Steroids will kill you! by Cy Willson
If you get this sort of response from your doctor or well-meaning buttinsky, you should first inform them that there is no conclusive evidence that anabolic steroids, in a direct manner, will indeed lead to a premature death.
Granted, if you use high doses of anabolic steroids constantly for years upon years, you do increase the risk for atherosclerosis due to alterations in blood lipids and possibly heart failure if your blood pressure is constantly elevated over the years. However, with judicious use over short periods of time (i.e. cycling), there is no reason to believe that anabolic steroids will shorten your life span. In fact, replacement doses of Testosterone often improve blood lipid profiles.
Oh, and just a quick side note, I honestly can't tell you how many times that doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and other health professionals that I've talked to don't know that Testosterone is a steroid, or worse yet, confuse anabolic steroids with corticosteroids. This happens very often.
Furthermore, there's no evidence that anabolic steroids cause cancer in any tissue and in fact, they've been used successfully to treat cachexia associated with human immunodeficiency virus, cancer, burns, renal and hepatic failure, and anemia associated with leukemia or kidney failure. Now, most people will be quick to point out the relationship of Testosterone and prostate cancer, but you should be quick to point out that this is done in an indirect manner since it's estrogen and DHT which contribute to BPH and prostate cancer and not Testosterone itself.
Essentially, those anabolic steroids that don't aromatize or reduce won't affect the prostate, and if you use an aromatase inhibitor along with a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor, you can essentially take care of this indirect problem with Testosterone. Aside from that, steroid-induced prostate hypertrophy is usually caused from high dosages of exogenous Testosterone, not from replacement dosages.
Lastly, they should be sure to differentiate those androgens that are 17-alpha alkylated from those that aren't since only those that are 17-AA have been shown to cause liver dysfunction. Even so, when using those 17-AA, liver dysfunction generally occurs with prolonged usage, which isn't encountered when following the usual cycling plans.
Oh, and be sure to inform them that the more lean body mass you have, the longer you'll live, at least by correlation
think about it.
I haven't seen him in a magazine since the 90s though.