He had heart failure at 30 and believes taking steroids will reduce his life by 20 years – but Joey Farrell continues using muscle-building drugs for “the sake of his career”.
The professional bodybuilder knows the health warnings and harmful long-term effects, and while he accepts he sounds “contradictory”, he warned others not to follow his example.
Meanwhile former Love Island contestant Tom Powell had breast tissue removed after taking steroids, and also said people shouldn’t start doing it “whatsoever”.
A professor that specialises in steroid abuse has called for regional centres of excellence to tackle what he says is becoming a growing public health concern.
There’s no official data of how many people in the UK take anabolic steroids but recent estimates suggest about 500,000.
Joey first took steroids aged 20 after getting into bodybuilding – and started injecting them a year later.
But in January last year, the 31-year-old said doctors were “dumbfounded” to find out he had heart failure after some blood tests – with many GPs not specialists in steroid use.
“The results were really, really bad,” said Joey.
“My troponin levels, which is a heart attack marker, were extremely high.”
After a heart scan, Joey said clinicians diagnosed him with steroid-induced dilated cardiomyopathy – a condition that causes the heart to enlarge and weaken, making it difficult to pump blood.
“My heart was weak,” he added.
“They didn’t really know what to say because of my age. This is something you’d find in like a 75-year-old man that’s smoked and drunk all of their life.”
Joe, originally from west Wales, thought his bodybuilding career was over.
“Bodybuilding’s my life,” he said. “That time was dark.”
Sixteen weeks later and against medical advice, he was back competing but said he cut back on his steroid use.
What are steroids and are they illegal?
Anabolic steroids – a man-made substance that copies the male hormone testosterone – are prescription-only class C drugs that are legal for personal use only on medical advice.
They are illegal to possess, import or export and if it’s believed you’re supplying or selling them, including giving to friends, the maximum penalty is a 14-year prison sentence.
Seizures of anabolic steroids increased by 26% in the UK last year to 995,830 doses, most were found at the UK border.
There is no official medical research or guidance on how to reduce risks of taking them.
As there’s no clinical guidance, some bodybuilders experiment with different compounds, with advice passed between steroid users.
This is a practice bodybuilders call “bro science”, although there has been no official scientific analysis.
“A bodybuilder is doing stuff that a doctor would never believe or dream of doing – it’s a trial and error approach,” added Joey, originally from Tenby in Pembrokeshire but now living in Preston.
These unsupervised medical trials have led to the emergence of what are known as image performance enhancing drugs.
‘I’m shaving at least 20 years off my life’
Although he said he still injects them because of his career, Joey said his heart scare has made him more conscious of the risks. But he accepts risks exist, however careful he is.
Joey now has regular blood and heart scans, has changed his diet and lifestyle but admitted: “I’m fully aware that whatever my expected age would have been, I’m shaving at least 20 years off that.”
Risks associated with taking anabolic steroids range from infertility and erectile dysfunction to addiction and baldness.
Former Love Island contestant Tom Powell also experienced psychological side effects.
“I’ve been depressed, I’ve been sad, angry, had night terrors, night sweats,” said the 33-year-old, who started using steroids eight years ago.
“I wanted to fight people. I was up and down. I was crying and I was angry. I wanted to fight the world.”
Tom experienced another side effect as he began to grow breasts.
After appearing in 2016 edition of the hit ITV show Love Island, Tom livestreamed surgery of having breast tissue removed after it became painful.
“I know 20 lads that have this done too and more are contemplating it,” added Tom, from Port Talbot.
He said he now uses a much lower steroid dose and has warns against taking them.
“I don’t think it’s worth it whatsoever,” he said.
“If they realised the side effects, I don’t know if they would take the compounds.”
‘It’s my place to protect other people’
“Just because I make this decision, it doesn’t mean you should make that mistake,” Joey said.
“Do you want to be talking to a camera about being in heart failure and telling everyone that you take steroids? Not really.
“Maybe it’s now my place to protect and prevent it happening to other people.”
Official data suggests more than half of the 20,000 people using Welsh needle exchanges are steroid users.
Public Health Wales and Bangor University research found 14% of the 1.5 million men in Wales have taken steroids.
“There are issues with knowing about the longer-term side effects and longer-term consequences of using them,” said research author Dr Chris Saville.
A substance misuse expert said steroid demand and availability had increased in the last 20 years and the long-term impact is an increasing public health concern.
Jim McVeigh wants regional centres of excellence – linking doctors, pharmacists and needle exchange programmes with experts on steroids to help people reduce and stop their usage safely.
“The majority of people aren’t engaged in services,” said the emeritus substance use professor at Manchester Metropolitan University.
“We’ve much higher levels of people engaged with syringe programmes but still most people choose not to.
“We need to avoid preaching. It’s listening and hearing their concerns, providing evidence and having an open dialogue.
“The decision for behaviour change or risk reduction is by that individual – the hope is they pick the healthy option.”
In Wales, ministers have spent £67m on substance misuse services while the UK government hasn’t commented.
The Welsh government also said it has trained agencies in Wales, including in the “identification of steroids leads”.
If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this story, support and advice is available via the Action Line.
