Q. I’ve been reading about athletes using steroids to build themselves up. Do these drugs work for older men?

A. First some background on steroids. There are two types of steroids: corticosteroids and anabolic steroids. Corticosteroids, such as cortisone and prednisone, are drugs that help control inflammation. Anabolic steroids, such as androstenedione or andro, are substances that can help the body make muscle.

Corticosteroids, which are like hormones that your adrenal glands produce to fight stress, are used to treat arthritis, asthma, lupus, multiple sclerosis, eczema and some kinds of cancer.

Anabolic steroids are drugs that are like the body’s natural sex hormone testosterone. Testosterone directs the body to produce or enhance male characteristics. Medical uses of anabolic steroids include some hormone problems in men, late puberty and muscle loss from some diseases.

When anabolic steroids increase the levels of testosterone in the blood, they stimulate muscle tissue in the body to grow larger and stronger. The effects of too much testosterone can be harmful. Some of the negative effects are rage, liver disease, high cholesterol, severe acne, baldness and infertility.

So-called natural steroids such as DHEA that are sold as over-the-counter supplements at many health food stores can have the same harmful effects as synthetic steroids. The only difference between natural and synthetic steroids is that synthetic steroids are made in a lab and are chemically altered.

Prior to January 2005, anabolic steroid supplements containing androstenedione also were available at health food stores. Because of safety issues, however, these supplements now cannot be sold without a prescription.

Because some hormone levels drop with age, there’s a theory that this decline causes us to age. Declining levels of testosterone, the male sex hormone, have been linked with decreased energy and sex drive, muscle weakness and osteoporosis. But, can you reverse aging by restoring your hormones?

DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) is a hormone secreted by the adrenal gland. DHEA levels in the body begin to decrease after age 30. Your body converts DHEA into the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone. Proponents say it slows aging, increases muscle and bone strength, burns fat, improves cognition, bolsters immunity and protects against chronic diseases.

There is no convincing medical evidence to support these claims about DHEA. Even short-term use of DHEA may cause liver damage

There is sufficient evidence supporting the use of DHEA in the treatment of adrenal insufficiency, depression, induction of labor, and lupus.

There is a lack of available studies on the long-term effects of DHEA. However, DHEA may cause higher than normal levels of androgens and estrogens in the body, and theoretically may increase the risk of prostate, breast, ovarian, and other hormone-sensitive cancers. Therefore, it is not recommended for regular use without supervision by a licensed healthcare professional.

Don’t believe advertisements that tell you supplements are natural remedies, implying that they can’t hurt you. Some people try supplements such as coral calcium, ginseng and echinacea to stop aging. There isn’t any evidence to support the claims for these supplements either.

Talk to your doctor before taking any supplement. Ingredients in supplements can cause harmful interactions with your medications and serious side effects.

East County Chamber Honors Home of Guiding Hands as Nonprofit of the Year

February 4, 2012 -

The East County Chamber of Commerce held their annual gala at the U.S Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego. More than 350 attended the sold out event. Outstanding individuals and businesses were recognized.

 

2012 Gala Awards

George Felix Volunteer of the Year Award:

Craig MacDonald

Hooley’s Irish Pub & Grill

“Stoney” Stone Community Service Award:

Jane Moore

San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce

Wendell Cutting Ethics in Business Award:

Erick Lundy

Lundy Insurance Services

C. Allen Paul Award:

Dr. Sunita Cooke

Grossmont College

Jim Schmidt Business Advocate Award:

Arkan Somo

Magnolia Family Market

Leadership East County Alumni Award:

Ed & Emilie Zouhar

Ambassador of the Year Award:

Suzanne Runo

AXA Advisors

Chairman’s Award:

Kevin Miller

Foothills Christian Church

El Cajon Business of the Year:

Junction Steakhouse & Sports Bar

La Mesa Business of the Year:

Pret-a-Porter Salon & Spa

Lemon Grove Business of the Year:

Por Favor Mexican Restaurant & Cantina

East County Regional Business of the Year:

San Diego Gas & Electric

Hospitality & Restaurant Industry Award:

On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

Retail & Consumer Goods Industry Award:

Westfield Parkway

Professional Services Industry Award:

Roger Roberts- Prudential California Realty

Manufacturing & Construction Industry Award:

Hamann Construction

Non-Profit of the Year:

Home of Guiding Hands

Retiring Board of Directors

Ramona Bommer

Diamond Creations by Ramona

Nancy Dennison

Keller Williams Realty

Erick Lundy

Lundy Insurance Services, Inc.

Roger Roberts

Prudential California Realty

Students from Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges volunteered their time to wash vans for Home of Guiding Hands in El Cajon.

I met so many wonderful, helpful people in the industry and gathered enough information to begin self publishing my book.  I’m so excited. In the meantime I am trying to plan a workshop, a “Single Mom Circle” if you will, so we can all meet up and begin to network for helpful resources.

