I have never thought of it quite like that, but those words ring true!
MESO-Rx
Anabolic Steroids
Recovering addicts and AAS
- Thread starter Cityofgrit
- Start date
Oldschool
New Member
That's good stuff.
This is the thread i wanted to pull at. Without mentioning names there are definitely a few here “addicted” to what AAS gives them (I doubt true addiction to the substance is real but for some it may as well be).
Is there a distinction to be made between physical addiction to a substance and mental addiction to the outcome? I assume the dude addicted to his look in the mirror, on some level, has stimulation in his brain driving it, right? Or is that something that fabricated?
Jwole33
New Member
I will celebrate 8 years clean this Saturday. Been cycling for at least half of this time. I don’t get high from running gear but I do and always have had the addiction of “more”. When I started competing a couple years ago of course my obsession took over and I went balls to the wall and let the prep consume me. At that point my recovery got put on the back burner and I’m still trying to bounce back. Some people in the recovery community consider gear a relapse but I consider those people very uneducated due to the fact that the ones that say it’s a relapse live off of a shit diet and have 15 different health issues due to being overweight and having a shitty diet. Just my 2 cents
I’ll chime in. I did all the fun drugs everyone did growing up with an emphasis on ice and tramidol, two highly addictive substances, however never became addicted. I quit smoking completely and stop drinking every once in a while without issue, I was just blessed.
AAS are different for me. I don’t use much outside of 500-800mg test every ten days for about 12 weeks every couple months, but I honestly never want to come off. The confidence, sex drive, and overall feeling of well being is so pleasing to me that it’s almost depressing going into pct and recovery. Maybe one day I’ll start a cruz but even then my blast won’t be much outside of upping the test a bit. Anyhow, congrats to everyone in here. This is a great thread to highlight the success stories
AAS are different for me. I don’t use much outside of 500-800mg test every ten days for about 12 weeks every couple months, but I honestly never want to come off. The confidence, sex drive, and overall feeling of well being is so pleasing to me that it’s almost depressing going into pct and recovery. Maybe one day I’ll start a cruz but even then my blast won’t be much outside of upping the test a bit. Anyhow, congrats to everyone in here. This is a great thread to highlight the success stories
This is a really good point @Mac11wildcat
In the addiction treatment field there are addictions outside of substance abuse called process addictions. They're hard for many people to understand but this is kind of a brief outline in contrast to the substance abuser:
Many people can do a little blow from time to time, take pills here and there, drink occasionally, party a lot when the are younger and then "grow up", etc... These people have a tough time understanding why people who can be otherwise very intelligent and dedicated human beings can't just drink or use like normal people, why can't they just hold their shit together, why they fall victim to substances that others can put away or use in moderation. It doesn't make sense to them.
When we see people living on the streets strung out or drunk all of the time we can say "they are undisciplined", "they are weak", "they are unintelligent" and so on.
When we find doctors, lawyers, CEO's, and other successful types who ruin they're lives by drugs and alcohol we have to find other excuses as to why a person like a prominent psychiatrist is drunk every day. If we see enough people from every ethnicity, social upbringing, and societal standing suffer from substance abuse we have to reassess what the problem is.
Working in the treatment field, I've gotten everyone from some of the lowest members of society to some of the highest members of society in treatment for drugs and alcohol...normal people don't understand this but alcoholic/drug addicts do, as do those of us that work in this field.
Process addictions and the AAS problem:
So process addictions vary from seemingly bizarre behaviors like video game addictions that end in suicide to things like bulimia or kleptomania.
AAS users seem to become addicted to their body image and in this way they suffer like bulimics or anorexics. Their are mild cases and there are extreme cases but both usually suffer from dysmorphia which is a whole other topic but essentially dysmorphic people tend to place all of their worth on their appearance. Without their appearance they are nothing. No amount of muscle, no amount of fat loss, no amount of change in appearance will satisfy them...it's not ever good enough and they will risk their health to the very death trying to achieve an unobtainable satisfaction. When they look in the mirror, what they typically see is what isn't quite right yet or what isn't good enough so they starve themselves, work out incessantly, and pump themselves full of sometimes extremely unhealthy amounts of AAS denying that they will suffer consequences.
I believe this is what separates AAS use vs AAS abuse and I think this might be what you're referring to.
I think normal AAS users probably have the same difficulty understanding why AAS abusers do what they do just as a normal drinker doesn't quite understand the alcoholic.
I'm looking to run a safe bulking cycle soon and am taking in as much information as possible. Of course I am taking in all the information I can but am looking for modest suggestions in my threads. I appreciate everyone who responds but need to be aware of who's giving out the suggested protocols. Glad @BigBaldBeardGuy chimed in on my thread. I feel like I can trust his judgment being in this thread.
In life Moderation is KEY. No matter what it is. Eating, Sex, Sleep, TV, Water, Exercise and Everything else. I always say this to myself because I very easily end up doing evertyhing in excess. I cannot just "have one".
I also believe addiction is hereditary, I was passed the gene. But I also believe it is possible to be addicted to positive things making the use of those positive things to be successfull. But even then remember moderation is key.
Addiction has killed probably half of my family. I should be there too. But Got lucky.
That being said. 1 year, 'clean"
I also believe addiction is hereditary, I was passed the gene. But I also believe it is possible to be addicted to positive things making the use of those positive things to be successfull. But even then remember moderation is key.
Addiction has killed probably half of my family. I should be there too. But Got lucky.
That being said. 1 year, 'clean"
Keep it up brother. I've got the genes as well...my family, Same story. I was the first of my family lineage to find recovery. My mom, son, and ex-wife (cause why would I marry and have kids with anyone but another junkie?) are all in recovery as of this last couple years...almost everyone else in my family died from substance abuse or substance abuse related issues.
