Performance enhancing drugs

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redhotcoach

Out on good behavior
May 8, 2009
4,706
38
Agreed, the issue is much bigger with boys. I was thinking about Marion Jones...I think you hit the nail on the head with the "get from their boyfriends" on that one.
 
Jun 16, 2010
259
28
drugs

The US black market for steroids is a tiny fraction of what it was in 1990. It is virtually non-existant in most areas. Almost anything that can be purchased on the black market is fake as well, containing no steroid hormone. That is to say, it really is not a problem today in youth sports. Nothing like 20 yrs ago.

But if you do find something that has some active ingredient, it was likely made someones kitchen or bathtub. Scary.

The most common way today to obtain drugs is to order hormone powders from China, and prepare their own injectable solutions. Not as risky as it sounds if you know how to. Same thing a lab would do. 0.2 micron filtration to remove bacteria, heat sterilization in oven, etc. The risks of the black market stuff is that it is made the same way by entrepreneurs, but without the attention to sterilization detail one would devote to ones self.

But I digress.

The best performance enhancer, proven, used heavily, (and used to be banned by IOC), is caffeine. Caffeine increases oxygen uptake and increases the strength of muscle contractions by about 10%. A combination of caffeine and ephedrine (little white trucker pills) has a synergistic effect and increases strength by about 15%. It is a potent stimulant combo as anyone who has had coffee while taking cold medicine may remember.

When I lifted weights heavy years ago, I used it before workout at 5pm, just 200mg caffeine and 25 mg ephedrine HCL. would lay awake till about 3am often too wired to go to sleep from it. Finally quit using it when studies linked the ephedrine to hardening of arteries in the brain. More hardcore lifters might take mega doses of both before workouts, and especially before competition.
 
Nov 26, 2010
4,784
113
Michigan
You can imagine what you want, but I am not going to worry about something that is virtually nonexistent when there are so many real things to worry about.
Yep, why worry about drugs. I am sure the kids are all smart enough to avoid them, especially the ones that enhance physical ability. Why would a kid want that.

I don't think my kids will smoke. But I talk to them about that. I don't think my kids will drink, but I talk to them about that. I don't thnk my kids will do drugs, but I talk to them about that. I don't think my kids will have sex until they are married, but I talk to them about it. I don't think anyone will reach into my dds purse and steal her wallet, but I tell her to keep it closed... Parenting is about imagining the unimaginable and preparing your child for it. Regardless of the possibility if I think I can make it closer to zero by talking about it, I talk about it.
 
Nov 26, 2010
4,784
113
Michigan
Female athletes are not immune to lure of performance-enhancing drugs - St. Petersburg Times

Looking good

Recent studies by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate steroid use in high school appears to be on the decline, but that an estimated 3 to 6 percent of students have used them. A new area of concern is high-school age girls taking steroids for cosmetic reasons. A former Texas high school cheerleader made news in February when she revealed how, in 2003, she took them to get better toned. She wound up with depression and attempted suicide.

Diane Elliot, a professor of medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University, devotes her time to a program called Athena, aimed at spreading awareness of the dangers of steroid use among girls, and Atlas focusing on boys. The program's Web site, using data from the CDC, estimates that 5.3 percent of teen girls have used steroids for cosmetic purposes.

5.3%, basically take an 18u softball game and 1 girl there has taken steriods to tone her body for appearance sake alone. My dd had less of a chance of having a head injury from riding her bike, but I made her wear a helmet. So yeah its a topic worth discussing.
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
My dd is being tested today. She is a little worried that, while visiting a friend this weekend, she drank a local drink (soda) call SKI. It has caffine in it. That was Sunday for lunch and so, I told her she would be ok. The NCAA lays out what medications/drugs are acceptable and so, as long as you abide by that, everything should be alright.
 
Mar 23, 2010
2,019
38
Cafilornia
....Then a funny thing happened, her peers caught up. Mommy and Daddy will still be proud of me won't they? If I can't get a scholarship will I still go to college, even though mommy and daddy have spent so much time and money making sure I was the best. Now I am not the best, I let them down. They aren't proud anymore. What can I do?

I think this is an excellent point, since many of the MLB players starting using steroids as a last resort to stay in the league, either because they were marginal players at that level, or because they got to an age where the body didn't repair fast enough anymore.
To watch your dream(or Daddy's dream) slip away can create a tremendous amount of pressure and alter judgement profoundly.
 
May 25, 2010
1,070
0
The CDC statement reflects what I said back in an earlier post. Most HS girls who are using are doing so for reasons of vanity rather than athletic performance. I don't think we'll ever see more than token use in the world of softball, but Chinamigarden's point is fair when it comes to forewarning.

Livingontheroad - The black market is still huge in the U.S. One difference today is that there are significantly more prescription users than there were in the 90s, when a lot of gear was getting into the market from military pharmacies. Yes, people can order raw product directly from places like China and Thailand, but they're also obtaining pharmaceutical grade compounds from Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, etc. and then re-selling at premium prices to people who want top quality stuff.

Don't believe what local news people say on TV, though. Most illegal users in the U.S. aren't taking international shipments. Someone attached to someone in their circle of friends might be, and then that individual is in business for himself. The steroid trade operates much like the party drug trade, which is pretty much the same as an MLM scheme. The main person sells to a small number of trusted colleagues and then the prices go up as the sales circle grows, with everyone taking a cut based on what they feel their risk is or on how desperate someone is to start juicing.

On the radio this morning, I heard yet another commercial for hormone replacement therapy. How many dads are getting scripts for their HS sons' benefit? Creams are popular, but there are a lot of injectables out there that have been obtained legally.

You're spot-on about caffeine and ephedrine, and that's one reason states are essentially treating ephedrine like a controlled substance. Many HS students' first experimentation with non-prescription drugs does involves No-Doz and the like, and it's often for reasons they consider legitimate (staying up to study for an exam). You're right that people can get better workouts using caffeine, and it seems reasonable that a majority of HS athletes would have used a stimulant like caffeine at one time or another.

I'm not anti-caffeine for young people, but parents should definitely speak with their children about moderation, because it is possible to overdose on what seems like a harmless substance.
 
May 25, 2010
1,070
0
My dd is being tested today. She is a little worried that, while visiting a friend this weekend, she drank a local drink (soda) call SKI. It has caffine in it. That was Sunday for lunch and so, I told her she would be ok. The NCAA lays out what medications/drugs are acceptable and so, as long as you abide by that, everything should be alright.

I've never been a fan of random testing, but like you pointed out, your DD is worried and that's exactly what the people behind the testing culture want. It won't dissuade everyone from using questionable or banned substances, but has an effect on the degree of temptation.
 
Nov 26, 2010
4,784
113
Michigan
That is so strange of an occurrence I would not equate that with the rest of HS softball players. It is so counterintuitive as to be ridiculous. From their boyfriends? No way (after they see how it is obtained, how much it costs, how it is mixed, ingested and/or injected, and the resulting physical and pysch. changes, like extreme temper and on girls, facial hair; most girls with roiding boyfriends would be better warned about abusive relationships and to dump that type of guy). But go ahead and bring it up and give them a ridiculous idea at age 9.
I don't know how old your kids are, but at age 9 you do talk to your kids about drugs. In non specific terms but its exactly the right time to start. Not at 11 when you find out kids in school are already giving out misinformation, not at 13 when some kids are already experimenting, certainly not at 15 when a kid from school dies from huffing. You start young, in non specific terms and as they get older the conversations get more specific. If you don't warn them young, you might be too late.
 

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