DR. WALLACE: Last year I played football on my high school team. I was a starter and played both offense (guard) and defense (linebacker). My coaches called me a "tough, skinny guy."
I want to be called a "tough, big guy" next football season. If I can gain some weight this summer, I believe I can start on the varsity team next year.
I know some guys who are using steroids to bulk up. They are weightlifters and not football players. These weightlifters are encouraging me to use steroids for nine months and they guarantee me that I'll gain 25 pounds of pure muscle. They said that steroids are not addictive and that after I've bulked up I could stop using them.
That really sounds like a good deal for me, but I also heard of former football player players who died after retiring due to the effects of using steroids. Please give me the straight scoop. — Tough guy, Houston, Tx.
TOUGH GUY: Several years ago the university of Michigan Department of Psychiatry conducted a study of steroid-taking weightlifters. The study was designed to measure the physical and emotional effects of steroid use. The findings of this survey revealed that more than half of the weightlifters experienced three or more symptoms sufficient to classify them as being addicted to anabolic steroids, and 94% reported at least one symptom.
Common signs of steroid dependence included withdrawal-related fatigue, depression, anxiety, anorexia and insomnia. Of the study subjects, 8% reported six or more such problems, classifying them as "severely dependent."
In addition to the potential for addiction, chronic steroid use among males can also cause increased cholesterol levels, liver problems, high blood pressure, acne, extreme aggressiveness, infertility, breast enlargement and testicular atrophy.
Steroid users take tremendous chances with their bodies, and I am here to tell you that the overall outcomes are not good! Be wise and don't get involved with steroids. Become big and strong old-fashioned way - work out in the weight room. Your gains will be real, long lasting and healthy.
FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO LOVE
DR. WALLACE: I'm 20 and have been dating a 19-year-old girl for over a year. Then she shocked me one afternoon by announcing to me that she wasn't going to see me anymore because she had fallen in love with a guy who works with her. This was a huge surprise to me because as late as last month she was telling me that she loved me and that she would love me forever.
It's so happens that I do love this girl very much and I thought that she would be my wife one day. It's difficult to believe that she dumped me, especially so quickly without any friction between us - or any warning signs at all. I've now seen the guy she is currently dating. He drives a nice car and looks to be about 10 years older than she is. I've called her twice, but she said that our relationship is over and that I should find someone else to love.
What do you suggest? I am not a quitter and something keeps telling me to do all I can to win her back. I'm going through a very difficult time over this. Please help! — Shocked, Jackson, Ms.
SHOCKED: Send her a card in the mail (don't call or text) telling her that you miss her and that you will be there for her if she ever needs your help. Then take her advice and find someone else to love.
Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. E-mail him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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