One form of coping in recovery is putting down the needle and picking up the weights and dumbbells. Getting back in shape, pushing yourself to be the best you can be, and even building muscle mass through body building can help ease your mind and stay sober.
However, it’s easy to let this enjoyment of exercise become an obsession with getting bigger and better. At this point, some choose turn to steroids to help build body mass and achieve the body that they desire.
The question then becomes whether or not you’re still sober if you use steroids in recovery.
What Are Steroids?
Steroids are drugs made of synthetic testosterone used to imitate the natural male hormone. They’re not exclusively used by bodybuilders or gym-goers, either. Steroids are commonly used by teens to induce delayed puberty and by adults to treat impotence or the wasting of muscle due to disease. However, the largest demographic of steroid users is male non-athletic weight lifters.
While steroids promote the growth of muscle mass, it also causes masculine characteristics to develop in people who use the drug. These characteristics can include violent and aggressive behavior when steroids are abused. Other side effects of steroid misuse include excess hair growth, acne, high blood pressure, stomach irritation or bleeding, and vision problems such as blurry vision, cataracts, or glaucoma.
It is completely normal to hear about someone who has been sick for a long time and has been given a steroid by his or her doctor. However, if your steroid use expands past what a doctor prescribes, you are abusing the drug.
Steroids can be used in recovery if prescribed by a doctor and taken for a short time as directed for a health problem, not for competitive muscle building. The problem is, most people who use steroids are, in fact, using them to alter their body and usually without a prescription.
So, Is Steroid Use in Recovery Okay?
In short, no. Any drug taken to alter your mood or enhance your performance in any way, is not sobriety.
Taking a steroid because you have a medical condition that requires the drug to heal you is sobriety when taken as directed. Steroids, like any other drug, can be abused and lead to addiction. Recovery is all about trusting God and being true to yourself by really loving the person that you are and not having to alter yourself in unhealthy habits.
If you are illegally using steroids to change how you look then you are not in recovery and are indeed abusing drugs. You do not need to be the strongest, smartest, or best looking person in the room to recover from drug addiction and help other drug addicts recover.
If you or someone you love is abusing steroids and wants help, regardless of whether they’ve had a previous addiction, give us a call. We’re specialists in helping people who abuse drugs or suffer from addiction and want to help. You can reach us at (512) 746-7036. We can’t wait to help you!