My brother was one of us and suicided 8 years ago. Kid was very successful. Had 2 kids, married the prom queen, bought and paid for a house by age 24, ran a successful construction company, had 3 cars and all the toys money could buy...but my little brother couldn't get and stay clean.
It took me more blood, sweat, and tears to pick up my 1 year medallion than it did to pick up my 5 year medallion.
One year and you have your personal training cert. You're on a good pathetic brother, keep it up!!
Congratulations to all of you for winning the fight and overcoming the demons in your life. I just wanted to share this link with you guys so you know y’all are not alone here at Meso
Meso drug addicts
Meso drug addicts
The Terminator
Member
You can become physically dependent as your body suppresses it’s own hormone production. Of course stopping abruptly won’t cause the pain of opioid withdrawal or the danger of alcohol/benzo/barbiturate withdrawal. Seems like there can be a mental addiction from some of the posts I’ve read, not the same as recreational drugs but still..you have people panicking about going on vacation and can’t do their shots for a week, people counting down the days till they cycle or people that just love the feeling of being “on” so they never come off. Not nearly as bad as rec drugs, easy to maintain a normal life, unlikely to rob and steal, share needles etc etc but not totally different either. I wouldn’t say you should consider aas use as not being sober, caffeine and nicotine, two of the most used psychoactive substances in the world are acceptable in AA/NA.
I think there’s a simple explanation of why addicts gravitate towards aas...let’s be honest the vast majority of aas users could achieve their physiques naturally with extra hard work, but the promise of a slightly easier path is appealing to a former addict. This doesn’t apply to high level athletes and bb but most roid users aren’t in this category. Plus a lot of drugs suppress hormone output, which may take a long time to recover and T will make you feel good.
Anyway that’s just my opinion..
I do not think many of us could reach the size we are without roids.
Most people who claim to be natty are FAR from it.
The Terminator
Member
Most could because most aren’t top level bodybuilders, or fitness models or athletes. Most guys haven’t truly peaked natty, they might think they have. I mean yeah Ronnie Coleman certainly couldn’t look like he did without roids. Not saying you absolutely must peak before touching roids, I mean it would take a lot of time and effort.
I'll be honest. I'm in recovery and I've trained in combat sports, endurance, and bodybuilding. I've never reached what I know could be my absolute genetic potential or even gotten close to that end limit...not in reality...but I've made an incredible effort. My friends think I'm nuts with how much I study, obsess on, and put the work I do into training.
The gym is often my place of worship.
I've treated natural training at time like is was a full blown heroin addiction and suffered the consequences. I may have been a bit of a masochist because of how many injuries I've gotten from pushing myself beyond what I believe to be my natural limitations but I've gotten much more educated about my training as a result as well and it's become an intense discipline.
Most normal folks who like to work out don't make excel spreadsheets counting their macros every day but that's what I am...I'm a normal guy who likes to train. I won't be competing in any shows now. I'm almost 40 and I can feel the wear and tear at my young age. I left combat sports competition 7 years ago and buckled down on a bodybuilding routine. I'm never going to quit school and my job to live and breath this lifestyle exclusively...and so I'll never truly hit my genetic potential, at least not in the real sense of the term.
The idea of surpassing my genetic limitations is very appealing. I would think most casual hard working AAS users who don't abuse copious amounts of steroids are probably just looking for that lift brother, I'm no exception, addict or not. I really believe that you'd have to have lived the life of an addict and be dialed into a solid recovery program to really speak from experience on addiction and steroid use. I respect everyones opinions but addiction survivors are probably more qualified to speak on their AAS experiences.
No doubt some of us will abuse this stuff too and many of us will question if we have any business here.
We're all, or at least all should be, aware that there are many many AAS users who have no substance abuse issues with "addictive" substances like alcohol but abuse the hell out of steroids and will probably knock some years of their lives doing this without first trying to achieve their true genetic potential. There are many AAS users are adamantly in denial about their abuse of steroids like a dope fiend and how many 18 year olds out there are around this game going "I'm gonna get swole by pumping roids bruhv. I ain't no scared bitch" without putting in the work?
The Terminator
Member
I wasted over a decade abusing opioids and when I was too tolerant to feel anything opioids + benzos. Enough to where I had to spend a week in the hospital cause of the seizures. Anyway I do agree most use roids for a little boost in the gym + whatever other positives they get, libido, confidence etc. Not on the level of damage using rec drugs for a boost, but you might potentially still get long term consequences like heart issues.
Uglyrichie
Banned
I started drinking and smoking weed at 12, I thought it was normal it was all I had seen through out my childhood graduated to meth and coke at 19. I was constantly thinking what the duck what is the point, 23 jumped on a boat to go tuna fishing Samoa. Read everything I could my brain was fried. Through myself into work 9 month out of the year I fished in Alaska but I would drink my money away full blown achy. It took me having a kid and my wife asking if this is what I wanted my kids to see. Been clean 16 years I will drink on vacation but not black out drunk. Weed is legal where I'm at thought duck ya. But soon realized I wanted to be clear headed for my little one's. Which brings me to the question I can be fully functional running a cycle and be there for my family I can't be there for anyone being strung out except for the drugs or booze and their not my friends. Sorry so long and I'm not trying to take away from anyone's story just letting ya know I can relate and I don't judge. When I see junkies now I don't hate them but feel sorry for them it's no life
Love this story! Welcome brother!! Glad you are here and glad you got your life back!
Iamnatty
Member
Same here came from meth brother ! The lifestyle is totally different . Congrats on being clean !!
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