Steroid use in Britain’s gyms is growing so fast, dirty needles are being disposed of in fitness centre sharps bins.
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We discovered HIV infection among steroid injectors has risen to the same level found in heroin users – 1.5 per cent.
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Anabolics can become addictive and lead to heart attacks, strokes and a higher chance of liver and prostate cancer as well as psychological problems.
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NICE is concerned that gym users will share needles and spread HIV and Hepatitis B and C. It asked gyms not just to provide sharps bins but also sterile syringes for its members. None of the gyms we spoke to said they did this.
But the watchdog’s policy of accepting steroid use and the gyms’ adherence to that was yesterday blasted by tragic mum Tina Dear, whose Royal Marine son Matthew, 17, died just weeks after he started using steroids to bulk up. He is throught to have had a severe reaction sending his body into shock.
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Men on steroids are twice as likely to be involved in violence and carry weapons, say US studies.
Scientists have linked steroid use to mood swings, paranoid jealousy, extreme irritabililty and impaired judgement.
Anabolics addict Raoul Moat shot his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart, her new partner Chris Brown and blinded PC David Rathband after blasting him in the face in 2010.
In a letter to police, Moat, 37, described his anger saying: “It’s like the Hulk. It takes over and it’s more than anger and it happens when I’m hurt.”
Ex-US Marine David Bieber, who shot dead PC Ian Broadhurst in Leeds in 2003, was also pumped up on steroids. His father blamed the drugs for his 48-year-old son’s descent into a life of violence and crime.
And 35-year-old Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in July 2011, was a heavy steroid user too.
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But it’s not only serious medical conditions – from high blood pressure to liver, kidney and prostate cancer – they could trigger.
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And some of the darker side effects are psychological, such as aggressive behaviour, mood swings, manic behaviour and even hallucinations.
