Brazilian body builder Romario Dos Santos Alves was so desperate to emulate the Incredible Hulk that he actually injected his arms with a potentially lethal combination of oil and alcohol. The 25-year-old risked his life in the process, and almost had both arms amputated. His grotesquely swollen muscles have earned him cruel nicknames like ‘beast’ and ‘monster’.

Romario, a former bodyguard and father-of-one, said that he became obsessed with the drug when he first moved away from his hometown to Goiania city. “I saw some really big guys in the gym with huge arms and I started to make friends with them,” he told reporters. “They introduced me to synthol and I got excited about the results – I lost control.”

“If you take it once, there will definitely be a second time – it’s addictive,” he added. And that’s exactly what happened to Romario. Impressed with the initial results, he soon began using the substance frequently. He even tricked his wife Marisangela Marinho into injecting the drug in places that he couldn’t reach. “I told her there was no problem with it – that it left the body after a short time.”

Photo: video caption

Over time, the drug solidified his arms to the extent that regular needles didn’t work anymore. But that didn’t dissuade him from using – he simply turned to larger, more dangerous needles that are normally used on bulls!

“My muscles started to solidify and I couldn’t even inject my arms – they were full of rocks,” he said. “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 synthol fix.”

It wasn’t long before people began to notice that he was suffering from an addiction. By then, his biceps had swollen to an incredible 25 inches, which people found incredibly off-putting. The reactions to his appearance adversely affected Romario’s mental health – he became depressed, lost his job, and eventually tried to kill himself. “I was hospitalised in a clinic and my wife was six months pregnant – it was just me and her, no friends or family,” he recalled.

Photo: Facebook/Romario Dos Santos Alves

It was at this time that his wife told him he had make a choice between his addiction and their relationship. “She told me that if I start using synthol again or anything like it she will leave me because of what she went through. I decided to fix my ways and I never again wanted to take any drugs, we went through a really hard time and almost starved.”

But his problems were far from over – the filler present in his arms started giving him constant pain, and he almost suffered kidney failure due to the toxins from the oil. “I remember the doctor told me that they would need to amputate both arms – they said everything in there, all my muscles, were rock,” he said. “It was either that or cut all of my muscles out. My wife was crying when I left at 5am to go to the hospital for the procedure.”

Thankfully, the doctors were able to find an alternative, and Romario’s arms were saved. “The doctor told me that they did not have to amputate – they could instead remove the synthol rocks which had formed in my arms,” he said.

Photo: Facebook/Romario Dos Santos Alves

Romario stays away from synthol now, but his arms still look freakishly large . His bizarre appearance makes him stand out and he receives mixed reactions from people in his hometown. “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 said. “She said that she thought I was a beast, a monster – I just put my head down and didn’t say anything.”

But there are also people who admire Romario’s incredible physique: “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 said. “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.”

Because of the occasional positive reactions and praise, Romario says he finds it difficult not to go back to using artificial enhancers. Only a few weeks ago, he bought a substance called ‘estigor’, a horse hormone. He actually injected the needle in his chest and tried to locate a vein, but then he froze and began to sweat.

Photo: Facebook/Romario Dos Santos Alves

“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,” he said.

Romario still hopes to become a professional bodybuilder, but he is committed to staying clean. “I still feel like taking synthol but I won’t take it again. If you take it once there will definitely be a second time – it’s addictive,” he said. “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.”

Last year, we wrote about real-life Brazilian Popeye Arlindo de Souza, who also injected synthol into his arms and ended up with 29-inch biceps – the biggest in his country.

Source: Barcroft Media