Bouncer: I lost my manhood after using steroids

   Steroids can cause libido loss  Photo: Courtesy (posed by model)

Many women go head over heels at the sight of a muscled dude. It is a two-way traffic to that destination, as men also build muscles to attract women.

But unbeknown to them, the men who use drugs to bulge muscles suffer from libido loss, impotence and sometimes infertility.

The Nairobian sought one bouncer who is regretting the consequences of ‘drugged’ muscles.

On a chilly Sunday evening the muscleman we shall call Vincent, is sporting a tight fitting black T-shirt, his bulging biceps decorated with tattoos. Vincent is tall, dark and women would consider him handsome at 6’1.

His lean, well-toned body frame earned him two billboard ads as the cover model. In between the interview young girls throw suggestive glances to Vincent who forces a smile back.

“What most of these girls, who get attracted to me do not know, is that my looks are deceiving, as I have lost my manhood to these drugs I have been consuming to become this big,” explains Vincent who was last year involved with ‘eight different women’ who dumped him.

“Every time I took a girl to bed, two things would happen; I would either have a premature ejaculation, or refuse to rise to the occasion.” 

The pro bodybuilder at Karen Plains reveals that he started using steroids in form three, after being introduced to steroid pills by the captain of the rugby team where he was a winger.  

“The drugs made me grow bigger and with more muscular power. And after high school, I wanted to become even bigger. This was when I started to use just about every type of steroids and supplements I could get my hands on,” Vincent recalls adding, “With my size, I became the darling among many women in the estate.”

Emma Nyakio, a clinical officer at Kahawa Wendani Hospital, told The Nairobian that Vincent’s condition was triggered by a long term drug use that contains anabolic-androgen steroids, which assist in developing muscles.

 “How they work on a person majorly depends on the drugs’ chemical composition. Even the effects experienced are also reliant on how the chemical composition gels or reacts with the user’s body,” said Nyakio.

She adds: ‘These drugs are mainly used in medicine to address hormonal disturbances in men who have been diagnosed, and are managed by qualified medical doctor.” 

However for men using them to enhance performance at the gym, their desired effect is the enhancement of protein synthesis leading to faster and more pronounced muscular enlargement.

 Dr Joseph Nkuranga in an earlier interview argued that the combination of higher doses and prolonged use of these hormone-like drugs leads to a hypogonadal state, where men experience reduced fertility or even infertility. In women, the drugs affect the menstrual cycle and they may start experiencing secondary male features such as bearding. Some men will also react to such drugs and grow women boobs, a condition also known as gynecomastia.

Steroids are consumed in time cycles. A cycle of up to six months can cost one from Sh2, 400 to Sh12, 900 depending on drug use and the dealer.

Some of the most abused drugs include; andro, oxandrin, dianabol, winstrol, deca-durabolin, and equipoise locally referred to as ‘Weider.’