Words from a medical professional on AAS
It is sad to have people making statements of medical fact and backing them up with medical credentials that cannot be verified.
I have spoken extensively with a medical professional (thorasic surgeon) about the usage of AAS. He has used them in the past. He is experienced as both a user and as a doctor treating those who suffer from the ill effects (mostly arteriosclerosis, left ventricular hypertrophy and cardiomyopathy). He no longer uses AAS. I asked him why. He said "Now that I know what it really does to your body and now that i've seen what can happen to people - i'll pass."
This man has excellent genetics and looks pretty good without them. Also consider he's a surgeon. I doubt his endeavor in life is to become ripped. It's been a long time since he had a hard time getting laid.
I do firmly believe that if you take AAS in large quantities for a long time you will definitely develop varying degrees of health problems. Being aware of this and having just last week been told what I just quoted above by a surgeon I still chose to use AAS. Why?
The first element in play here is my burning desire to succeed - to achieve that which I do not perceive I can achieve without AAS. I'm willing to take the chance that I just may get a little side-effects from the juice in order to get the gains I crave.
The second element in play here is that I wouldn't take AAS if I knew for a fact I would develop a life-threatening heart condition or something equally serious. Who would? Rather we, as perfectionists, chose to focus on the upside rather than the potential ill effects. It's our nature. Alot of it is just plain old human nature.
The third element in play here is the addictive nature of AAS. I myself have found that I am becoming more and more willing to take the chances of getting ill-effects from juice the more I take them. Am I becoming progressively immune to the side-effects and increasingly addicted to the positive effects? Common sense would say yes. Is this a problem? It could become one. It may not. Who knows? But it is possible that I may one day find myself ignoring side-effects of AAS and continuing to use simply because of the addictive nature of the substances. Will I push it too far?
The fourth element is that there is a sad lack of true information on the effects of AAS. It is rather uncommon for someone like myself to get the quality of information i'm getting right now from medical professionals around me (several live in my neighborhood). Most people are not making truly informed decisions about thier use of AAS. (This board is a step in the right direction)
My position is that if you overdo anything in life you can suffer ill consequences. Just because someone may drink a fifth of liquor every night for 20 years and end up with cirrhosis and homeless (or dead) doesn't mean everyone who drinks a few beers here and there will end up that way. Of course everyone has the potential to become an alcoholic. Most drinkers will not. I conclude that just because some people who may (or may not) overdo it on steroids end up with health problems doesn't mean everyone who takes steroids will too. We also don't know to what extent those people would have developed those same medical conditions without AAS. Genetics or some other factors may have been in play.
The final element is that regardless of how much i justify in my own mind my personal usage of AAS i've still not found a medical professional that takes them nor have I found one that even off-the-record will condone my usage. That makes you stop and think doesn't it ???