Steroids Not Worth Weight, By Dr. Aly and Faiza Abdulla

February, 21, 2006, Sun Media

ARNOLD WAS a small kid in elementary school, but he loved to play sports. He wasn't big or fast, but he was tricky.

When he hit puberty, he started growing bigger and taller and stronger. But he was still shorter than his peers, and in his mind not strong enough.

He spent hours working out and eating as much as he could get his hands on. His coaches told him he was almost big enough and almost strong enough but he would have to work out harder.

When Arnold returned from camp the summer before Grade 12, he was a different person. He was only 17, but his voice was deeper, he had more hair, worse acne, and was 20 lbs. heavier -- and it was all muscle.

SHORT TEMPER

His temper was short, but he was powerfully assertive. His schoolwork was passable, but the coaches made him the captain of every team. Arnold didn't let them down. He left high school with many sports scholarships and many dates.

University and varsity sport were a world of difference from high school.

Everyone was bigger and worked harder. Arnold stacked his training tempo to match. By the end of first year, he was 220 lbs. and still on three varsity teams.

His mood kept fluctuating. Sometimes he was on top of the world and other times in the depths of despair. He had everything -- the car, the girl, the body and great workout/drinking buddies.

He always managed to pass his courses, even though he was not in university for the education. The coaches steered him toward bodybuilding and then he really got big.

This is when the roller coaster began.

Arnold won many competitions, got offered modelling contracts, made and spent a lot of money, left university with a conditional B.A. degree, broke up with and then married the girl of his dreams, was in counselling for anger management and physical abuse, had two charges of assault that were later dropped, bought a house and started work as a personal trainer, tried to start a family and found out he was infertile due to anabolic steroid use.

Anabolic androgenic steroids, either in oral or injectable form, increase muscle mass and strength and allow one to train longer, harder and recover easier. They are addictive.

Steroids increase maleness in females, and shut off testosterone in males.

Side-effects may include rapidly fluctuating mood, aggression, acne, rapid weight gain, clotting disorders, elevated cholesterol, weakened tendons, liver damage, infertility, premature heart attacks and strokes and transmission of infections like Hepatitis B or C.

There is always a price to pay for using steroids.