TRT for drug-tested athletes

[mxim]

McGwire should have admitted he used Andro,especially since it was an over the counter supplement at the time,not to mention,the product did'nt even work.the fda seems to ban products when they believe they can actually do what the label claims. in my opinion,the only over the counter product that had an merit was ephedrine.Conseco should have been more forthright in his opinion on the alleged dangers of steroids.he should have told congress that the media exaggerates the dangers of steroids as well as exaggerate the number of high school athletes who claim to have used them.if i hear one more time that 5% of 8th graders have used steroids,i think i am going to vomit. how absurd,its such an ignorant statement to make.where do they get this information from? also,i did not see one doctor who specializes in hormones get called to testify. as to the parents who's son committed suicide,i feel sorry for them obviously;however,if you take 100 steroid users and 100 people that use alcohol on a daily basis,you will find that suicide is much more associated with alcohol.its funny how every ballpark in america pushes alcohol.i'm sure a guy using deca and test is much less likely to wipe out a family driving home from a ball game than a guy who just downed a few beers at a baseball game.why is'nt congress addressing that?who would you rather have your pregnant wife sit next to at a bar,a guy using tren or a guy smoking a cigarette and exposing your unborn baby to dangerous second hand smoke? THE BIGGEST MISTAKE WAS THAT NOT ONE PERSON BROUGHT UP THE 1997 BHASIN REPORT in which a group of healthy men were given 600mg of testosterone per week for twelve weeks! answer- that report showed uneqivically that steroids,particularly testosterone can be used safely in high dosages. i guess you cannot sell a newspaper or magazine by printing the truth. also,i noticed not one congressman looked as if he lifted a weight in his life.i can go on and on about this but why bother...

 

[DavidZ]

You raise some excellent points. I watch this whole "steroid scandal" thing and have many questions. Here are some that come to my mind.

1) Other than T, what steroids are they talking about?

2) What if an athlete is diagnosed with hypogonadism and his doctor gives him a script for T? Can he take T then? Or does he have to play with low T?

 

[Millard]

You raise some excellent points. I watch this whole "steroid scandal" thing and have many questions. Here are some that come to my mind.

1) Other than T, what steroids are they talking about?

2) What if an athlete is diagnosed with hypogonadism and his doctor gives him a script for T? Can he take T then? Or does he have to play with low T?

Can an athlete on TRT compete in drug-tested events?

Very good question. For all practical purposes, I do not think any AAS would be permitted even for a legitimate medical need.

But I don't think there is a clear answer.

The IOC and WADA offer "therapeutic use exemptions" (TUE) for substances/medications on the "prohibited list." Athletes must submit an application in order to be granted a TUE.

Here are the criteria:

What are the criteria for granting a therapeutic use exemption?

The criteria are:

• The athlete would experience significant health problems without taking the prohibited substance or method,
• The therapeutic use of the substance would not produce significant enhancement of performance, and
• There is no reasonable therapeutic alternative to the use of the otherwise prohibited substance or method.

The problem is that even the therapeutic use of testosterone (e.g. moving T levels from low normal to upper quartile) would offer significant performance ehancement benefit. I think this is especially ture in endurance events where the nature of training would naturally suppress T levels.

So, IMO the use of exogenous T would inevitably be prohibited even when medically indicated.

Having said that, in actual practice if an athlete needs TRT, they probably can get away with using therapeutic dosages. I believe there is only one test for T in the drug testing protocol; I think they could use therapeutic dosages of T (even though still prohibited) and pass it. The test they would need to pass is the testosterone: epitestoserone ratio. The normal ration is approximately 1:1 but due to several legal challenges by athletes the IOC/WADA allows a 12:1 ratio as an permissible test result. And even some athletes have successfully challenged the drug test results when the ratio exceeded this level. So, the T test is one of the easiest ones to pass. I think, although I could be wrong, that up to 200mg per week of a T ester could be used and still pass. This would clearly put most athletes in the supraphysiologic level for T and offer performance-enhancement benefits.

Attached is the official WADA international standard for therapeutic use exemptions...

BTW, clenbuterol is one of the easiest drugs to receive TUE exemption.

 

[smoker]

I have often wondered about this myself. Lance Armstrong had one of his testicles and a portion of the other one removed. He stated in his book that Chemo-therapy rendered him sterile. He also admits that when on Chemo he used EPO due to anemia. Could he be on TRT and would he be able to get a pass on that, as long as his ratios were in order? Not that there is anything wrong with that.

 

[Millard]

I have often wondered about this myself. Lance Armstrong had one of his testicles and a portion of the other one removed. He stated in his book that Chemo-therapy rendered him sterile. He also admits that when on Chemo he used EPO due to anemia. Could he be on TRT and would he be able to get a pass on that, as long as his ratios were in order? Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Also, keep in mind that the TUEs are kept strictly confidential. So, even if a TUE was granted for testosterone, the name of the athlete would not be made public. And most definitely, the athlete would not publicize it because (1) there performance would be discredited; and (2) they don't want their competitors to know of this potential loophole.

If anyone knows of official data on TUEs granted, please post. I'm sure the data will be anonymous but at least it will show which prohibited subtances were granted TUEs.

 

[Weatherlite]

Well, since TRT is Test and possibly HCG I don't see why they'd have a problem with it. They could test him for all banned substances and then they could simply measure his Test levels. As long as he was clean and his T came back in the normal range then they can't nail him for it.

My opinion anyway.

 

[Millard]

Well, since TRT is Test and possibly HCG I don't see why they'd have a problem with it. They could test him for all banned substances and then they could simply measure his Test levels. As long as he was clean and his T came back in the normal range then they can't nail him for it.

My opinion anyway.

They don't use a blood test to measure T levels as far as I know.

And just because T levels are outside the upper limits doesn't necessarily mean the athlete is using prohibited substances or using exogenous AAS or T.

The athlete may actual excel in a particular sport, in part, because he or she has naturally elevated testosterone levels.

In addition, there are otc dietary supplements not on the prohibited list that can bump T above the upper limit of normal range.

 

[DavidZ]

...there are otc dietary supplements not on the prohibited list that can bump T above the upper limit of normal range.

What are they?