Health Topic

Anabolic Steroids

Thinking about using anabolic steroids to build muscles or improve your athletic performance? Think again. Misusing them is not legal or safe. It can cause long-term health problems.

Reviewed Reviewed by a registered pharmacistGeneral information

Also called: Anabolic-androgenic steroids

Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.

About Anabolic Steroids

Anabolic steroids are synthetic (man-made) versions of testosterone. Testosterone is the main sex hormone in men. It is needed to develop and maintain male sex characteristics, such as facial hair, deep voice, and muscle growth. Women do have some testosterone in their bodies, but in much smaller amounts.

Health care providers use anabolic steroids to treat some hormone problems in men, delayed puberty, and muscle loss from some diseases. But some people misuse anabolic steroids by taking them in a way that's different than their provider prescribed.

Some bodybuilders and athletes use anabolic steroids to build muscles and improve athletic performance. They may take steroids by swallowing tablets or capsules, inject them into muscles, or apply them to the skin as a gel or cream. These doses may be 10 to 100 times higher than doses used to treat medical conditions. Using them this way, without a prescription from a provider, is not legal or safe.

Misuse of anabolic steroids, especially over a long period of time, has been linked with many health problems, including:

  • Acne
  • Stunted growth in teens
  • High blood pressure
  • Changes in cholesterol
  • Heart problems, including heart attack
  • Liver disease, including cancer
  • Kidney damage
  • Mood changes such as irritability and aggressive behavior

In men, it can also cause:

  • Baldness
  • Breast growth
  • Low sperm count/infertility
  • Shrinking of the testicles
  • Testicular cancer

In women, it can also cause:

  • Changes in your menstrual cycle (period)
  • Growth of body and facial hair
  • Male-pattern baldness
  • Voice deepening
  • Decreased breast size

Even though they don't cause a high, anabolic steroids can lead to addiction. You can have withdrawal symptoms if you stop using them, including:

  • Fatigue
  • Restlessness
  • Loss of appetite
  • Sleep problems
  • Decreased sex drive
  • Steroid cravings
  • Depression, which can sometimes be serious and even lead to suicide attempts

Behavioral therapy and medicines can be helpful in treating anabolic steroid addiction

It sits within Substance Use and Disorders.

The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.

Research on Anabolic Steroids

138 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.

What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.

Research currently under way

Research already completed

Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.

Where to read more

Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.

Learn More

Clinical Trials

Medical subject headings

Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Anabolic Agents. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.

This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Anabolic Steroids, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.