Please enjoy this interview with Dr. Loftus and

Join the Speed Project at this workshop in June!

Bulking Up: Party and Playing with Steroids and Club Drugs

With Dr. Richard Loftus (This event is open to all!)

Many gay and bi men strive to achieve a sculpted, well defined muscular Adonis look. Attaining and maintaining this physique requires dedication, hours at the gym, and good eating habits. Some guys opt to take steroids to stimulate and increase muscle growth, strength and mass, GHB to help with growth hormone production, and some guys party with crystal to get rid of body fat. Whether you're thinking about using any of these assistants, have already chosen to use them or know someone who is in the middle of it all, this workshop will address questions you may have about the combined effects, possible health problems, and how to take care of yourself along the way. Dr. Richard Loftus, a well respected HIV doc will offer respectful and accurate information to help you or a friend make informed choices without scare tactics.

When: Thursday June 28th at 6PM Dinner, 6:30PM

Where: SF GLBT Center 1800 Market Street @ Octavia

When did you start seeing an increase in steroid use amongst guys?

Dr. Loftus:. There was definitely an increase in steroid use in the mid-1990s as doctors began prescribing medical steroids (mainly nandrolone and oxandrolone) as well as human growth hormone used to combat life-threatening AIDS wasting- this familiarized many gay men with their use to increase muscle mass. The cosmetic effects of steroids are really a side effect; muscle mass is a very important survival trait in men and women with HIV, it's actually more important in AIDS patients in predicting their survival than their exact T-cell count. Men's bodies' were transformed from thin and ill-looking into physiques that were muscular. That got more men interested in using steroids as a "short cut" to a pretty body.

What are some of the most common misconceptions about steroid and club drugs?

Dr. Loftus: With steroids, it's usually a very poor understanding of the effects on the body's natural hormonal system; some effects (like breast enlargement or sterility) can be permanent. Many guys assume the hormone is like a "super-testosterone" and don't realize that many of these steroids actually SUPPRESS your testosterone, making you irritable, enlarging your prostate,and ruining your sex drive. Over the long term, steroids can produce serious cardiovascular disease. Another misconception is that stuff you buy over-the-counter called "prohormones" are not 'steroids' or potentially harmful. These oral steroids "prohormones" can have profound effects on your body. I've seen guys wind up with everything from breast enlargement to absolutely ruined energy, mood, or libido. They didn't realize they were taking something that was monkeying with their natural hormones. Hormones like testosterone affect almost every system and organ in your body. Ignorance is the enemy.

As for party drugs, I think most people who start using crystal aren't aware of its dangers. It's bad for virtually every organ, especially the brain. Other party drugs can seem deceptively "safe" in comparison to meth, but that's not necessarily the case. I remember one night at a club when I worked with DanceSafe, a couple of guys who were very, very knowledgeable about GHB accidentally overdosed and passed out on the dance floor. I had to haul one of them outside for paramedics to monitor his breathing. It's like mountain climbing- you can know what you are doing, have all the right gear, but you can still die on the mountain. G addiction is, for some people, harder to give up than crystal--we usually have to admit them to an intensive care unit to titrate them off the G due to withdrawals. It's like bad DTs from alcohol.

In some ways, steroids have been a blessing and a curse. It's saved peoples' lives, but I think it's also gotten more people interested in using steroids when they don't really need them andcould get the same effects through proper weight lifting techniques and diet while avoiding all the potentially negative effects of monkeying around with their hormones. People have needed these hormones for medical reasons; unfortunately it's created more pressure in gay culture. Gay culture puts a ton of pressure on men to look cosmetically beautiful, instead of spiritually beautiful, and the ability of some men to use steroids to acquire "Hulk Hogan" physiques does not ease this culture craziness.

What about crystal use at the gym? What do guys need to be careful about?

Dr. Loftus: Tweaking at the gym will be dehydrating. Vigorous exercise can produce dips in blood sugar due to insulin activity and if you haven't eaten in a while you can pass out or have a seizure and really hurt yourself. Sometimes tweaking can make people more distractible, which increases the risk that they will hurt themselves with weights or equipment. It can make people so obsessive that they injure themselves through over-exercising, developing a tendonitis or bursitis that can take weeks to get over.

How are all of these drugs fitting together for guys you see? (GHB, crystal, steroids)

Dr. Loftus: I think guys get the misconception that being an "A-list" gay means getting the"right" body (shortcut: steroids) and having the right attitude or being accepted means using party drugs (shortcut: crystal, G, K, E, whatever).

If you had a magic wand and could change one thing around how guys use steroids today, what would it be?

Dr. Loftus: I'd make it magically impossible to ingest or inject a steroid until you had completely read a manual like Nelson Vergel and Michael Moody's book "Built to Survive." That book at least gives people a practical understanding of how to minimize harm from steroids by proper stacking, avoiding liver toxicity or needless side effects, knowing how to take long enough breaks from cycles, and most of all, to consider asking their doctor for medical monitoring so they don't hurt themselves.