Winning at all Cost
needle. Oral steroids are the first choice for athletes who want to rapidly improve their performance and try to escape from the drug test. Unhappily, these drugs are the most toxic and which have more side effects. Injectable steroids are less potent and generally exhibit delayed uptake into the body, especially if they are oil-based diluents. They have less liver toxicity than oral steroids, but they are easier to find in urine drug testing. Some athletes take higher doses, called "mega doses”, to produce faster results. Others gradually increase the amount they take over time, which is called "pyramiding”. Taking different kinds of anabolic steroids, possibly along with other drugs, is a particularly dangerous practice known as "stacking”. There are several side effects of steroids, high blood pressure and heart disease, liver damage and cancers, stroke and blood clots, urinary and bowel problems, such as diarrhea, headaches, aching joints, and muscle cramps, nausea and vomiting, sleep problems, increased risk of ligament and tendon injuries, severe acne, especially on face and back, and baldness. In males, one of the more disturbing effects of steroid use for males is that the body begins to produce less of its own testosterone. As a result of producing less self-testosterone males will experience a reduction of the size of their testicles, reduced sperm count, impotence, increase in nipple and breast size, and an enlargement of the prostate. Females will suffer of a reduction of breast size, enlarged clitoris, an increase in facial and body hair, deepened voice, and menstrual problems (Sports Medicine).
Knowing the high risk of suffering chronic debilitating diseases and death, the National College Athlete Association (NCAA), for the safety and fairness of their competitors, has been testing their athletes for the past couple decades, but drug tests haven’t been enough to stop athletes to stop taking these drugs. Athletes have found ways to pass the test. According to various reports prepared by known steroid experts, it is possible to pass a steroid drug test. The theory behind successfully passing a steroid drug test revolves around the management of anabolic steroid metabolites. Cycling the steroid stack with use of certain anabolic steroids that have short half-lives may control steroid metabolites, meaning their detection time in the body is extremely short. Additionally, choosing to use anabolic steroids in small amounts may keep the metabolite levels below the cutoff levels used in a steroid drug test.
This once noble sport, based on hard work, individual achievement and sportsmanship has been degraded into a sport of greed and winning at all costs due to these cheaters. The increase in the number of athletes using these drugs is inversely proportional to my personal interest and participation in the sport, because the competition is getting unfair for those natural competitors. These contemporary heroes are not setting a good example for future generations. This last paragraph accurately summarizes athletics current state and the opinion held by a lot of member of the general public.