Anabolic steroid induced infertility is growing problem among bodybuilders in the United Kingdom according to urologist Steve Payne of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. Payne claims that “deranged levels” of hormones in steroid-using bodybuilders can cause infertility.
Dr Allan Pacey, a lecturer at Sheffield University, suggests that infertility may be a permanent side effect of anabolic steroid use.
“It is a very real risk that men who take anabolic steroids will become infertile. It’s almost certain that they [the steroids] will have an effect of some sort on their fertility and, in the worst-case scenario, that sperm production will stop altogether.
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Some men who stop taking steroids never regain their reproductive capacity and for others it takes years for normal sperm production to resume, Pacey added.
Most experts consider infertility a temporary and reversible side effect of anabolic steroid use. While it is well-established that anabolic steroids can cause some degree of hypogonadism, the severity and duration of this suppression depends on several factors.
Fertility is typically restored shortly after the anabolic steroid induced hypogonadism is treated and the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis (HPT axis) is restored.
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