Injectable Steroids
There are two popular primary types of injectable steroids in use today. Corticosteroids are for reducing inflammation in a joint or area, and anabolic steroids, the type most often heard about because of their illegal use by some bodybuilders and athletes. Both types of steroids are controlled substances and available by prescription only in the US and Canada, or at least in theory.
Corticosteroids are rarely found outside legal use boundaries, nurses or doctors inject a patient with the corticosteroid and that is that. On the other hand injectable anabolic steroids have been the topic of much debate and a have seen great deal of use among professional athletes and bodybuilders despite being banned by both sporting and legal agencies.
The common use of injectable steroids among athletes and their seeming preference for them seems is related to the life of the injectable steroid. The injection lasts longer and some claim that injectable anabolic steroids also do not have the side effects that 17 alpha alkylation type steroids do. Some claim that site injections where they want to “pump” up are effective. There does not seem to be any clinical support for that though.
Of particular interest both in terms of health of the individual and efficacy of the injectable steroids, is where these steroids come from. Prescription steroids are the only legal steroids in the US or Canada however, because of the demand for steroids by some bodybuilders and athletes, many alternatives have popped up for pharmaceutical grade steroids. One alternative, albeit less suitable is vet grade or animal steroids and though manufactured in a sterile environment and subject to quality control guidelines, they are not as strictly monitored as human grade steroids. The other alternative is underground lab steroids or do it yourself steroid kits. Those are less certain in terms of standardized dosage consistency as well as the sterility of the production environment.
Sterility is important, as this is a product that consists of a regulated dose of an anabolic steroid suspended in sterile water or oil and injected directly into the muscle. That means sterile technique while handling the syringe, the vial and cleaning the injection site is vital as well as the knowledge of how to find an injection site and how to give a safe injection. Injectable steroids when used by athletes are more detectable by drug tests and last much longer than oral anabolic steroids. There are complications that can arise from an untrained person giving a steroid injection and those are; lack of training in sterile technique leading to infections, abscess, scar tissue, and hitting a blood vessel or nerve at certain injection sites such as the gluteus muscle a preferred site.
Testosterone is usually given as an injection since it metabolizes poorly otherwise. Aside from the issues presented by untrained persons, performing a medical procedure that requires at least a little training, a consideration for injectable steroids is that they tend to stay in the body longer and the side effects from anabolic steroids can last a lifetime unlike the career or the muscles.