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Dr. T · Rookie user Joined: 27 May 2005 Posts: 19

In light of recent tragic events that have occurred in the Canadian Kabaddi community. Many people have started asking questions about steroids and athletic performance.

Please understand this response is not ethically or morally based. As it is not Kabaddi D.C’s responsibility to educate you or lecture you on the legalities of drug usage. From a scientifically and health perspective the following information will be presented to you so that each person who reads this can make an educated and informed decision on performance enhancing substances and the effects they have on your body and those you love.

Reasons for Taking Steroids
Increased athletic performance
Increased muscle size and decreased body fat
Personality characteristics:
opreviously physically or sexually abused
oa person with a history of engaging in high-risk behaviors such as drive a motorcycle without a helmet, experiment with alcohol and drugs, drinking and driving

How do people use steroids?
Can be taken orally, injected into the muscles, gels, creams
“Stacking” using several different types of steroids because the users believe that the added effects for more is better than a particular type of anabolic steroid on its own; this has not been scientifically tested
“pyramid” taking steroids in cycles of 6 to 12 weeks; the person starts with low doses of stack drugs that they slowly increase in the second half the doses are decreased down to zero; this has not been scientifically tested

Many people who start to take steroids become addicted to the drugs after a while despite the side effects, the negative effects it has on relationships with others and the social stigma. If they try to quit some of the withdrawal symptoms experienced include:
Desire to take more steroids
Decreased sex drive
Irritable/restlessness
Moody
Fatigue
Loss of appetite
Insomnia—can’t sleep
Depression
Reckless behavior

Resulting hormonal changes:
Reversible changes:
oDecreased sperm count/sterility
oShrinking testicles
oPenis enlargement (young boys)
Irreversible changes:
oMale pattern baldness
oGynecomasia meaning increased breast development aka “female dog <-- word censored breasts”
Erectile abnormalities meaning frequent, continued or painful erections
Prostate enlargement

Musculoskeletal changes:
The increased testosterone levels usually lead to increased growth however there reaches a level of testosterone levels that will signal the brain to shut off bone growth. This shunted growth could lead to growth stopping before it might have normally stopped.

Cardiovascular system effects:
Steroid abuse is most related to cardiovascular disease including strokes and heart attacks. That is because the low density lipoproteins increase and high density lipoproteins decrease (the good kind). High LDL and low HDL lead to increased athlerosclerosis meaning plaque formation on the inside of the arterial walls which lead to decreased blood flow to the heart which result in myocardial infarctions or heart attacks, and decreased blood flow to the brain leading to a stroke. There is also a tendancy to have increased blood pressure,

Liver effects:
otumor formation
oa rare disorder called peliosis hepatitis where a blood filled cyst forms in the liver and in certain instances it can rupture leading to internal bleeding
ojaundice

Skin abnormalities:
oAcne
oOily skin and hair
oIncreased unnatural hair growth
oPurple-red colored spots on body, inside mouth or nose

Resulting infections:
Many people who inject steroids share non-sterile techniques and share contaminated needles with other users. This leads to increased risks of acquiring viral infections such as Hepatitis B and C and HIV.

Other possible side effects or adverse reactions are:
Aggressive, combative behavior “riod rage”
Anaphylactic shock (from injections)
Abdominal or stomach pains with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea
Black, tarry or light-colored stools
Bone pain
Chills and fever
Dark-colored urine
Feeling of discomfort (continuing)
Frequent urge to urinate (mature males)
Feeling of abdominal or stomach fullness
Gallstones
Hives
Headache (continuing)
Hypercalcemia (too much calcium)
Impotence
Increased chance of injury to muscles, tendons and ligaments plus longer recovery period from injuries
Kidney disease/Kidney stones (from hypercalcemia)
Muscle cramps
Septic shock (blood poisoning from injections)
Sexual problems
Sore tongue
Swelling of feet or lower legs
Unexplained darkening of skin
Unexplained weight loss
Unnatural body odor (continuing)
Unusual bleeding
Unusual weight gain
Urination problems
Vomiting blood

The biggest side effect is misuse of substances. Each person is different and the effects of steroids on their body will be very different from the next person. The negative side effects are more obvious in a person who has been using the substances for a long period of time. It is very important to know ALL the adverse effects a particular substance may have on your body and recognize them as such. Be careful of using steroids or performance enhancing substances that are from unknown locations such as India, where you are not quite sure of the quality and contents of the products. You should be cautius of drugs that are intravenously administered because the needles may not be sterile and that could lead to the life threatening disease called AIDS.

Many people turn to steroids and other performance enhancing substances to give them an added edge or support while they are training and competing. However there are other natural alternatives. For instance receiving the appropriate nutritional support, with a weight training program designed and supervised by a personal trainer. Learning how to properly lift weights is very important and effective in the training process. There are various health care professionals that are excellent sources that you can consult with and receive adequate support while you are off the field and out of the gym such as your local chiropractor or physical therapist. A chiropractor can adjust the spine and extremities, also address the muscles that move the joints allowing you to train harder and longer free of pain and injury decreasing the amount of time you would have to take off to recover from physical injuries. Therefore consulting with knowledgeable individuals off the field gives you the confidence of a support system, decreases your insecurities and likelihood of turning towards steroids or other performance enhancing substances.

Dr. Ahluwalia is a Chiropractor and practices in Bay Area, California. For comments questions and concerns please email [email protected]. For those readers on USA also read health articles in the Amritsar Times weekly newspaper.

big brother · Site Admin Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 952

Thanks doc

that was very informative indeed

My next question would be - in terms of doing Steriod tests - can they be done like say in the morning and ' have 'tentative' results ' in few hours'

ie you have a tournament and in the morning you start taking tests in the morning and say by the end of the match ' approx 25 - 30 minutes ' you have some results ' on the field' !!! is it possible and cost effective ?
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Kabaddi4Life - Its not just a game - walk into the arena and you will know

Dr. T · Rookie user Joined: 27 May 2005 Posts: 19

Big bro, about your question...you could very well do testing out on the field.

There are instant test kits available for urine and saliva study. These tests usually take less then 10 minutes to give results The urine instant test is not as accurate as the proper studied in a lab, chemical analzyer test. However, I personally feel an instant drug test is better than no testing at all. In terms of the cost, keep watching this space...

big brother · Site Admin Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 952

thanks for that because thats where we have to access whether it can be applied or not.
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Kabaddi4Life - Its not just a game - walk into the arena and you will know

ama · Rookie user Joined: 15 Jun 2006 Posts: 7

thats a wicked post of the effeects of drugs
but i ting it just cuming a trend with the roids i dnt know if u should or shouldnt do it but i ting train natural it will be beta in the long run it mite cum slower then the roids but just train hard and the protein and the creatine is beta if people need the boost for training
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AMA