What is Roid Rage?
For many, this is the number one reason why they’ve been put off trying or using steroids in the past, and for good reason. There have been many media reports over time of top athletes and professionals who have been effected by the so called "Roid Rage", for example Chris Benoit was arguable at the peak of his career when suddenly there was breaking news of a top flight WWE wrestler committing double murder the suicide. What was the reported reason behind this? Roid Rage!
So first let's be clear, that "Roid Rage" is known side effect of using anabolic steroids and is where is have been witnessed or there have been reports of a person having increased aggression or being overly violent for no apparent reasoning. This is where the term "Roid Rage" has developed; also known as Manic Rage, this is where an anabolic steroid user is exhibiting periods of increased aggression and violent behavior. This behavior is displayed in either physical or verbal actions that can be either harmful to the user in question, or unfortunately to others.
Roid Rage in Medical Terms
Many medical dictionaries and journals detail Roid Rage as being "An acute psychotic response-uncontrolled outbursts of anger, frustration or combativeness-of unknown pathogenesis seen in those who abuse anabolic steroids, typically in body builders".
How Anabolic Steroids Work
The number one intention of an anabolic steroid is to mimic and increase the body's testosterone. Naturally an increase in testosterone is seen in young boys as they go through puberty and become, the changes they experience can be very visual with increased muscle mass and a much deeper voice.
We all have hormones rushing through our bodies every minute of every day and these are what trigger our behaviours and different moods. There have been numerous studies conducted that clearly show an association between the hormone testosterone and aggression or violent behaviour. This is where we can start to see a link between anabolic steroids and Roid Rage.
Hormones essentially work as the body's sensor and messaging system, sending messages to and from the brain, around the body and to nerve cells. Our natural hormones adapt our behaviour throughout the normal day, but when there is a bigger level of one hormone this can at times overwhelm or override other hormone messages, again if we use this understanding and think about an increase of testosterone through anabolic steroids we can see another link to Roid Rage.
Is Roid Rage Common?
Looking at the facts that anabolic steroids are undoubtedly used my thousands if not millions of bodybuilders worldwide and the number of reported Roid Rage incidents that we have access to in comparison to the number of user is very low so I think it would be safe to say that Roid Rage isn’t common. In fact you could say the condition or effect is rare and only exist where the anabolic steroid is abused and over-used.
Common Anabolic Steroid Side Effects
Mostly associated with men, anabolic steroid use has other side effects such as spot outbreaks or acne, baldness, shrunken testicles and a dramatically decreased sperm count. Another common side effect can be an increase in the size of breast tissue and without the correct training and / or medical advice this can cause men to become embarrassed and less confident which is normally the complete opposite to why anabolic steroids were used in the first instance.
Not alone, there are also side effects for woman who look to use anabolic steroids, in the form of a much lower or deeper sounding voice and noticeably the growth of facial and sometime more body hair. You could say it means reduce femininity.
The Bottom Line
Roid Rage exists and also rare amongst the bodybuilding community, it is something that can affect the individual user as well as people surrounding them. Anabolic steroids as well documented can give a person a tremendous boost and incredible gains in strength, size and muscle growth however there are associated risks, one of which is Roid Rage as I’ve mentioned in the of Chris Benoit as just one well known example.
The decision to use anabolic steroids is solely with the person intending to use them, the key things to understand are the reasons for using them, personal goals and expected results. If the benefits outweigh the risks then the decision has already been, but it's important the understand what "could" happen and are you willing and able to live with the consequences, no matter what they may be?
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