Health 2 Papers

Paper:

To be honest, I was never much of a steroid fan, but then I hadn’t known several things… like certain medicines are steroids and without them people would be way worse off. In fact the definition of a steroid is a synthetic hormone. Steroids basically make you more of what you already are which then again would make a good point for those who approve of steroid use. But then again there are so many different views on steroids. Some people say that they’re awesome and that everyone in sports should be using them because they improve your game by so much others think that they’re just stupid. Some people find ways around using them (like sleeping in altitude chambers to raise your red blood cell count) and yet others find them an iffy subject. On one side they kill you and on another they save your life. Some think it’s wrong that you can use natural means to help yourself out and it’s okay, but steroids (the unnatural way of doing things) are ‘illegal’.

Steroids can be used in a medicinal way. They help people with AIDS and burn victims (the growing of new skin). A lot of medicines are steroids if you go by the given definition. When someone has an illness and need more of a certain hormone a steroid would make them better. When used safely and in the right situations steroids are a great thing. Cortisone is a steroid that breaks down inflammation and birth control pills are also steroids (made from estrogen and progesterone).

Anabolic steroids are made from testosterone. So if you’re mean you get even worse, hence the ‘roid rage’ (though only four percent of the people who take steroids show signs of that). Some of the side effects in men are: hair growth, a rise in cholesterol, acne, it could shrink your testicles, and lower your sperm count (maybe even make you sterile)… though they are all reversible (if you stop taking the steroid). Some side effects in women are: hair growth, acne, a deepened voice, menstrual problems, and a larger clitoris… some of those aren’t reversible. There is no proof that steroids cause cancer, kidney failure, and only high doses of oral steroids could cause liver problems. Some think they can kill you but CDC says it only kills about three a year, next to tobacco, which kills 435,000, and alcohol, which kills 75,000, that’s nothing.

Steroids are even used on plants and produce, like corn. We use steroids to make to corn better… make it grow bigger and faster. That way people who farm get more corn per acre. They don’t have to plant as much corn and that also means less work for them to do. It sounds like a win-win situation, less hungry people and more money and less work for the farmers.

Some people believe that next they are going to be using animals, like a Belgian Blue Bull, who have genetic mutations where they grow double the muscles. Something like that would be great for people with problems like muscular dystrophy, but eventually people are going to use them like steroids. It’s the same principle right? Sure sounds like it to me.

Adults use steroids, either in sports or because they have a medical condition. Some use it to get ahead in their game while others need them to get better. They use them in sports like baseball and bodybuilding. People like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone and Hulk Hogan used then to gain popularity, whether it began in Gold’s Gym or somewhere else. Some people regret doing what they did and others think they’re still in their prime.

Teenagers use steroids too, whether it’s because they dream of growing up to be something big (no pun intended) or because everyone else is doing it. There was a case where a father blamed his son’s suicide on steroids. Donald Hooton claimed that his son committed suicide because of his use of steroids. They had lived in a competitive community and his son basically loved baseball. Everybody else was doing it, he probably felt as if he’d had no choice. Others beg to differ because he had been on anti-depressants also, which I’m pretty sure are proven to give people suicidal thoughts. His father still seems to think that steroids were to blame and nothing more. What ever the case, shouldn’t it be a fair game anyway? I guess I just don’t see the point.

I would agree to using steroids in certain ways, as in medicinal ways, but in the case of sports it should be an entirely different story. Since when does someone need to be bigger or stronger to do something they loved? My guess is it started with one person not being ‘good enough’ and then he started winning, so someone else caught on and started too (if you can’t beat them might as well join them). So soon enough most of the sports population are on these performance enhancers. But what about the part that isn’t? What about them? I honestly think that it would only be a fair game (even if everyone was taking them) if nobody took them at all. Wasn’t that how it was in the beginning? I don’t know maybe I’m just crazy for thinking something like this, but where has America seriously gone?

Comments[he said this in person instead of writing it out like the others]:

This would be amazing even at college level[or something like that] and that I need to proofread.