People use performance and image enhancing drugs (PIEDs) for a variety of reasons, including to improve their fitness and athletic abilities, to see more results at the gym or to improve their work performance. Many people report positive experiences and results.
What I find is that you have the energy to push yourself a little harder. And then you also repair yourself quicker, so where you might still be sore the next day and not go to the gym, with this, you can wake up the next day and you feel fine and so you can go straight back into it and keep going. – Glen, Vic
However, there are several risks thought to be associated with PIED consumption, as well as specific risks related to injecting them. It is recommended anyone who uses PIEDs seeks medical advice from a doctor when possible before commencing a course or cycle.
Like all illicit drug use, PIED use is illegal without a prescription in Australia. As a result, there is no guarantee that the products you purchase will be sterile or contain the active ingredients and amounts written on the label.
Some of the risks associated with PIED use are:
- contracting blood borne viruses (BBVs) from sharing any injecting equipment, injecting another person or not cleaning up blood properly after injecting
- bacterial or fungal infections, such as cellulitis or abscesses
- damage at the injecting site on your body
- unwanted side effects from the drugs you are taking.
References
- Quote from Fomiatti, R., Moore, D., Latham, J.R., Fraser, S., Lenton, E., Seear, K., Aitken, C. & Stanton, K. (2019). Understanding performance and image-enhancing drug injecting to improve health and minimise hepatitis C transmission: Findings and recommendations from a national qualitative project. Melbourne: The Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University.