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12.01.2021

Steroid users mainly suffer from psychological side effects

The medical literature gives you the impression that the side effects of steroids use are mainly physical in nature. According to case studies, steroids users have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, endocrinological disorders and, if you are talking about oral anabolics, liver abnormalities. This is not the case, researchers at the University of Oslo discovered. According to their research, the most common side effects of steroids are not physical, but psychological in nature.

Study
The researchers used data from 232 steroids users and 60 users' friends and family members, who contacted the Norwegian government's Steroid Project in 2015-2019. The Steroid Project aims to refer steroids users with medical problems to specialists and try to enable them to get clean.

In this study, which appeared in Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy in 2019, the researchers took stock of the problems of the users who contacted them.

Results
77.2 percent of users contacted the Steroid Project and decided they wanted to stop using. When the researchers compared the quitters with the users who wanted to continue juicing, they found that the quitters were older, more likely to have children, and also reported medical problems more often. Well, that makes sense.

The figure below shows the most frequently reported problems by the users. They were psychological rather than physical in nature. Depression, behavior change and anxiety were the three most frequently reported side effects

The friends and family members mainly saw side effects such as behavioral change, aggression and depression among users.

Conclusion
The problems with which steroids users are struggling are quite complex, the Norwegians conclude. Harm reduction programs, or programs that want to encourage users to stop, must take this into account.

Source:
Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2019 May 16;14(1):20.

More:
Longer steroid cycles, more side effects 15.10.2020
The increased mortality risk of the average steroid user 24.11.2018
More anabolic steroids, more sexual problems 29.08.2018

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