Medications and Athletes: How Performance Drugs Affect Health and Performance

For many athletes, the line between training hard and taking shortcuts has become dangerously thin. What started as a secret among elite competitors has now seeped into gyms, fitness centers, and home workout routines across the UK and beyond. Performance-enhancing drugs aren’t just about winning medals anymore-they’re being used by people who just want to look bigger, recover faster, or push through another workout. But behind the quick gains lie serious, often permanent, health risks that most users never see coming.

What Are Performance-Enhancing Drugs Really Doing to Your Body?

Anabolic steroids, stimulants, growth hormone, and blood doping aren’t magic pills. They’re powerful chemicals that force your body to do things it wasn’t designed to do. Take anabolic steroids: they mimic testosterone, tricking your muscles into growing faster and stronger. In just 6 to 12 weeks, users can gain 10-20% more muscle than they ever could naturally. That sounds appealing-until you learn what else is happening inside.

Your heart starts to thicken. Studies show steroid users develop 27-45% more cardiac mass than non-users, even after accounting for body size. This isn’t healthy growth. It’s scarring. The heart’s ability to pump blood drops by 8-12% in chronic users. One study found that athletes as young as 28 were suffering heart attacks because their hearts had become stiff and overworked. This isn’t rare. It’s predictable.

Then there’s your liver. Oral steroids like oxymetholone or stanozolol are especially toxic. Up to 68% of users show elevated liver enzymes-clear signs of damage. Some develop liver tumors or peliosis hepatis, a condition where blood-filled cysts form inside the organ. And your kidneys? They’re not safe either. Creatinine clearance drops by 15-25%, meaning your kidneys struggle to filter waste. Long-term users often end up with chronic kidney disease.

The Hidden Hormonal Crash

When you flood your body with synthetic testosterone, your brain thinks it’s getting too much. So it shuts down your own production. After just 8 weeks of use, 90% of male users drop into hypogonadotropic hypogonadism-meaning their natural testosterone falls below 300 ng/dL. Normal levels are 300-1,000. This isn’t temporary. Recovery takes 6 to 12 months, and for some, it never fully returns.

Men report shrinking testicles-down to 2-4 mL in volume (normal is 15-25 mL). Sperm counts plunge below 1 million per mL. Normal is over 15 million. Many end up needing lifelong testosterone replacement therapy. Women face different but equally devastating changes: voice deepening that doesn’t reverse, clitoral enlargement over 2.5 cm, and permanent facial hair growth. In 35% of female users, these changes stick around even after stopping.

And then comes the mental toll. Eighty-three percent of recreational users report severe mood swings. Irritability, aggression, paranoia-these aren’t just side effects. They’re symptoms of chemical imbalance. When users stop, depression hits hard. Sixty-seven percent experience clinical depression during off-cycles. One Reddit user wrote: “I gained 25 lbs of muscle in 10 weeks. Lost it all in 8 weeks. And I couldn’t get out of bed for months.”

Why Tendons Snap and Muscles Fail

Strength doesn’t equal durability. When steroids make your muscles grow rapidly, your tendons and ligaments don’t keep up. They stay the same thickness, the same elasticity. The result? Tendons rupture under loads they’d normally handle just fine. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons documented cases where athletes tore Achilles tendons lifting weights they’d handled safely for years-before steroids.

It’s like putting a sports car engine in a bicycle frame. The engine (muscle) is powerful. The frame (connective tissue) isn’t. That’s why tendon injuries are now one of the most common reasons athletes under 30 end up in surgery.

The Rise of the “Safe” Alternatives

Many users think SARMs (selective androgen receptor modulators) are safer. They’re marketed as “legal steroids” or “research chemicals.” But here’s the truth: 89% of SARMs products tested by the FDA contain completely different, unlisted substances. Some have been linked to liver failure. Others cause heart rhythm problems. There’s no long-term safety data. No clinical trials. Just guesswork and online forums.

Even worse, these substances are sold as “not for human consumption,” which lets sellers avoid regulation. They’re shipped from overseas labs, labeled as “bath salts” or “plant food.” You don’t know what you’re taking. You just know it makes you feel stronger.

Who’s Really Using These Drugs?

It’s not just Olympians anymore. Elite athletes make up only 15-20% of users today. The majority-65-70%-are recreational gym-goers. People who aren’t competing, aren’t getting paid, aren’t under any pressure to perform. They just want to look better, faster. And they’re being sold a lie.

Wellness clinics and anti-aging centers are now major distributors. They offer “bio-identical hormone therapy” for energy, libido, or muscle gain. Many include banned substances like testosterone or hGH. Patients think they’re getting medical care. They’re being doped.

And here’s the kicker: 42% of recreational users admit to using performance drugs. Only 12% tell their doctor. Most doctors don’t even ask. AAFP found that 7 out of 10 family physicians miss signs of steroid use during routine checkups because the symptoms don’t match textbook cases.

The Real Cost of a Quick Fix

Let’s say you take steroids for 12 weeks. You gain muscle. You feel strong. You post before-and-after photos. But what happens after?

• Your heart is permanently altered-less flexible, more prone to failure.
• Your liver is scarred. Your kidneys are strained.
• Your testosterone levels are broken. You may need injections for life.
• Your mood is unstable. You’ve lost control over your emotions.
• Your tendons are weaker than they were before you started.

The Mayo Clinic says the health damage from steroids is equivalent to aging your cardiovascular system by 10-15 years. That’s not a metaphor. That’s what the scans show.

And for what? A few extra pounds of muscle? A faster recovery? A better-looking physique? The gains are temporary. The damage? Often permanent.

What Should You Do Instead?

If you’re looking to build strength, burn fat, or recover faster, there are proven, safe methods:

• Progressive overload: slowly increasing weight over time builds real, lasting muscle.
• Protein intake: 1.6-2.2 grams per kg of body weight supports muscle repair.
• Sleep: 7-9 hours nightly boosts testosterone and recovery.
• Recovery days: muscles grow when resting, not when lifting.
• Supplements like creatine monohydrate: backed by 30+ years of research, safe, legal, and effective.

There’s no shortcut that doesn’t come with a price. The body adapts to stress-not to chemicals. The strongest athletes aren’t the ones with the biggest doses. They’re the ones who trained consistently, recovered wisely, and stayed patient.

What If You’re Already Using?

If you’ve used performance drugs and want to stop, you’re not alone. But quitting isn’t simple. Your body has been rewired. Hormonal rebalancing can take 6-12 months. In 38% of chronic users, natural testosterone production never fully returns.

Don’t try to detox alone. Seek help from a sports medicine doctor or endocrinologist. Get blood tests: testosterone, LH, FSH, liver enzymes, kidney function, lipid panel. Monitor your mental health. Depression after stopping is common and treatable.

You don’t have to keep going. You don’t have to hide. Recovery is possible. But it starts with honesty-with yourself, and with a doctor who understands what you’ve been through.