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Surrounding the recent furor on which ballplayer uses what enhancer, a nationwide poll was conducted, asking the following question: Should baseball players who use steroids be banned from the sport and the Baseball Hall of Fame? Most people who responded to the poll said yes. Clearly the majority of us find the use of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes to be cheating. So why do athletes continue to use these substances? Because they give older sports players an advantage. I can almost understand pro athletes in their 30s considering the use of performance enhancing drugs - these players are reaching the age when strength is beginning to decline and recovery time from a difficult workout is increasing. Steroids are proven to increase strength and decrease recovery time, especially for older pros. These are people who earn their pay by playing sports. The problem for parents is that these pro players are watched closely by our young athletes. We put the pros on pedestals and then we hear them say that they use steroids. Our youth athletes naturally wonder if steroids won’t improve their performance as well. You’ll find some of the reasons that young athletes don’t need steroids and shouldn’t use them in this article. It describes the warning signs of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. You’ll also find out what the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is doing to put a damper on steroid use by high school athletes. Teens already have enough steroids Steroids and steroid-like supplements contain derivatives of the male hormone, testosterone. Testosterone contributes to muscular development. Teenage boys are naturally awash in testosterone. Testosterone levels increase dramatically in late childhood and reach a peak in the early 20s. It’s the reason that adult males have a more muscular appearance than females. Introducing more testosterone into a teenage body already manufacturing high levels of the hormone is asking for trouble. Some of this trouble is physical, some of it is psychological. On the physical side, muscular development can outpace bone growth development, or bone growth can stop short. Or, the body can stop manufacturing normal amounts of testosterone to compensate for the artificial excess of the hormone, leading to permanently reduced testosterone levels later in life. Also, normal development of sexual traits can be thrown off by the introduction of excessive hormones; for example, teenage boys using steroids sometimes see impairment of testicular development, or feminine-type breast development around the nipple area. On the psychological side, some teens using steroids experience increased anger, depression, or anxiety. Some researchers speculate that the increase in anxiety can become permanent. Teens who are still learning to manage the mood swings brought on by naturally fluctuating hormone levels don’t need the added strain of dealing with artificially high levels of mood-influencing hormones. Warning signs of steroid use can mimic naturally occurring changes in teenagers, so be careful about accusing a teen of steroid use. However, steroid use will amplify these symptoms. If they appear suddenly (or coincide with the start of football season), you just might be on to something. Steroid variations, such as Androstenedione or prohormones, have similar effects. CIF takes action The CIF is the governing body for high school sports in California. The organization is considering ways to put a damper on steroid use by high school athletes. In October 2004, the CIF, in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), hosted a Steroid and Athletic Stimulants Summit. Conference members learned that roughly 3% of California high school students are using steroids or other performance enhancing supplements. By college, that number increases to 40%. At the conference, Jeannine Martineau of the California Board of Education said, “We can’t afford to lose one student-athlete, one child, because they feel such pressure to compete that they’ll do anything that’s necessary to make that happen.” The following action items were proposed at the conference: ** Publish brochures for students on healthy training methods. ** Add to the CIF Parents Presentation Handbook a page on “symptoms/recognition of steroids.” ** Promote the use of “healthy lifestyle” banners and posters for school weight rooms. ** Seek funding from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for coaching education and steroid education. After the conference, CIF Assistant Executive Director Roger Blake said, “We wanted to raise the awareness level of those who were in attendance.” The CIF knows it faces an uphill struggle, because steroids and performance-enhancing supplements are a huge business that is sometimes given a wink and a nod by the system. Signs of use and abuse Bear in mind that the No. 1 sign of steroid use is the discovery of steroids in your teen’s possession. Other warning signs of steroid use include: ** Rapid increase in body mass or muscle mass. ** Severe acne, especially on the back and chest. ** Increased energy or mood swings. ** Increased irritability, aggression, or suicidal tendencies. ** Distractibility, forgetfulness, confusion, and depression. ** In males, shrinking of the testicles, difficulty or pain in urinating, baldness and breast enlargement. ** In females, development of masculine characteristics, such as decreased body fat and breast size, deepening of the voice, excessive growth of body hair and loss of scalp hair. Food supplements such as Creatine are not considered a drug, nor are they regulated by the FDA, so they can be purchased over the counter. Steroids and Androstenedione (a testosterone-producing supplement) are considered a drug, are federally regulated, and cannot be bought over the counter. So they must be nefariously obtained. I’m told that they are available from Internet suppliers, and from Mexican pharmacies. Eradication is difficult A former body-builder, Gov. Schwarzenegger recently vetoed a bill that would have helped raise awareness levels of steroid use and abuse in high schools. The bill, SB 1630, would have required ongoing education for high school coaches, prohibited coaches from promoting the use of supplements, and developed a list of banned performance-enhancing supplements. The National Institutes of Health has a website that lists potential long-term health problems associated with steroid use (nida.nih.gov/infofax/steroids.html). It’s interesting to note that the list of negative steroid effects is much longer that the list of negative effects associated with marijuana. Yet marijuana is in the same legal class as heroin and cocaine, while steroids share the same legal class as Vicodin. Add to that the fact that supplements are regularly used in sports, especially at the college and pro levels. One high school football player I know says that Creatine use was encouraged by his head coach, but steroids were never explicitly mentioned. With this kind of acceptance in sports, and at governmental levels, my guess is that steroids are not going away. We’ll probably grow a little more accepting of the use of these types of supplements over the years in pro sports, especially as pharmaceutical companies develop safer derivatives of steroids. But steroids have no place in high schools, where our children’s developmental growth is at risk. David Kries writes from Mission Viejo. |
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