Why Do People Have to Be So Selfish? - By Kathy Roberts

Originally posted on the old NaturalStrength.com site on May 20, 1999

I would like to share some of my personal experiences in dealing with people who have used or are currently using steroids or other strength enhancing drugs. I was in a relationship with someone who has used anabolic steroids. In this relationship I saw this person hallucinate, talk to himself on occasion (as if someone were therefore), submit himself to self-inflicted pain, experience low self-esteem, have a very bad temper, and threaten to commit suicide. This situation was the very first situation that I have ever had to deal with on a personal basis. The relationship ended a little over a year and a half ago. In dealing with this situation, it caused me total stress, because I thought that I could fix this person's problem myself instead of leaving it in the hands of God. This situation put my health in jeopardy, both mentally, physically, and emotionally. I thank God that he gave me the strength to stand up and to see things in the way in which I had refused to see them.

This person never told to me that he was using steroids until people around me started suspecting it. When I asked him about it, he was in total denial about it. I continued to ask him about it and finally got an answer. The answer was "yes," he was using steroids.

I suppose I was lucky that I finally got the truth out of this individual. Even though I didn't have any control over the situation, at least I knew what he was doing and what the end result could be. There are people every day who lose people that they love due to steroid abuse, who never have a clue that their loved-one was using drugs. HOW CAN THESE USERS BE SO SELFISH?

I received a phone call from someone who was calling around, searching for answers. I called this individual back, not knowing where the call would lead. The caller asked me if I knew a certain individual. I thought about it and asked if he was a powerlifter. The caller said yes, he was a body builder and powerlifter. I asked her if he had attended a meet late last year, and she confirmed that he had. She then told me that her husband had died in March of this year. I was totally stunned. The doctors told her that he had a heart attack. When the autopsy was completed they asked her if her husband was a drug addict. She had no clue.

We talked for a while and she told me that she never knew that her husband used any drugs. He sold supplements and was very health conscious. She said that they were devout Christians and that he was a good man. HOW COULD HE BE SO SELFISH? He has left a wife totally confused and alone. She will wonder all her life about why he never confided in her. She will wonder if she ever really knew the man she married.

I think that this is just one example of the lies and deceit that go along with drug use. The people who choose to use drugs are SELFISH, they are only concerned with the way they look, how big they get, and how strong they appear to be. They don't think of the circumstances. They don't think about their family and friends. They don't realize that in their quest to be super humans, that they will possibly ruin the lives of people who love and care for them. IS IT REALLY WORTH IT? DO YOU WANT TO DIE BECAUSE OF STEROIDS AND HAVE THE CORONER ASK YOUR HUSBAND, WIFE, OF PARENTS IF YOU WERE A DRUG USER?

You might think you look good on the outside, but you are ruining your insides. Your heart is growing to sizes unimaginable, your kidney and liver are being deprived. THIS IS NOT NORMAL.

I ask again, WHY DO HAVE TO BE SO SELFISH? THINK ABOUT IT!

I just wanted to add that not every athlete who dies of heart problems or some other health related problems are using drugs. People should not assume that they are. Those who are using the drugs know who they are and eventually the truth will come out.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to write Kathy Roberts at P.O. Box 6605, Alexandria, VA 22306.