Hormone Abuse

[SLICK]

Posted by Squats at TAZ


Horme Abuse: Prevention and What You Need to Know on

The Hormone Foundation is creating a national program to bring together researchers, practitioners, and health and community advocates, business, sports and national organizations to help adolescents, parents, and others who want to know more about the abuse of anabolic steroids. Prevention is a major emphasis.

We will provide family physicians, pediatricians, school nurses, coaches, and community health leaders with the best available information on health effects and prevention methods. We will help to enact a national strategy for preventing the use of performance-enhancing drugs in young people and launch education and outreach efforts to those who can help solve this national problem.

Here are some facts about hormone abuse that you should know:

Although the list has dramatically shrunk since October, 2004, there still are some supplements such as DHEA, which are commonly used and converted to anabolic steroids by the body. These substances are available legally without a prescription.


Children as young as 9 years old are beginning to use steroids.


The Centers for Disease Control's 2003 survey found that nationwide, 6.1% of students used anabolic steroid pills or shots without a prescription. Young people can find these drugs at gyms, sports-training centers, and on the Internet.


There are publications available online and elsewhere that give "recipes" for using several steroids at once, referred to as "stacking," and how to use for several weeks and stop using for several weeks, termed "cycling." There are catalogues and advertisements showing how to purchase steroids.


Young people have abused anabolic steroids meant for animals by getting access to veterinary steroids. These steroids are often cheaper and easier to obtain than anabolic steroids designed for people.


Steroid users are often risk takers and poly-substance abusers, using a variety of harmful substances. Twenty five percent of steroid users share needles.


Some evidence shows that anabolic steroids can be addictive, but more research is needed. There is evidence that large doses of anabolic steroids affect the brain and produce mental changes.


You may be able to see symptoms of steroid abuse in your child. Check out the section of this web page on Health Effects and Risks and Psychological Symptoms. Changes can be both physical and emotional.


Telling youngsters only about the harmful effects of steroids is not enough to stop them. In fact there is evidence that "scare tactics" are not only useless, but counterproductive, since young athletes know about professional athletes who have used them successfully. Some programs that have had success using a combination of factors. The ATLAS (Athletes Training & Learning to Avoid Steroids) program, designed for young male athletes, was developed at the Oregon Health & Science University. ATLAS combined coaches and peer-teachers, using an interactive classroom education about steroids, supplements and other drugs, and provided sports nutrition diet and exercise alternatives to athletes, to improve their strength and physical capacity, This program, used for males, was very successful. ATLAS reduced athletic supplement use, alcohol and illicit drugs and improved the nutrition habits of male athletes. A new program for adolescent females, named ATHENA (Athletes Targeting Healthy Exercise & Nutrition Alternatives), has been tested in middle and high schools, to combat steroid use, body shaping drugs and disordered eating practices. Favorable results have been published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, November, 2004. ATHENA showed . Female student-athletes participating in the ATHENA program reduced use of diet pills and other substances, such as amphetamines, anabolic steroids, and muscle-building supplements. Both ATLAS and ATHENA research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health. Most recently, The Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004, passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, states that grants to public and nonprofit private organizations will be available to combat anabolic steroid use. The Bill calls for $15 million per year from 2005 to 2010 to be spent on anabolic steroid prevention with preference given to applicants to carry out programs based on ATLAS and ATHENA.
The Hormone Foundation, the education affiliate of the Endocrine Society, will gather the best information on effective prevention efforts and share information. We will post the latest facts on prevention and other aspects of hormone abuse at this site and in other publications.

Editors:

Lisa Fish, MD
Chair, Hormone Abuse Program
Endocrinologist, Park Nicollet Clinic; Minneapolis, MN

Linn Goldberg, MD, FACSM
Professor of Medicine and Head of the Division of Health Promotion and Sports Medicine
Oregon Health and Science University; Portland, OR