February 4, 2012

Synergistic Effects of Growth Hormone with Performance Enhancing Drugs

Dr. Gary Gaffney from Steroid Nation posted an article on Huffington Post about the performance enhancing effects of human growth hormone. Gaffney responds to so-called experts who assert with certainty that growth hormone does not help performance in sports. As Lou Schuler stated in a recent post, the true effects of growth hormone on performance are not always empirically “knowable and measurable.”

Gaffney takes note of the lack of empirical research examining the performance enhancing effects of drugs that has historically resulted in mainstream medical organizations failing to recognize performance enhancing drugs. Given this along with results seen in “experiments of nature,” Gaffney feels it is reasonable to conclude that GH has performance enhancing effects:

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Theory of Roidactivity an Accurate Predictor of Steroid Use in Baseball

Nick Garcia claims his “theory of roidactivity” is the most reliable statistical tool for predicting steroid use in baseball. It applies a statistical formula to the “career trajectories of suspected steroid users.”

Garcia began to study the career trajectories of known steroid users such as Jose Canseco, Ken Caminiti and Jason Giambi.?His statistical analysis showed that each aforementioned player’s performance in the areas of batting average and home runs significantly and quantifiably spiked after he?began taking steroids.

The “theory of roidactivity” is detailed in Nick Garcia’s book, “A Very Big League of Their Own: Cracking Baseball’s Steroid Code.” I’ve added it to my reading list.

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What Makes a Drug Performance Enhancing?

An article on the Psychology Today blog by Steven Kotler asked the question, “what makes a drug performance-enhancing?” It cites the WADA rules for banning performance enhancing drugs.

According to the World Anti-Doping Code, three substance categories govern the chemistry of cheating—1) It has the potential to enhance or enhances sport performance 2) It represents a potential or actual health risk 3) It is contrary to the spirit of sport—with a score of two-out-of-three being enough to earn a drug a place on the dreaded Prohibited List. [Read more...]

Sports Supplements as a Gateway to Anabolic Steroid Use

I asked Dr. Jay Hoffman, Professor and Chair of the Department of Health and Exercise Science at the College of New Jersey,  about the theory that sports supplements are a gateway to anabolic steroid use. He replied in an email:

I do not believe that this is the case. There really isn’t any documented evidence to support such a claim. Although all anabolic steroid users I would venture to guess use sport supplements – I do not necessarily support the hypothesis that increasing supplement use would increase anabolic steroid use.

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Gatorade a Gateway to Anabolic Steroid Use in High School Athletes?

Many people believe that dietary supplements, specifically sports nutrition supplements, are a “gateway” to anabolic steroid use. It is the steroid war’s version of the “gateway drug theory.” While I agree that teenagers should not be permitted to purchase or use stimulants and steroids sold as dietary supplements, I do not subscribe to the “supplements as a gateway to steroids” theory.

 Chris Connolly, the head football coach and athletic director of Dolgeville High School in Dolgeville, New York, has taken the gateway theory, as it applies to suppplements, to the extreme. [Read more...]

Teenage Cheerleader Uses Winstrol and Becomes Suicidal

I know it is not popular to express skepticism at claims that anabolic steroids lead to suicide or suicidal behavior. But the media has once again embraced a story of a teenager who blames steroids as the cause of his/her psychological state without question.

A former cheerleader and gymnast admits to injecting Winstrol ever other day for a five week period when she was in high school. She claims the steroid caused her to experience “roid rage” and experience suicidal thoughts and behavior. [Read more...]

Difference Between Growth Hormone and Testosterone

Many people seem to assume that growth hormone and testosterone are both anabolic steroids. The media has shown very little interest in distinguishing the two throughout the entire war of steroids or the steroids in baseball fiasco. (Never mind the fact that there are dozens of different steroids with differing effects and side effects within the class of anabolic steroids.) When Sylvester Stallone tried to explain that growth hormone was a completely different class of drugs than anabolic steroids, he was met with widespread disbelief if not ridicule. Never mind the fact that he was correct.

So, I have to give credit to the few journalists who “try” to explain the difference between growth hormone and anabolic steroids like testosterone e.g. The Growth Hormone Myth: [Read more...]

Roger Clemens and Bad Legal Advice from Attorney Rusty Hardin

We’ve learned a few things from the Congressional hearings on Roger Clemens and anabolic steroids. Roger Clemens is not very smart. And his attorney Rusty Hardin is an idiot. From the very beginning, I thought that Hardin should be fired.

Hardin allows Clemens to wait several days before responding to allegations of steroid and growth hormone use in the Mitchell Report. Hardin prepped Clemens for his terrible performance on 60 Minutes where he: (1) admitted the hypocritical use of various other performance-enhancing drugs that enabled him to continue playing while masking pain of his injuries; (2) offered idiotic explanations as proof that he never used steroids; and (3) admitted to allowing a non-medical professional inject him with B-12 and lidocaine. Hardin compared Clemens’ drug use to a high performance racehorse (apparently oblivious to the problem of steroids in horse racing).  Hardin apparently preps Clemens to secretly record a phone conversation with Brian McNamee and hold a press conference to share it with the media even though it proved nothing. Hardin stands by as Clemens releases statistical report that supposedly proves he didn’t use steroids but fails to accomplish its goal. And lastly, Representative Henry Waxman apologizes for holding the disastrous Roger Clemens steroid hearings, explaining that the only reason he did it was because Clemens’ attorneys insisted upon it. [Read more...]

Congress Shows Partisan Support in Roger Clemens Steroid Debate

Several commentators noted the partisan debate at the Roger Clemens versus Brian McNamee Congressional  steroid hearings. Republicans supported Clemens; Democrats supported McNamee. After reading the transcripts, I agree.

Mike Fish of ESPN noted:

Committee members from the Republican side of the aisle at times fawned over the seven-time Cy Young Award winner and tore into the credibility of Brian McNamee, who claims to have injected Clemens with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, calling Clemens’ former trainer everything from a lying ex-cop to a drug dealer with a phony doctorate. [Read more...]

Jersey City Police Officers Linked to Lowen’s Pharmacy Steroid Scandal

The New York Police Department (NYPD) turned over the names of over two dozen and maybe as many as forty Jersey City officers to the internal affairs unit of the Jersey City Police Department (JCPD). They are under investigation for improperly obtaining anabolic steroids from Lowen’s Pharmacy.

The NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau launched an investigation last month after 27 names of NYPD officers were among those buying steroids and growth hormone from Lowen’s Pharmacy; only a few officers faced internal charges and none faced criminal charges. [Read more...]