Anabolic Steroids

Behind the Bulk: Craig's Story

Heart Problems

Craig's appearance was that important to him. "The scale was my enemy. Every pound meant so much to me," he says.

Craig constantly compared himself to others. He drove his friends and family crazy asking, "Is that guy bigger than me? What about that guy?"

He never had complete satisfaction. "Some days, I'd be arrogant, wearing shorts to show off my quads. Other days, I'd be a disaster. On a non-lifting day, I'd have to wear big, baggy clothes."

Craig's steroid use escalated over time. He had begun by taking oral steroids (pills) exclusively. But when he heard that injectable steroids were more effective, he overcame a fear of needles. At his worst, he was injecting three to four times a day and taking 10 pills on top of that.

The drugs took their toll. Craig's hair fell out; acne popped up all over his back; his face swelled. Then, something even more serious happened: He started having chest pains.

Craig was having heart problems of the emotional sort, too. "I don't even remember how much of a jerk I was," he says.

New Priorities

There was a lot of screaming and yelling at home, and ultimately, the end of his marriage and a custody battle over his 1-year-old son, Jake. Craig's wife said that Craig, then 25, couldn't see their child until he passed a drug test. That was the moment when everything changed for Craig. He knew he had to quit.

On Father's Day, 2001, Craig went cold turkey. He knew he needed help, so his parents found him a psychiatrist, who treated him through the better part of a year.

Today, Craig's priorities have changed. He still wants to be a head-turner, but for a different reason. "Now I'd rather be walking into a room with my son [who is now 2] and have people thinking, Wow, he's the greatest dad in the world."

From Scholastic, Inc and the Scientists of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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