Kamau Kimenje
13 October 2007
column
Nairobi — Determination to attain success is tempting more sportswomen to use enhancement drugs like steroids.
Just recently US female sprinter Marion Jones admitted using steroids in 2000 Olympics to win five medals, however, the side effects associated with steroids are radically more destructive to female body than to male body.
Steroids, synthetic substances that mimic the male sex hormones, testosterone, when introduced to the female body system, diversely affects the physical, behavioral, and functional aspects of a woman body.
Use of steroids transforms a woman to a masculine body form that is characterised by more pronounced jaw muscles, excessive hair growth (the chin, buttocks, chest, the anus, and nipples), male pattern baldness with a receding hairline, deeper voices, reduced breast size, very coarse skin with acne and enlargement of clitoris.
A woman on steroids is very irritable, getting angry over the little of incidences, and show signs of high aggression which can lead to violent outbursts.
Steroids use in women is associated with sexual aggression where a women libido become very high such that even after a heavy workout a woman still needs sex several times a day.
Testosterone
More frequently, a woman on steroids suffers from mood swings with steroids withdraw symptoms that include depression, fear, apathy, increased tendency for a cry, very forgetful, lack of concentration loss of appetite and anxiety, affecting all aspects of her life including job, family, and relationships.
With an increase in testosterone levels, around 30 times greater than normal levels, hormones imbalance are far from being in synch. This profoundly disrupting a woman's immune system and heightens vulnerability to infectious diseases.
Steroids tend to make women suffer from stomach distension where the lower abdomen gets irritated and swollen.
With this, there is chronic constipation, intestinal gas and water retention sometimes in the face too due to sodium retention in the body tissues.
Vaginal discharge tends to increase which can be irritating. The body odour of the woman increases where the woman tends to smell rather pungent.
A woman's musculoskeletal system is affected as well. She can have a very short stature and tendon rupture will occur frequently since muscle strength is increasing so rapidly that tendons and ligaments cannot keep up. Another skeletal threat of particular interest to women is that of osteoporosis which can result due to a steroid's exhaustion of a woman's blood circulating calcium (as well as other minerals) levels. When this occurs the body begins to leech stored calcium deposits directly from the bones leaving them brittle.
A woman's reproductive system is in the line of fire when steroids are in use because of diminished oestrogen activity, resulting to spotting, absence or suppression of the menstrual cycle. Indeed infertility can result from an extended use of steroid.
A woman on steroids also runs a very high risk of developing cervical and uterine atrophy.
Pregnant woman using steroids can do much damage to her unborn child causing growth retardation to the foetus and tendency to give birth to a baby with both male and female physical body and character traits.
Taking steroids increases a woman's risk of stroke and heart attack due to deposition of fatty substances onto inner walls of arteries causing blockage and blood clots formation in blood vessel disrupting the flow of blood.
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