 |
Illness, divorce stem from abuseDate: 18.11.2006
Posted by: Anabolic Info Team
Ex-bodybuilder shares his story of steroid use
Steroid abuse nearly killed Steve Gilchrist two decades ago.
But other memories haunt him more when he retraces his "steroids horror story."
"The worst part? Hitting my wife," he said. "And having my son see me do that during a 'roid rage.' That's absolutely hitting rock bottom."
Today, the ex-body builder is still paying a price for his mid-1980s steroids use.
Gilchrist, 63, rattled off medical problems ranging from cysts on both kidneys to more than a dozen surgeries for ligament and tendon damage. Doctors blame steroids for much of the damage, he said.
The former McKay High School counselor volunteered to tell his story in hopes that young athletes would learn from his mistakes.
"It was ludicrous what I did," he said. "Just to look pretty. Just to win bodybuilding shows. Just to be Mr. Goliath dude. Just all for nothing. I got nothing out of it except for a body that doesn't work."
Anabolic steroids are synthetic substitutes for testosterone, the hormone that produces male characteristics, such as increased muscle mass, facial hair and a deep voice. The hormone also exists in females, but in much smaller amounts.
Nationally, hundreds of thousands of American high school students use steroids in any given year, survey data show. They risk a toxic slew of side effects, from liver damage and cancer to aching joints and severe acne.
The dark side of steroids abuse is well documented.
During the 1930s, scientists discovered that anabolic steroids increased muscle growth in lab animals. Adolf Hitler's medical henchmen reportedly doled out vast quantities of steroids to Nazi troops during World War II.
By the 1950s, American bodybuilders and weightlifters started experimenting with steroids to increase muscle mass during training.
Since 1990, it has been illegal to buy or sell steroids without a prescription in the United States. Steroids also are banned by various sports governing bodies. However, cheating scandals abound, from major league baseball to cycling and track and field.
Mexico is a major supplier of blackmarket steroids that flow into this country, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
By many accounts, foreign pharmacies and clandestine labs in the United States continue to churn out abundant supplies, and teens say steroids are easy to get.
A 2005 survey by Monitoring the Future, a federally funded research organization, found that nearly 40 percent of high school seniors said steroids were "fairly easy" or "very easy" to acquire.
Last November, investigators with the U.S. General Accountability Office proved that it's a cinch to buy steroids on the Internet.
GAO investigators found a variety of Web sites "openly and boldly" peddling dozens of anabolic steroids. Next, the feds placed 22 orders with steroid marketers. They received 14 shipments, including 10 mailed from foreign countries. Four shipments from within the United States did not contain steroids (as the Web sites claimed) but other dietary supplements, the GAO reported.
Doctors and health officials issue a warning to athletes and others buying steroids on the Internet: There's no telling what you're getting.
"Some of it is such junk, but it doesn't make any difference to the kids who are injecting themselves with the stuff," said Dr. Linn Goldberg, a steroids expert and professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University.
"One kid that we know of was injecting himself with cooking oil."
Oregon numbers
In 2005, nearly 5 percent of American high school students -- one in 20 -- said they used steroids without a doctor's prescription, reported the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Oregon teens are faring better when it comes to shunning steroids, surveys suggest. In 2005, fewer than 2 percent of the high school respondents in Oregon's Healthy Teens Survey -- 1.8 percent for girls, 1.5 percent for boys -- acknowledged using steroids without medical authorization.
Still, doctors, coaches and sports officials worry about an array of unregulated performance-enhancing substances -- from purported "testosterone boosters" to so-called designer steroids that can't be detected on drug tests.
"There's a million different kinds of synthetic testosterone derivatives that are out there now," said Rick Lacey, the head strength and conditioning coach at South Salem High School.
Some athletes said more steroids education is needed, particularly about the motivations that drive some teens to use them.
"I don't believe that we do get a lot of information about steroids," Kristen Haugen, a South Salem basketball and softball player wrote in an e-mail to the Statesman Journal. "I mean, you hear some things in health classes, but it doesn't seem like enough.
"I believe that more girls are taking them because they feel the pressure to fit in. It seems that your typical girl now does sports and she is athletic, and the girls that aren't athletic want to fit in. ... People want improvements and the skills to come faster rather than work for them."
Lacey said he has rarely encountered students taking steroids during his 23 years as a coach.
"I've had about five in my career where the student admitted it to me," he said.
How did he deal with it?
"I got the parents involved, and the parents had them tested," Lacey said. "Then we worked with the student and the parents to get them off that substance, just like we would if a kid had a drinking problem or a tobacco problem or a marijuana problem."
Motives for use
Teens take steroids for varied reasons, experts say. Among the motives: achieving a rock-hard body, reducing fat, compensating for perceived inferiority and gaining an edge against athletic rivals.
