Anabolic steroids are synthetic substances similar to the male hormone testosterone. Doctors prescribe them to treat problems such as delayed puberty and other medical problems that cause the body to make very low amounts of testosterone. Steroids make muscles bigger and bones stronger. They also may cause puberty to start and can help some boys who have a genetic disorder to grow more normally.
Anabolic steroids may be taken as a pill, as a shot into a muscle, or as a gel or cream rubbed on the skin.
Common anabolic steroid medicines include fluoxymesterone (such as Halotestin) and nandrolone (such as Durabolin). In the United States, you need a prescription to get any anabolic steroid. Illegal anabolic steroids are those that people get without a doctor’s prescription.
Some people take legal dietary supplements that have certain steroid hormones also made by the human body. One such supplement is dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). The body can turn DHEA into other steroid hormones, including testosterone, estrogen, and cortisol. People use it to try to make their muscles bigger. Whether such products actually work has not been proved. But if you take them in large amounts, they can cause the same side effects as anabolic steroids.
