Why you should never take Performance Enhancement Drugs (PEDs)
Things your steroid dealer never told you
Disclaimer: this is not medical advice. Consult your physician, and take no responsibility for your actions, if you like.
We’ve all felt tempted to try PEDs to experience superior fitness. But is it worth it?
When I was young and naive, I was fortunate enough to be friends with a guy my age who had almost died from PED use. He explained to me all the horrible truths that nobody tells you before you enter the world of anabolic steroid and other PED use.
I understood early on that fitness was about health, positivity and empowerment, not addiction, dependency and hazard.
Unless you’re a professional with a voluntarily accepted occupational hazard, full knowledge, and your specialized doctors and coaches to look out for you, taking anabolic steroids and PEDs for fitness is a bad idea. Here’s why:
You’ll look insanely insecure, because you communicate to others that your self-esteem is so low that you have the desperate need to take something illegal and hazardous to your health to get some much needed external validation.
You’ll be extra weak, moody, depressed, brain-fogged and flaccid during the periods of time that you can’t take your PEDs. And most of the time, you will be off the gear.
You’ll have to take a bunch of other drugs and supplements to counter the side effects, and the side effects of the drugs you take for the side effects, and on and on, depending on your individual biochemistry. Too much hassle, and too much time wasted… That is no way to live.
You’ll have to eat a lot all the time, you’ll be bloated and gassy more often than not, and you’ll have diarrhea quite a lot. Planning meals and eating times becomes and obsession, a loss of focus and such a burden that is not worth it.
You’ll be addicted to their high, because the lows are too intense. You’ll feel the need to continuously increase their use, due to diminishing returns. A reinforcement of your addictive personality may transfer to other areas of addiction, like gambling, porn, and crime.
You’ll be dependent upon shady doctors to monitor you constantly, and you’ll rely on trusting doctors who are also breaking the law (and Hippocratic oath) by examining you for PEDs use.
You’ll be at the mercy of every drug dealer’s mood swings, and their questionable “product” quality.
You’ll spend too much money and time on drugs, supplements, food and doctors.
You’ll be irritable, rageful, narcissistic, obnoxious, and not at all fun to be around. Despite the expectation that you will be popular, your social circle will actually become narrower.
You’ll have tell-tale signs of PED use, like:
acme (especially on the back),
hair loss,
roid-rage,
increased libido during uptake and decreased libido between cycles (which is the longest time),
disproportionate upper trapezius growth,
voice alteration (men get girly voices, women get manly voices),
bloated belly,
gynecomastia in men,
loss of breasts and disrupted periods in women,
testicle shrinking in men,
facial hear growth in women.
You’ll be unhealthy and at increased risk of heart failure, liver cirrhosis, cancer, and any other ailment you can think of, because your body is not designed to handle use of those substances, and their effects.
Bottom line? You don’t need PEDs to gain a sense of self-worth. If you don’t enjoy the process of working out, then working out is not for you. The journey is your aim, not the destination. Taking a PED shortcut only reinforces in you the belief that you cannot accomplish anything without unearned help or without “cheating”. “Better performance” at the expense of so much shows desperation and a results orientation. You don’t need PEDs. Your self-esteem does not depend on how you look or how much you lift or how well you perform. Stay healthy and maintain perspective. If you need to impress random people with your fitness, you are doing it for the wrong reasons. Fitness is for physical an mental health only. PEDs are not fitness.