality. The studies done on anabolic steroids seem to point towards the same conclusion that the mental risks are greater than the physical risks when taking steroids. There have been several cases where a person committed suicide after taking steroids, but that makes me wonder if the underlying depression or causes of suicide where there prior to taking the steroids. Maybe those psychological issues led to them being unhappy and taking steroids because they believed that an enhanced physique would bring them happiness? That is purely speculation, but does seem viable.
Ramsey Ferguson
https://thinksteroids.com/articles/anabolic-steroid-control-act-wrong-prescription/
Post 3 of 3
For my third blog post I want to supplement the first 2 with some before and after pictures and pictures of some side effects. What is interesting that some people may not realize is that many people take steroids without the desire of being some huge Arnold-like body builder. Many people take them to go from small or average, to just well toned and bigger than average. If you start off as a big, lean muscled up person and then take steroids then you are obviously going to get bigger and maybe leaner, but my point here is that it,s not just bodybuilders taking anabolics there are many average people just like you and me that take them to enhance their appearance and help them achieve that beach body that they’ve always wanted.
In this picture you can see that this guy started I would think about average for a guy that hits the gym. After an 8 week cycle you see him on the right much leaner and a lot more muscle mass. Now if you saw the guy on the right walking around campus you probably wouldn’t jump straight to the conclusion that he has been taking anabolic steroids. That physique can be achieved naturally, but instead of an 8 week transformation it may take a year or so.
Here are a few more before and after pictures
You can see how not all of the guys look like Arnold Schwarzenegger after taking steroids, some of them have bodies that can be achieved naturally without steroids, it only takes about a quarter of the time and effort.
http://beststeroidscycle.com/
Lotta beefcake in that last post, Ramsey. I won't ask you which images are your faves.
ReplyDeleteI do wonder about the mental effects of non-medical steroid regimens (therapies?), based on my own limited experience of noticing a significant shift of mental perspective when undergoing steroidal treatment for poison ivy. Confession: I used to be much more susceptible to serious poison ivy outbreaks, seems I'd contract a serious case from the slightest exposure. When that happened my dad, a vet, used to send me non-prescription prednisone. It was my "miracle" drug, not only addressing the rashes but also fostering a palpable sense of, I don't know quite what to call it so I'll just call it excessive confidence. It felt good, but also potentially addictive. I wonder if others have had that experience, and whether there were deleterious long-term emotional impacts?
Anyway: be careful!