Alrighty then. Is it the end of the world if you use anabolic steroids? No, probably not. Chances are (most likely) that you’ll bounce back, whether you’ll bounce back to you’re baseline hormonal status is a different story.
How risky is using anabolics in this stage of you’re life?
Well, given that you’re prefrontal cortex doesn’t finish developing until roughly 25 years of age, give or take a few years based on genetics. Using anabolics may have a deleterious impact on the structural development of you’re brain. This may be minor to moderate in nature given that the vast majority of you’re brain development is complete by 18 (still a wee bit occurs from 18-25). Nandrolone (and 19-nors) in particular has been shown to downregulate 5-ht (serotonin receptors) in various parts of the brain, including the prefrontal cortex (mostly rodent models, however it does appear in this case to carry over into human relation).
The brain also contains androgen receptors, therefore structural abnormalities in the brains of those using high dose AAS (regardless of age) have been routinely found, these findings could.not be correlated with any changes in depression, IQ or mental state. Now one small study did find a difference in visuospacial memory between AAS and non AAS users while another found the difference to be not of clinical significance. The structural changes may indicate AAS induced neurotoxicity though.
With regard to you’re endocrine system, data shows that when used in young men (I’m talking about a study from long ago, I’d find it but i’m kinda taking a nap while typing this so potato), in which kids were given supra doses of aromatising AAS to combat excess tall stature (close growth plates) found that compared to kids who weren’t treated, test levels and sperm counts ended up lower compared to adult controls. Did the kids recover? Yes, they all recovered, however the fact that the ending test levels and sperm counts were lower to a STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT degree compared to their untreated counterparts likely hints that permeant damage was done. However other variables (lifestyle, reccy drug use etc) may not have been considered, given the study size, I wouldn’t be surprised if the AAS treatment was a major culprit of the statistically significant lower T and sperm counts.
Finally, you may be unaware of the risks. Are you aware of the possibility of various not so fun complications such as
- development of cardiomyopathy
- accelerated rates of atherosclerotic plaque buildup (ESPECIALLY with orals)
- neurotransmitters… NEURO effects
- blood pressure
- nephrotoxicity (esp with orals)
That’s about all I have to say. It’s you’re life, it isn’t the end of the world if you use given that you probably won’t die, however it is a bad decision to make.
And… As to you’re comment about drugs being more risky. I’d say it’s quite a bit safer if you smoked a singular joint compared to taking one cycle of AAS, so long as you aren’t prone to and have never had a psychotic breakdown. Now if we were saying “one 10mg pill of Dbol or a joint” I’d say “no one takes Dbol like that therefore that’s irrelevant”