Romario Dos Santos Alves had dreams of becoming a bodybuilder. He also developed a deadly addiction to muscle injections. But the addiction got so bad that he was told his arms would have to be amputated.

The 25-year-old decided to take a shortcut and instead of spending hours at the gym, injected a lethal combination of oil, alcohol and painkillers into his arms, and while they did the job and made him look massive, the muscle wasn’t actually real and the toxins in the oil began to cause him serious issues.

After being in constant pain and suffering near kidney failure, doctors told him his arm would have to be amputated. After the heavy news, Alves got so depressed that he considered killing himself.

Thankfully a later CAT scan showed his arms could be saved – but he is still fighting to stay clean and claimed:

I regret a lot, my ambition is still to become a bodybuilder but I have a long way to go.

Stick to the weights, Alves. It will pay off in the end!