A bodybuilder who modeled himself on the Incredible Hulk risked his life injecting a cocktail of oil, painkillers and alcohol to pump up his biceps — with astounding results.
Former bodyguard Romario dos Santos Alves, 25, terrifies children with his super-size muscles and is facing a catalog of serious health issues since turning to the injections. The married dad of one says his experiences in using the synthetic filler became so extreme that he was even scheduled to have his arms amputated.
“If you take it once, there will definitely be a second time — it’s addictive,” dos Santos told Barcroft.
“I remember the doctor told me that they would need to amputate both arms — they said everything in there, all my muscles, were rock.
“I want other people to see the dangers, I could have died all because I wanted bigger muscles. It’s just not worth it.”
Dos Santos became obsessed with the drug cocktail after moving from his hometown of Caldas Novas to Goiania in Brazil three years ago.
“I saw some really big guys in the gym with huge arms and I started to make friends with them. They introduced me to it and I got excited about the results — I lost control,” he says.
Dos Santos soon found more dangerous ways of injecting himself with the oil, to the point where his muscles “started to solidify and I couldn’t even inject my arms — they were full of rocks.
“I decided the only thing I could do was buy specialist needles to inject, the kind of needles used on bulls — there are no stronger needles around. I know it seems stupid, but I had to get my fix.”
“I told her there was no problem with it — that it left the body after a short time,” Romario explained. But after she learned the truth, she made it clear that he had to choose between their relationship and the oil.
“She told me that if I start using it again or anything like it, she will leave me because of what she went through. That was the hardest part of our life because I had depression and I was removed from my job because I tried to kill myself.”
Dos Santos’ biceps had swollen to an incredible 25 inches when he ended up in the hospital.
“I was hospitalized in a clinic and my wife was six months pregnant — it was just me and her, no friends or family,” he says.
The filler was causing Romario constant pain, and he almost suffered kidney failure due to the toxins in the oil. He was at one point told by a doctor that his only course of action would be to have his arms amputated.
“My wife was crying when I left at 5 a.m. to go to the hospital for the procedure,” he says.
“I remember the doctor told me that they would need to amputate both arms. They said everything in there, all my muscles, were rock. It was either that or cut all of my muscles out.
“And then thank God the doctor told me that they did not have to amputate — they could instead remove the rocks which had formed in my arms.”
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Dos Santos’ bizarre appearance generates mixed reactions from people in his hometown, and reactions from some members of the public meant that his mental health deteriorated.
“One time I was working in a Catholic Church and a woman came up to me and said that her 12-year-old daughter wouldn’t come in because she was afraid of me,” he says.
“She said that she thought I was a beast, a monster — I just put my head down and didn’t say anything.”
He did also receive praise and adulation for his incredible physique — which made it even harder for him to kick the addiction.
“One time when I was working as a bodyguard in a party, the girls started to get wasted and were trying to take my shirt off to see my body,” he says.
“Sometimes kids will come up to me and say that I look like the Incredible Hulk and hug me and have their photo taken with me. I really like that as I modeled my body on the Incredible Hulk.”
Dos Santos has not used the substance for two years, but other muscle-enhancing drugs still tempt him from time to time.
“Two weeks ago I bought a horse hormone. I put the needle in my chest and sucked in the air to see if I got a vein but nothing came out. I froze and started to sweat,” he says.
“My mind started remembering things that I’ve gone through and I thought that I couldn’t do it — I couldn’t give in to temptation again.”
Dos Santos still has ambitions to become a professional bodybuilder but is committed to staying clean.
“I regret it a lot — my ambition is still to become a bodybuilder but I’ve got a long way to go.
“I know I will achieve it, though.”