Infertility and steroids: ‘Taking steroids made me infertile’
Here X gives a warts and all account of his steroid journey. From starting taking steroids, to using way too much, to the impact on his sex life and the near decimation of his sperm count.
Image by freepik
The first thing I say to people who are considering taking steroids is ‘are you prepared to be on drugs for the rest of your life?’.
Why? Because it’s likely that any prolonged period of steroid use will suppress your natural testosterone production. I’m going to be on testosterone replacement therapy for the rest of my life.
If you want to take steroids to get bigger for your summer beach trip, don’t do it, it’s stupid. If you have bigger goals like I did, then explore it.
For me taking steroids was never going to be a short term solution. I wanted to compete and knew I wouldn’t get to be competitive without drugs. It’s sad, but it’s true.
I started taking steroids when progression slowed. And when I decided I wanted to compete. I’d been training for around five years at that point.
I had done 100s of hours of research by that point so I knew the risks. I was fortunate that my training partner was a GP so he helped monitor my health. I knew I was lucky to have him, most people just start taking drugs and don’t think about the consequences or repercussions.
Taking steroids
I remember the first time I put a needle in my bum. I’m not sure I was scared but it took me a while to do it.
My body started changing within a week. It was immediate. It was immense to see.
The reality is, steroids work extremely well. I’d estimate 98% of people who take steroids will see development of muscle, as long as their training and diet is on point. BUT, if they aren’t eating enough to grow, nor training hard enough to stimulate growth, steroids are unlikely to do much.
That’s why so many people take them. In any gym I reckon about 10% of people are on steroids, that probably rises to 50% or more in a bodybuilding gym.
Not only do they work well, they’re cheap.
A vial of testosterone (around 10 ml) will last anywhere between five to 10 weeks (depending on your dosage) and only cost £30. For me it’s nearer the 10 week mark as I inject around twice a week. So for a few hundred quid a year you can supercharge your physique.
I’ve bought most of my steroids online. Five years ago it was really good stuff. But as usage has increased the quality of drugs has gone down. A lot of drugs are made in people’s bathtubs or kitchens, not proper sterile environments. That’s super dangerous and can be life-threatening.
You can get drugs tested before you take them to find out what’s in them. There’s also a community of bodybuilders who share lab results.
If there’s some dodgy drugs going around, someone dies, someone gets an infection, that’s the end of that brand. So there is incentive for them to produce high quality steroids.
You don’t always have to buy drugs online, if you spend long enough in any bodybuilding gym you’ll get to know who the dealer is. Then you might have steroids left in your gym bag or delivered to your front door.
(read our story about the top 20 most harmful drugs)
Image by Freepik
Steroid side effects
There are steroid side effects. For some people they’re minor, for others they’re severe.
You can control them to a degree, but you need to know what you’re doing.
Acne. Your sex drive is all over the place. Sometimes it’s through the roof, sometimes you can’t get it up. Aggression, yes, but is different for every person.
For me I’ve had quite severe acne on my back.
I wouldn’t necessarily use the word aggressive but it did shorten my fuse. I would be less likely to shy away from confrontation. I could feel myself willing to deal with any potential confrontation by using my physique to scare people.
I also got Gynecomastia which is where the tissue inside the breast glands grows. It was totally avoidable, I’d pushed the dosages too far. There was a tiny amount of breast tissue under my nipples. Only I could see it but it played on my mind a lot. They were very sore and I couldn’t hug people.
Also, and there’s no way of proving this, but if I’d carried on the high dosage I was on, it could have ended my life early. Although I suspect my weight may play into the length of my lifespan.
Steroid use and fertility: How do steroids affect fertility?
Now let’s talk about infertility and steroids.
I hired my first coach in 2017, seven years into my bodybuilding journey. By that stage I’d taken a shit load of steroids and done a load of stupid stuff to my body. Despite all of that I’d hit a wall with progression.
I was on the brink of turning pro and wanted to be the biggest man on earth. I told my coach I was prepared to do or take anything to get there.
The first question he asked me was ‘do you want kids?’. I said yes. His response. ‘With what I’d need you to do I’d probably render you infertile’.
His advice, check my fertility before going any further. So off I went to the clinic.
The results weren’t good.
Steroids and sperm count
You’re meant to have around 20 million sperm per millilitre of ejaculate. My results showed I had six, and five of those were dead. One solitary hero sperm was all I had.
I wasn’t overly worried. Firstly because I had a coach who had taken a lot of bodybuilders through this process. Secondly, it might have only been one sperm but there was one which meant I was still producing sperm. It should be salvageable.
I went home to my fiance and told her the news. She told me if we couldn’t have kids she might not be able to marry me. It was serious.
If I didn’t have my coach advising me it’s likely I’d still be infertile and my wife-to-be would have left me.
(read our story about why you WILL marry the wrong person)
None of the fertility clinics had a clue what to do. One suggested I take multivitamins. Ridiculous.
So I went on a programme of multiple injections a week to get my sperm going. At £500 a month it wasn’t cheap but they were very effective and low risk.
They were legal to take, but not legal to sell so I had to order them online from abroad.
I went back to the clinic a month in and my sperm count had increased astronomically.
I was expecting it to take years but four months later, on our honeymoon, we got pregnant.
A month later I was back on steroids.
It sounds simple, but it wasn’t.
Steroids and mental health
The psychological impact of coming off steroids was massive. I went from being in competition shape to being a fat bloke. It hit me hard. I wasn’t in a good place for five or six months mentally.
Steroids and erectile dysfunction: Steroid side effects on sex drive and libido
It was made worse because I had no libido whatsoever. I struggled to get an erection. Having sex was almost impossible. I ended up having to use viagra.
It was tough on my wife. I think she felt rejected.
Thankfully we got the outcome we wanted. Our daughter is now five and two months ago we had a baby boy (I had to use medication to reboot my sperm for him too).
Perhaps it’s the positive end to our fertility story that means I have no regrets about taking steroids. None at all.
For anyone starting on their fertility journey, do one thing, get proper advice from someone that knows what they’re doing.