I’m reaching out to the business community for their input and expertise on certain subjects so the information that I give to you can be accurate.  Who knows maybe I will get lucky and be able to have one or two of them actually speak at the workshop?

My question now is: How many Single Moms would want to attend a 1-hour workshop if it were held during the week after work?

In my mind, of course, everyone would want to and be able to attend, but in reality I’m not sure that is the case.

A couple of weeks ago, I was on Alpine’s local radio station, my 107.9 as a guest with Lori Stone on her  ”Living for Wellness” show. We talked about Single Moms and I shared excerpts from my book.

It was fun and people could actually ask questions and comment via Facebook during the show.  How amazing is technology?

I received such positive feedback that I knew it was time to get out among my city and reach out to others.

So please comment below or send me an e-mail at torieb@cox.net and let me know your thoughts about attending a workshop.  I want to schedule it fairly soon.

If you happen to be a Family Law Attorney, an Estate Planning Attorney, an Insurance professional, or a Licensed Family Therapist who works with Single Moms and would like to participate or talk to me, I’d be more than happy to meet with you.

I believe that if we all work together we can provide affordable resources to assist Single Moms in their Journey of raising their families.  So many don’t even know what questions to ask or where to start when they become Single Moms.

I know that 20 years ago I had no clue what to do and wished for practical advice from others who had already lived this Single Mom Journey. My new website is up and running, (though still being tweaked). Check it out at singlemomsurvivor.com and see what you think.

I am looking forward to meeting with everyone.  Until then, keep up the good work—your family needs you.

One of my favorite Reba McEntire songs is “I’m a Survivor.”  The lyrics speak to me and most Single Moms I know.  Here are a few:

The one who oughta give up
But she’s just too hard headed.
A single mom who works 2 jobs
Who loves her kids and never stops
With gentle hands
And the heart of a fighter
I’m a survivor.

Twitter, tweet, text – that’s only the beginning. There’s so much to keep up with. Texting’s second nature to me these days and I finally got on Facebook about a year ago. I Google. I joined LinkedIn and many eons ago I signed up for Classmates.com. It was free, why not?

Got a message a few weeks later, “Three classmates signed up to check you out.” Of course I wanted to see who they were. So I went to see. I was greeted with great monetary enthusiasm, “Glad you came to see your classmates. For seven dollars and fifty cents, you can upgrade your account for three months and see who they are.” I thought about that. I declined. Wasn’t the money – it was the principle. But hey, it’s one less thing to keep up with. It’s not easy, keeping up with everything and still have time to go to work in the morning.

I have my Kindle; I have my BlackBerry; and I even have my eight-year-old laptop that I have to replace because it can’t recognize half the files I send it from work and it has no idea how to save a Word file to a pdf file. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go out and celebrate. You’re smarter than I!

Not one bit of this adds to daily cheer – it mostly brings under-the-breath mutterings followed by violent outbursts. It’s all fearsomely frustrating – especially when you see others swinging along, twittering, tweeting, Facebooking and YouTubing by the minute.

I haven’t signed up at YouTube. I can hardly keep up with my phone, let alone Facebook and LinkedIn. I connected my gmail, my work mail and my cox.net mail to my phone, silly me. When I get to work I get to delete all the e-mails I’ve already read on my BlackBerry while I was brushing my teeth. While I’m walking to lunch I get to delete all the messages I’ve already read at work from my BlackBerry and when I get home I get to delete them again from my laptop. And then there’s the texting…

I love texting my kids and grandkids because it works so well for them. They answer! Imagine if I were sending letters or actually calling them up. They’re too busy texting to answer their phones. Besides, they can just look and see it’s me and send me a text. Plus some of them are far away and it’s kind’a neat to have a “live” conversation with them while I’m sitting in the living room going through my mail or putting in a load of laundry.

Got Facebook time? Impossible! Or maybe it’s just that when I get home I’d rather sit down with a delicious book than get on the computer that’s suspiciously like the one I worked on all day. My daughter gets up at dawn to do her Facebooking before she goes to work. Not for me. Sleep is good.

Unfortunately, my absence is noted and Facebook comes calling daily in my e-mailboxes. “Sheila, you have notifications pending!” “Sheila, you have two friends with birthdays today!” “Sheila, Michael Meza commented on his wall post!” Come to Facebook!!! Meanwhile, LinkedIn is offering me new contacts by the dozens. “Do you accept?” Do I know this person? Do I want to know this person? Will I ever see this person? I accept. What th’ heck!

I skipped over to YouTube while I was talking to you. Checked it out enough to get to the screen where they invite you to sign up. I skedaddled! All I need is one more site to visit, contribute to, and get daily reminders from.

But I really do have to check out Twitter. Everyone’s doing it. Besides, I hear they have a limit on characters – unlike LinkedIn and Facebook, where you can meet lots of them.

SBuska ©2012 Sheila Buska is an author, columnist and long-time resident of East County. Send e-mail to Sheila at ssbuska@cox.net and visit her website www.smile-breaks.com