Anabolic steroids carry terrible risks, doctors warn. In boys, side effects can include shrunken testicles and stunted growth. Adverse effects in girls can include a deepened voice, clitoral enlargement and increased facial and body hair.
Males and females of all ages who abuse steroids risk liver cancer, heart disease, yellowing eyes and skin and heightened aggressiveness -- or "roid rage."
In high school weight rooms and gyms, strength and conditioning coaches are on the alert for telltale signs of steroid use.
"We watch our kids like a hawk for any kind of anabolic use," Lacey said.
Savvy coaches don't bother telling young athletes that steroids don't work. Nobody would believe it, Lacey said.
"For years, they tried to tell athletes, steroids don't work," he said. "Well, kids aren't stupid. The kids know that if you use those compounds, along with heavy resistance training, you're going to turn into Count Dracula in cleats in about six weeks."
To counter that, coaches emphasize that taking steroids is both a crime and a type of cheating.
"We start there, then we go into all the associated health risks," Lacey said. "There's a huge list of side effects. We take them through it and use that as an educational opportunity to say there's a better way. If your goal is to get better, get stronger and more athletic, there are healthy ways to get that accomplished.
"The message we share with our kids is, there are no shortcuts in life. Everything's hard. Your academics are hard. Relationships are hard. Becoming a great athlete is really hard.
"The way you make things happen is you set goals and put a plan into action with lots of hard work. If you work hard, great things happen."
Personality change
Digging into the roots of his steroid abuse, Gilchrist said he spent much of his childhood and adult life overcompensating for a poor self-concept.
"I wanted to be accepted, I wanted to be somebody," he said. "I just went about it totally the wrong way."
Before he turned to steroids, Gilchrist was a successful bodybuilder. In 1972, he won the Mr. Oregon competition.
Gilchrist quit competing for about 10 years, then, at age 38, returned to bodybuilding. Seeking an edge, he started using steroids in 1984.
"I started because I just felt like I couldn't be competitive anymore," he said. "That's kind of a common thing. I had been around a group that was hinting that I could really do well if I got on the stuff. But I made the decision. I should have known better, but I became very self-centered."
Gilchrist periodically traveled to Mexico to buy steroids.
During a four-year period, he injected steroids into his buttocks and swallowed them in pill form. He used the drugs in cycles, taking steroids for a couple months, followed by lengthy breaks.
Steroids infused him with extra stamina, Gilchrist said. He packed on weight; his muscles bulged.
Physically, he felt great. "Best I ever felt in my life," he said. "I felt like Superman. I didn't require much sleep, and I was so strong. I would go in the gym and train for three or four hours."
At the same time, Gilchrist said, steroid use warped his personality. Bouts of uncontrolled rage wrecked his 19-year marriage, he said, and depression twice took him to the brink of suicide.
"It was a pretty traumatic time for my son and daughter. They saw me do things to my wife that I wish I could undo, but I can't."
In the late '80s, Gilchrist became seriously ill when his bone marrow stopped producing red blood cells.
"My body basically shut down," he said. "Everything stopped working. I remember the internist who took care of me said, 'I'm going to send you home and you're either going to live or you're going to die and there's nothing we can do for you.' My brother came and stayed with me for about a week. I pulled through."
After that, Gilchrist said, his two children provided motivation for him to stay steroid-free.
"By then, I had pretty much burned my bridges with everybody," he said. "My kids who had left me by then said, 'Dad, we love you and we want you alive. But if you choose to do (steroids) again, that's it, we don't want anything to do with you.'"
He got off "the juice" and stayed clean. Ironically, Gilchrist said, he won bodybuilding contests more than a decade after he dumped steroids. "So it's kind of like why in the heck did I use them?"
Gilchrist gave anti-steroid talks at McKay and other schools during his stint as a high school counselor, from 1987 until 1999.
Since stepping down, he has occasionally filled in for Lacey as a substitute coach at the South Salem weight room. But he is dogged by a slew of medical ailments.
"How is my health now? It basically sucks," he said. "I see a kidney specialist because I have these cysts. I have a tumor, or some kind of growth, in my prostate. It's like I'm a cancer patient in the waiting."
His exercise now is limited to walking. A doctor recently called a halt to his weight lifting, ending a passion that started when he was 14.
"Other than (walking), there's not a lot I can do," he said. "I have my grandkids; enjoying the time I have left. Every once in a while, when I get a chance to tell kids about steroids, I do."
What he tells them is a cautionary tale: "The media doesn't talk enough about the horror side of steroids. Kids need to know, if you play (with steroids), you're going to pay. There's not a lot in life that I'll guarantee, but I'll guarantee that."
|
© Anabolic Info
|
|
 |
