Critical Response 2: A Teen Who Abused Steroids

Seeing the perfect bodies in magazines, at the gym, or on t.v. can really put pressure on you to want to look exactly like them. I am doing my response on a story of a teenage guy who wanted just that; he wanted to look just as big or strong, if not better, as other people he saw. This story is on the National Institute of Drug Abuse website for teens. It is focussing on anabolic steroids and talks about Craig who is an average guy going to college but still wants more. So he takes steroids to make his body stand out from everyone else. The cite explains why he takes the drugs, how he takes them, and what they do to his life. Craig has muscle dysmorphia,even if he looks big and muscular to another person he still looks small and weak to himself. He can't handle not being the biggest and the best so he turns to his option that makes the most sense to him, anabolic steroids. He was a heavy user starting at age 18 and was always looking for ways to boost his progress. At first, he was only taking oral steroids to swallow but when he found out injecting the steroids into is better he chose that option. The article says, "At his worst, he was injecting three to four times a day and taking 10 pills on top of that. Craig definately hit rock bottom; he started having serious side effects all over his body. His hair fell out, acne was on his back and he started having chest pains. He even said he couldn't even remember how big of a jerk he was. Obviously it was a pretty big one because he lost his wife and one year old son. His wife said he couldn't see him unless he would get clean of his drugs. Craig wanted his son more than the drugs then and cleaned up his life to see him.

I never knew about muscle dysmorphia until this article, i just figured people were really uncomfortable with themselves. It opened my eyes to how harmful steroids can be to your life just as much as any other drug. It seems Craig had to learn the hard way to get off of steroids and unlatch himself from the addiction.

Baily, Cate. "NIDA for Teens". National Institute on Drug Abuse. 4/2/10

http://teens.drugabuse.gov/stories/story_ster1.php

First Critical Response. Teens and Performance enhancing drugs

I found an article off of CNN.com which was talking about how performance enhancing drugs can harm your body and health. The article is called "Performance Enhancing Drugs and Your Teen Athlete" provided by MayoClinic.com. It talks about how and why teens decide to use them and what parents can do to stop it. According to the Children's Health writers for CNN teens are highly pressured to do steroids and other supplements such as creatine to get the extra gain in a sport they're playing or just want to live up to something. They say that teens think they are less vulnerable and do things other, more mature people wouldn't try. The writers say, "Reasons for teens to do performance enhancing drugs is: pressure from parents, a desire to gain muscle mass, a desire to be stronger, a negative body image, or to compare their body with other people." All the negative affects are too risky to take the drugs and they say it is not worth it. CNN tells parents how to stop their kids from buying performance enhancing drugs by watching what they buy, talk with their coach, and discuss the ethics and proper training.
I agree with the article about how harmful steroids can be and hurt you but if you know how to take and handle creatine without harming your body it isn't that big of a deal. I like some of the techniques they said to use for parents to watch their kids but I agree mostly with just encouraging them in their sport and try and boost their self confidence as much as possible if the teenager needs it.

Mayo Clinic Staff, "Performance Enhancing Drugs and Your Teen Athlete". CNN. 4/2/10 .

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/performance-enhancing-drugs/SM00045.html?iref=allsearch