Steroid abuse can cause stunted growth in adolescents, con-tinuous headaches, bone pain, nausea, and changes in bowel and urinary patterns. An unexpected side effect is that steroid use can weaken the tendons, placing athletes at risk of serious injury. For instance, men experience prostate enlargement, sterility, sexual dysfunction, baldness, breast enlargement, and testicular atrophy. Excess testosterone in females has the opposite effect, causing menstrual irregularities, deepening of the voice, baldness, fetal damage, hair growth on other parts of the body, sexual dysfunction, sterility, reduction of breasts, and genital swelling. Prolonged heavy use of steroids can permanently damage the liver, causing cancer, jaundice, bleeding, and hepatitis.
Steroids can impair the kidneys leading to kidney stones and kidney disease.
Steroid-related fatalities occur as a result of suicide, homicide, liver disease, heart attack, and cancer. Problem users may lose interest in daily activities and report loss of energy and boredom. Steroid use can also cause a phenomenon called male anorexia where users experience dissatisfaction with their body image and do not notice changes that are apparent to others. Oral steroids can be detected up to several weeks after use, while injected steroids can be detected for several months after use. Teenage and young adult males who participate in athletics are at particular risk for abusing steroids because they believe that steroids can help them enhance their physical performance and their appearance.