To Inhale or Not to Inhale Steroids

Jan. 5, 2007 — -- We've all seen the ads from Partnership for a Drug Free America that warn us and our children not to take steroids -- a piece of sound medical and moral advice. But this public campaign could be harming our children's health.

What if the poster warned against taking cough syrup lest one develop an addiction. Would we think twice?

Even though the government has recently announced that more and more teens have started abusing over-the-counter cough and cold medications, we're probably not all ready to give up an appropriate dose of cough syrup. Most of us grasp the difference between taking medications responsibly and potentially addictive abuse.

The same can be said for steroids. The drugs can cause problems, but they aren't entirely evil.

Steroids are not all alike, and different kinds of steroids have diverse effects -- both good and bad -- on the mind and body, depending on why and how much you use them.

Steroids are arguably the most effective medication available to control asthma. No steroids? No controlled asthma and no fun kid playtimes.

If you have seen the "avoid steroids" ads, you may have also seen the ad in which the child sadly walks off the gridiron because he cannot keep up with his peers. Fortunately, he is greeted by a celebrity football star, himself an asthmatic, who tells the tike he can play with others as long as he takes his asthma medication -- an inhaled steroid.

The body manufactures many different kinds of steroid hormones: sex steroids, anabolic steroids (used by athletes of notoriety), steroids that maintain salt and water balance in the body, and steroids that help regulate the body's immune system.

They are all potentially dangerous if used inappropriately, but they are lifesaving if used judiciously.