



Sepsis even more deadly for steroids users Blood poisoning – sepsis or septicaemia in medical language – is even more dangerous for steroids users than for ordinary mortals who do not use anabolic pharmaceuticals. Researchers at Changhua Christian Hospital in Taiwan published an article on this in Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences. Sepsis

Doctors say that sepsis has occurred when a pathogen – usually a bacteria – gets into the bloodstream. Extremely aggressive bacteria can cause fatal septic shock, which means that organs close off their blood supply and die off through lack of oxygen. In theory, anabolic hormones raise the chance of septic shock occurring. IGF-1 activates the molecular switches extracellular-signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 and nuclear factor kappa B in the body's cells. These molecular switches are involved in anabolic processes, but also in inflammatory reactions, which cells use to protect themselves against pathogens. In extreme cases of exposure to these substances, the immune reactions that occur cause septic shock. So if a pathogenic bacteria ends up in the bloodstream of a steroids user, you would expect his body to react more severely than that of a non-user. Study

The Taiwanese tested this theory by giving male mice daily injections of the anabolic steroid nandrolone phenylproprionate [structural formula shown above] for a period of two weeks. Nandrolone phenylpropionate not only has a direct anabolic effect itself; it also boosts the concentration of IGF-1. The Taiwanese gave one group of mice a low dose and another group a high dose of nandrolone phenylpropionate. The human equivalent of the doses they used would be about 80 and 800 mg nandrolone phenylpropionate per week. A control group was given injections containing oil instead. Results

At the end of the 14-day steroids course, the researchers injected the mice with the toxic bacteria Escheria coli ATCC25922, which caused fatal septic shock. The mice that had been given steroids died sooner than the mice in the control group, as you can see in the figure below. The higher the dose, the more severe the septic shock.



Conclusions

The researchers believe their results are relevant for steroids users. Not only unhygienic injection practices, but also the use of unreliably produced injectables from underground labs can result in blood poisoning. Synthetic anabolic hormones push the already high chance of things going wrong even further in the wrong direction. Source:

Kaohsiung J Med Sci. 2011 Jun;27(6):222-9.

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