| First noticeable in women who take steroids in terms of effects on their sex characteristics is virilization which is the suppression of female gender characteristics and the appearance of male gender characteristics. This is signified by the decrease in breast tissue and other female characteristic “curves” along with the appearance of male pattern baldness and a deepening of the voice.
Not so noticeable, however, are the changes to the reproductive system stemming from a decrease of estrogen and progesterone levels in the body as a result of the levels of testosterone added through the ingestion of the anabolic steroid. Generally what happens is that the woman’s reproductive system slows or even ceases. This is noticeable by an irregular menstrual cycle or a ceased menstrual cycle. Women may even become infertile due to excessive use of anabolic steroids – unlike use in men, this infertility can often be permanent.
Women who are pregnant and using anabolic steroids are taking a huge risk. The abnormal levels of steroids (of sex hormones) in the body can greatly affect the developing fetus causing mental retardation or pseudohermanphroditism – where the child is born with both male and female sex traits (both physical and characteristic).
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