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Do you want to know about performance-enhancing drugs? We all have heard of them. It is the most popular among athletes. Also, teens often take different performance-enhancing drugs to enhance their academic performance.
Many of us do not know and understand substance abuse, especially performance-enhancing drugs. Many of us do not even know that people can get addicted to PEDs or performance-addicted drugs.
Often, because of addiction, people also develop eating disorders. If this is the case and treating addiction, individuals also need treatment for eating disorders. For eating disorder treatment and a complete solution, you can get in Ocean Recovery – eating disorder treatment in Orange County.
Let’s start the discussion with the basic idea of performance-enhancing drugs.
What Are Performance-Enhancing Drugs?
Performance-enhancing drugs are particular drugs athletes often take to boost their physical performance. These drugs also help muscle recovery after physical endurance during sporting performance or activity.
Taking performance-enhancing drugs is often called “doping.” These drugs include anabolic steroids and non-steroidal anabolic, for example, androstenedione, HGH or human growth hormone, diuretics, androstenedione, creatine, stimulants, and erythropoietin.
How Teens Abuse PEDs
Research shows that anabolic steroids are usually more prone to be abused by athletes in some particular sports, which depends on the strength of the athletes rather than those sports which emphasize endurance, speed, flexibility, and agility.
Usually, performance-enhancing drugs or PEDs users can inject into the body muscles or take orally. In addition, teens popularly apply some steroids via topical gels or creams.
Blood doping is also another usual practice in which we do blood transfusions to boost the oxygen-carrying capabilities of the body. However, stepping up and continuing to abuse performance-enhancing drugs mostly leads to addiction and dependence.
Common Performance-Enhancing Drugs
Apart from the athletes, teens are also prone to developing an addiction to PEDs. We also mentioned that earlier. Now, we will discuss some most common performance-enhancing drugs, which are popular among teens.
1: Creatine
This is a naturally occurring chemical in the body, which retailers sell in the market as an over-the-counter supplement. Teens also use it to enhance their performance during high-intensity bursts of activity and increase muscle mass.
2: Anabolic Steroids
The synthetic version of the hormone testosterone is called anabolic steroids. It increases strength along with building muscle.
3: Steroid Precursors
Some steroid precursors, for example, DHEA or dehydroepiandrosterone and Andro or androstenedione. These are the substances that our body converts into anabolic steroids. They used them all for increasing muscle mass. Fortunately, most steroid precursors are illegal to buy without a proper prescription. However, DHEA is still available in over-the-counter preparations.
4: Caffeine
Caffeine is another prevalent energy and endurance booster among kids and teens. They often choose some energy drinks, which contain caffeine, and without knowing it, they develop a dependency on all those energy drinks.
5: Amphetamines And Other Stimulants
Again, another common performance-enhancing drug among children is Amphetamines and other stimulants. They believe that all these substances improve endurance along with increasing alertness.
Why Are Teenagers More Prone To PED Abuse?
There are many reasons teenagers develop a dependency on PEDs or performance-enhancing drugs. Here they are.
- Increase endurance, of course.
- Cope with body image insecurities.
- Gain strength or muscle mass.
- Fit in with peers.
- Gain a competitive edge or perform better.
Side Effects Of Performance-Enhancing Drugs
Now come the hazards that steroids and their precursors come with. They often bring some severe and long-lasting health issues. For example, during growing adolescents, one of the most prominent risks of abusing anabolic steroid precursors is the permanent stunting of height.
Some other side effects also include the following.
- Acne
- High cholesterol level and blood pressure
- Blood clotting problems
- Shrinking testicles
- Mood swings
- Liver problems
- Reduced sperm production
- Irregular heartbeats
- Irreversible hair loss
- Decreased breast size in women and enlarged breasts in men
Higher risk of infections, like AIDS or HIV, in sharing needles.
Creatine also can act behind kidney damage, abdominal pain, and nausea. In addition, when you are combining creatine with some particular medications, like some over-the-counter pain-relieving drugs, the risk of kidney damage becomes higher.
FAQs
We understand how much you are concerned about your loved ones with substance abuse or getting addicted to performance-enhancing drugs. However, after reading this article, we believe you get the overall knowledge about PEDS and getting addicted to them.
Still, we understand you might have some queries or questions, so here we are answering some of the most common questions about performance-enhancing drug abuse.
Q1: Can Athletes Get Addicted To Performance-enhancing Drugs?
Not all, but some PEDs or performance-enhancing drugs are addictive. When the question is about athletes, they also get addicted to stimulants, such as amphetamine and cocaine. They also can be vulnerable to steroids. Users might take anabolic steroids continuously to avoid withdrawal symptoms, although it has several harmful effects. Coping up on body image issues is another reason here.
Q2: What Are Some Examples Of Performance-enhancing Drugs?
Among teens, the most common performance-enhancing drugs and supplements are as follows.
- Caffeine
- Steroid precursors
- Anabolic steroids
- Creatine
- Amphetamines and some other stimulants
Q3: Can Your Body Become Dependent On Steroids?
As per research, around 32% of the people who misuse anabolic steroids usually become dependent. Also, symptoms of dependence might include tolerance. Finally, the need to take more steroids to get the same effect is why some people become dependent on steroids. Withdrawal is another indicator of dependency when you stop using anabolic steroids.
Q4: What Are 5 Performance-enhancing Drugs?
Here are the major performance-enhancing drugs.
- Erythropoietin.
- Creatine.
- Human growth hormone.
- Androstenedione.
- Anabolic steroids.
- Diuretics.
- Stimulants.
The Last Word on Performance-Enhancing Drugs
For athletes, performance-enhancing drugs are illegal. If caught, they might lose their entire career. Unfortunately, teens often feel pressured to boost their performance and get addicted to PEDs. In both cases, getting help from a medically equipped recovery center is the best thing to get rid of this addiction.
