Steroids for Healing
by Cy Willson
Q: Any evidence at all that 'roids will help heal tendon or ligament injuries? How about making breaks heal faster?
A: With tendon injuries, androgens would provide little benefit and would probably make matters worse if the person is still trying to perform some physical activities. The only benefit would perhaps be in terms of an anti-inflammatory effect, but in mice they’ve found that androgens seem to directly affect tendons in a negative manner.
In regard to ligaments, however, there may be some benefit, again due to androgens' general anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects, reducing the levels of certain markers for inflammation and displaying an antagonistic effect on pro-inflammatory cytokines.
As TC recently pointed out in his Atomic Dog column, inflammation may be a large contributor to cardiovascular disease, and this is why androgens are now being given a much closer look as a possible form of treatment of certain forms of heart disease. It’s been shown that hypogonadal men are at an increased risk for coronary artery disease, but this isn’t a green light for those wanting to start using a gram per week for the rest of their lives. Instead, I’m simply saying it’s better to be well into the physiological range as opposed to the low or hypogonadal range.
Going back to ligaments, I want to instead suggest that people begin using fish oil. That’s right, fish oil has been shown to have the same exact benefits as androgens in terms of anti-inflammatory and anti-cytokine effects. In fact, omega-3 fatty acids might improve the healing of tendons. It’s interesting to note that fish oil and androgens have many of the same effects: decreasing the levels of certain inflammatory markers, improvements in those with arthritis, etc.
The reason I suggest using fish oil is that there aren’t really any safety issues with long-term use and we obviously can’t say the same for androgens. Along those same lines, I don’t mind if a person is using fish oil all of the time, but when a person begins using androgens to heal an injury, as well as when they're healed, where does it stop? Pretty soon you’re trying to convince yourself you need androgens to prevent yourself from getting more injuries, and pretty soon after you’ve rationalized enough, you’re "on" year round!
I know most people won’t do this, but my point is that if there’s a safe alternative such as fish oil, it should be used as opposed to androgens. Remember, our community has reached a general consensus that although occasional and judicious use of androgens is okay, excessive use for prolonged periods of time is not. Androgens should be used as sparingly as possible, as an aid, not a crutch.
As far as bones that are broken, yes, androgens will likely help in that regard. Those that aromatize would be preferable to those that don’t. Still, I want to make one final point. All too often I get mail from guys wanting to use androgens to speed up healing with various injuries. Regardless of whether they help or not, people need to realize that rest is part of the healing process. Although certain compounds may prove beneficial to healing, it doesn’t replace the fact that a substantial amount of rest is needed. In all likelihood, the recovery time may not be shortened to a very significant extent.
There are no miracle pills in this regard. If you have an injury to the tendons, ligaments or really any injury in general, I suggest using fish oil instead of androgens. (3-11)
Piss Artist AKA Oupiel
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