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steroids effect on psychology of aids patients

steroids effect on psychology of aids patients Anabolic Steroid Use in AIDS Patients The use of Anabolic Steroids in AIDS patients is becoming increasingly popular. Steroids are used to bring the lean body mass of a patient up for multiple reasons. In most cases the loss of lean body mass from AIDS is so severe it is causing a significant decrease in quality of life. Anabolic Steroids have many inherent risks associated with them for example many types of cancer, risks of liver disease from oral AS, gynocomastia, and hormonal cycle imbalance. Steroids not only effect the body, they also change the mind state and attitude of the user. In some cases the excess testosterone in the system causes increases in aggression and loss of focus in everyday life. Even though it is well documented that many users find an increase in aggression it is my opinion as a former user and dealer that AIDS patients should be prescribed AS. AIDS patients that have extremely low body masses have a low quality of life. They do not posses enough muscle to perform everyday tasks that are second nature for normal adults. This is where AS are brought into the picture. AS are a quick way of adding on lean body mass. They are usually “stacked” which is a process of taking two or more types of steroids at once. There are hundreds of steroids out on the market today, and each has a little different effect on the body. You stack a combination of steroids that contain the effects that you want to see. You also want to take different steroids that compete for androgernic sites in different ways in order to increase testosterone production. The patient could start seeing gains in lean body mass with only an increase of caloric intake and no lifting program. Once they built a base of lean body mass they could begin a weighlifting program to further increase their lean body mass. The physical side effects that an AIDS patient would be worried about can be counteracted with other drugs. Gynoconmastia(bitch tits) can be counteracted with a few different drugs, but the most popular choice would be Nolvadex, when used in the male system prevents aromitization or testosterone conversion. Testicular shrinkage can be counteracted with HCG which tells the body that it has produced to much ooestrogen. The body counteracts this with producing more testosterone naturally, thus keeping the testicle size normal. The risk of getting cancer from steroid use is a mute point for an AIDS patient, because cancer The only true risk that an AIDS patient would find would be the increase of aggression that comes from the increase of testosterone. Multiple tests involving testosterone cyanopate showed a significant increase in the aggression of the subject, both human and animal towards other subjects and towards inanimate objects(Kouri EM et al 1995, Choi PY 1994, Nakatani Y 1995 ). Many of the results in the human cases were taken by asking patients standardized questions about everyday life, along with having to describe a list of situations that were presented. The biggest downside is that many AS users had a significant increase in aggression towards women and had significantly more fights during their relationships than did non AS users (Choi PY 1994). The increased aggression with the unnatural increase in muscle size can be viewed as a serious problem. The user tends to be stronger than those around him or her. With the mix of the bad attitude and the increased size makes the user hard to deal with sometimes. There are other tests though that are inconclusive about the increase of aggression levels of the user. One test asked a series of questions about the everyday life of the user. They only found a significant increase in aggression of the user during weight training sessions(Parrott et al 1994). Another test was performed to see if there was significant increase of the driving aggression of the anabolic steroid user(Ellingrod et al 1997). The test found that there was no difference in the aggression of driving between the users and non-users category. This point is a very strong one because a car can easily become a large weapon, especially in the hands of a person who has temperament problems. My view is not one of a researcher, but of an insider. I may not be as scientific about the views I am going to present, but I dealt with this day in day out for quite a while. I find gaps in a majority of the studies due to the fact that they mainly used testosterone cyanopate. There are certain steroids that cause a person to develop the bad attitude or “roid rage”. One of the drugs that falls in this category is TC. Others that fall in this category are (generic names) D-Bol, Thai-Anabol, Jet, Testosterone Suspesion, Sustanon Depot. These are not all of the drugs that cause a bad attitude, but most of the popular ones on the market today. They have super anabolic effects, but if you are not very mild mannered before you start taking them you will have some serious attitude adjustment. For all of the steroids that cause a bad attitude there are those that cause no attitude change. They might not have such a super anabolic effect, but you can get a significant change quick off of these. The recommended drugs would be (generic names) Deca-Durabolin, Primobolan Depot, Clenbuterol, Arimidex, and Winstrol. I have found in the past in myself and others that I have known that used these no change in attitude The cycles that most experiments used were not realistic either. One test had the subjects taking 600mg of Test Cyanopate per week(Kouri EM et al 1995). This is 200mg more than some of the most serious body builders I have ever met would ever take, and they are use to dealing with the psychological side effects. In conclusion I would recommend the prescription of AS for AIDS patients. There are scientific studies that have clashing results on wether the steroids cause a change for the worse outside the training environment. Even if there are slight changes in attitude the benefits outweigh the risks. A person can raise their body mass so that they can participate in everyday life. This isn’t only a physical necessity, but also causes increase in confidence and general well being. The decision should be left up to the patient. Only in severe cases where the physician finds that the patient cannot handle that Anabolic Steroids, then the patient should be taken off. Then an alternative should be looked for such as Human Bibliography: Works Cited Choi PY, Pope HG Jr. “Violence Toward Women and Illicit Androgenic-Anabolic Steroid Use.” Annual Clinical Psychiatry 1994 March, 6(1);21-25. Ellingrod Vicki et al. “The Effects of Anabolic Steroids on Driving Performance as Assassed by the Iowa Driver Simulator.” American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 1997: 23(4); 623-636. Kouri EM et al “Increased agressive responding in Male Volunteers Following the Administration of Gradually Increasing Doses of Testosterone Cypionate.” Drug Alcohol Dependancy 1995 Nov., 40(1); 73-79. Nakatani Y, Udagawa M. “Anabolic Steroid Use and Mental Disorders.” Arukoru Kenyuto Yakubutsu Izon. 1995 Oct. 30(5); 333-347. Parrott et al. “Anabolic Steroid Use by Amateur Athletes: Effects Upon Psychological Mood State.” The Journal of Medicine and Physical Fitness 1994:34:292-8.

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