Jose Canseco admits to health problems resulting from the discontinuation of anabolic steroids in the A&E documentary “Jose Canseco: The Last Shot” premiering Monday night, October 20th.
Jose Canseco, the former baseball superstar who blew the whistle on the game’s steroid scandal, has used steroids himself for the past 24 years. Now Jose wants to finally get clean, but he’s terrified about what may happen when he goes through the process. There has been no medically documented case of someone quitting steroids after using them for so long, and the doctors have different opinions about what Jose will go through physically and mentally. Viewers watch Jose play guinea pig as he tries to end his long addiction.
Canseco has made the decision to permanently stop using steroids for whatever reason. During the documentary, Canseco describes classical post-cessation symptoms of anaboic steroid induced hypogonadism (ASIH) such as low libido and depression (“It’s broke, scared & contrite Jose Canseco in TV documentary,” October 18).
The show also follows Canseco through a series of medical appointments with Santa Monica physician Dr. Brent Michael. Canseco tells Michael he wants to wean himself off steroids for good and restore his testosterone levels, since quitting cold turkey isn’t working.
“I have no sex drive whatsoever. Zero,” says Canseco, who is filmed in one sequence meeting Michael with current girlfriend Heidi Northcott present. Canseco admits to bouts of depression and wanting to be left alone.
Our society has demonized anabolic steroids. The highly politicized steroid hysteria has led the medical community to abandon treatment for the non-prescription steroid user. Our society tells steroid users that it is imperative that they stop using steroids immediately to avoid catastrophic damage to their health. But once they stop using steroids, professionals in the medical community are clueless to the consequences of steroid cessation and are ignorant to the treatment options and necessary post cycle therapy (PCT). Then steroid users like Jose Canseco are ridiculed for the post cycle side effects after discontinuing steroids.
Dr. Michael Scally explains the abysmal failure of the medical community to recognize and treat anabolic steroid induced hypogonadism:
For the greater part of 10 years I have found that the medical treatment provided for the condition termed anabolic steroid induced hypogonadism (ASIH), is nonexistent or ignored by the great majority of medical professionals. As predicted since my entry into this field in 1995 more and more cases of ASIH would appear due to this negligence. Clear and convincing evidence of this is demonstrated by recent articles in peer-reviewed medical literature affirming concerns for the long term effects of untreated ASIH, rapidity and severity of symptoms in ASIH, and inappropriate treatment with AAS based upon a flawed clinical study design.
Anabolic steroids have known side effects. But overall, anabolic steroids are remarkably safe and have been used in medicine for over 50 years. The greatest risk is associated with untreated anabolic steroid induced hypogonadism. But the medical community doesn’t officially recognize this condition much less established a medically accepted treatment to restore endogenous testosterone levels.
In the documentary, Jose Canseco receives a testosterone gel from his physician as a treatment for the low testosterone resulting from the androgen induced hypogonadism. The average steroid using gymrat knows that testosterone is suppressive to the HPTA axis and will continue to prevent the restoration of endogenous testosterone production.
Michael prescribes a gel supplement that is “not a performance-enhancing steroid,” but after using the gel for a month, Canseco discovers his natural testosterone levels are still well below normal.
“My body forgot how to make testosterone,” says Canseco, which may explain his recent trip to Mexico.
It appears Jose Canseco has given up on the medical community. Physicians spend so much time telling people to stop using anabolic steroids. But they seem to care less about what happens to them when they stop. So Canseco, suffering from ASIH, is making attempts to take treatment into his own hands. This would explain his recent trip to Mexico and importation of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). HCG is often used by steroid users to stimulate their own natural production of testosterone.
I hope Jose Canseco will find a way to contact Dr. Michael Scally, founder of HPT/Axis and ASIH.net. Dr. Scally has dedicated his professional career to help steroid users restore their endogenous testosterone production after stopping the use of steroids (and has had his medical license revoked as a result of the anti-steroid crusade in the medical profession). But Scally continues to work on ways towards helping non-medical users of anabolic steroids, like Jose Canseco, return to normal physiology.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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