[2] Potential side effects of long term GH doping could mirror the symptoms found in sufferers of acromegaly, a disease in which the anterior pituitary gland produces excess growth hormone.
Before recombinant human growth hormone (rHGH) was developed in 1981, HGH was only available by extracting it from the pituitary glands of cadavers.
[3] The arrival of rHGH combined with other peptide hormone advancements has increased the availability of HGH on both the legitimate and black markets.
[5] The first description of the use of GH as a doping agent was Dan Duchaine's "Underground Steroid handbook" which emerged from California in 1982; it is not known where and when GM was first used this way.
With regard to adverse drug reactions, there is data from animal studies that "long-term administration of human growth hormone can increase the risk of diabetes, retention of fluids, joint and muscle pain, hypertension, cardiomyopathy, osteoporosis, irregular menstruation, impotence and elevated HDL cholesterol.
"[8] A report from the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on steroid and growth hormone use found that the misguided use of HGH by professional athletes and entertainers was fuelling the industry peddling the drug to the general public for medically inappropriate uses.
[10] If these effects are real they "may promote resistance to injury or faster repair [but] would make the muscle no more capable of force generation".
The report stated: "Players who use Human Growth Hormone apparently believe that it assists their ability to recover from injuries and fatigue".