Steroid for Dummies

Steroids are a type of medicine that doctors prescribe to help people who have certain health problems. It's like when you have a headache and you take a pill to make it go away, but instead of a pill, steroids often come in the form of a liquid or a spray. Now, let me explain what steroids really do in our bodies. Our bodies naturally produce a hormone called cortisol, and it helps us in many ways like controlling inflammation in our bodies. But sometimes, our bodies don't make enough cortisol, and that's where steroids come into play. Steroids are designed to mimic the effects of cortisol and help reduce inflammation in our bodies, making us feel better and lessening the symptoms we might be experiencing.

But wait! There's another type of steroid that you might have heard of. You know athletes who play sports like basketball, baseball, or football? Well, some of them might use a different kind of steroids that are called anabolic steroids. These anabolic steroids are different from the medicine kind because they are used to enhance a person's performance, mostly in sports. They are like cheating because they give you extra strength, speed, and endurance that you wouldn't naturally have even if you worked really hard. So, when we talk about steroids, it's important to understand that there are two different types: the ones used as medicine and the ones that some athletes use to cheat in sports.

Now, let's recap what we've learned about steroids. In general, steroids are a type of medicine that help reduce inflammation and make us feel better, especially when our bodies don't produce enough of a hormone called cortisol. There are also anabolic steroids, which are used by some athletes to cheat in sports by giving them extra strength and performance abilities that they wouldn't naturally have. So, next time you hear the word "steroid," remember that it can refer to medicine or something that some athletes use to cheat.