Steroids quickly turning ripped in R.I.P., By: Doug Robinson
April 3, 2006, Deseret Morning News
Like many teenage boys, Jeff Rutstein started to lift weights as a teenager to attract girls. He was 5-foot-6, 150 pounds at the time. In six weeks he added 20 pounds of muscle. Within two years, he weighed 190.
If that doesn't raise a few red flags in your mind, then you've already flunked your first steroid test. Rutstein, after failing to get the desired results simply by pumping iron, turned to anabolic steroids.
Three and a half years later — after "gushing" noses bleeds and episodes of 'roid rage, after getting hauled away to an asylum, after stealing from his parents to support his habit, after repeated attempts to quit — he quit for good. He spent a year lying in bed, depressed. In the end it was exercise again that got him moving again, this time without the drugs.
Rutstein, now 40, has looked on with dismay as America has slowly awakened — Bud Selig-like — to an underrated drug problem among its youth. Last year he wrote a book on his own steroid experience — "Steroid Deceit" — as a warning to youths and their parents.
"It's such an addictive drug and no one realizes it," he says. "I don't want parents to go through what I put my parents through. I almost died."
Parents have been as slow as Major League Baseball, professional wrestling and bodybuilding to recognize the presence and real dangers of 'roids, which are addictive, deadly and often pave the way to using the other drugs.
How bad are steroids? Consider the plight of pro wrestling and bodybuilding, which are rife with steroid use. According to USA Today, 65 pro wrestlers died between 1997 and 2004 who were 45 years old and younger, 25 from heart attacks or other coronary problems, many with enlarged hearts. When wrestling star Eddie Guerrero died of heart disease at 38 late last year — from heart disease that included a hardening and narrowing of the arteries, enlarged organs, etc., brought on by years of steroid abuse — pro wrestling decided to start random testing.
Meanwhile, bodybuilders are turning up ripped and R.I.P. — Charles Durr, Don Youngblood and Paul DeMayo, as well as powerlifter Anthony Clark, all died within a one-month period last year at the ages of 45, 51, 37 and 38, respectively. Three were related to heart problems. The Bodybuilder.com Web site says of DeMayo, after noting he is 5-foot-10, 270 pounds, "Paul DeMayo works hard for his physique . . . Hopefully we'll see much more of him in the future."
Probably not.
Most parents are clueless about steroid use. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that steroid use among teenagers rose drastically from 1991-2003. The organization's survey revealed that 6 percent of the 15,000 students questioned in 2003 admitted to trying steroid pills or injections at least once.
Steroids are especially dangerous for youths because their bones are still developing. Steroids can stop bone growth and damage vital organs and only heighten the mood swings already present in youths.
Rutstein chronicles his personal road to hell and back and offers parents some clues to detect 'roid use by their children. "Not everyone gets the same side effects," he says. Some signs to consider: acne, stretch marks on the front of the shoulders, sudden weight gain — "You don't put on eight pounds in one month naturally," he says — a preoccupation with muscle magazines and posters, a preoccupation with lifting weights."
For his part, Rutstein tried repeatedly to quit, but he couldn't face the resulting deflation of his muscles. "For me, it was like losing a limb," he says. "My fake muscles were my self-esteem." Mirror watching, he notes, is one of the great pastimes of bodybuilders and steroid users. "The muscles that (steroids) produce look and feel real, but I knew they were just an illusion."
He experienced warning signs: blood rushing from his nose and mouth, insomnia, depression, irritability, irrational behavior. After quitting steroids, he got worse for a time. For six weeks he barely slept or ate, he trained manically and he lost 45 pounds. His behavior grew so manic that his parents called police, fearing for his life. He was taken to a psychiatric hospital, where he was placed in a holding room. After he repeatedly tried to knock down the door, several men rushed him and sedated him. He remained there one month and then began the long road back.
"It took about a year before I could move from bed," he says of his post-steroid depression. "I was almost catatonic. I couldn't even focus on TV. I hoped I wouldn't wake up in the morning. What helped me the most was when I started to exercise again."
A guy who once curled 150 pounds was reduced to curling five pounds. Today he is a fit 175 pounds. He owns a personal training center. "Steroids aren't allowed," he says.
