[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Doping

[Aberforth's Goat]

David wondered,

> Yes, but can they lift more because of it?  Do they have more
> stamina?  Has anyone done a double blind or whatever to find
out?

Some drugs certainly produce results - and have been clinically
tested. Conversely, there are often natural ways of getting
similar results - and in many cases it's hard to tell how much
the drug in question in contributing.

I know something about two kinds of performance enhancing drugs:
EPO and Ritalin.

EPO: I'm a mountain biker - or at least I enthusiastically claim
to be one on email lists - and have some knowledge of EPO use.
(Not direct. My fitness level is low enough that I would get way
more out of sticking to my training program than sticking needles
in myself.) By all accounts, it *does* help, but it's not
everything - and its effects can be mimicked by high altitude
training.

Of course, it is also true that most world champions *aren't*
using drugs.

Or are they? Sometimes the lines get blurry. When Lance Armstrong
trains at high-altitude facilities, using enormously complex
oxygen regulating systems - when he spends his down time during
the Tour lying in an oxygen tent hooked up to an IV unit, it's
plain ol' sport. When some guy who couldn't even afford a bus
ticket to high-tech facility X gets *his* high altitude training
in a syringe, he's a nefarious doper. That doesn't making doping
right (let alone healthy), but it makes it a bit more
understandable.


Ritalin: I *am* an off-and-on Ritalin user, which could be called
an intellectual doping substance. About five years ago, after
reading an interesting book about ADD, I paid a few visits to a
psychologist and had myself diagnosed. I thought Ritalin would
help me concentrate better and be less scatter-brained.

About two years ago I talked things through with my doctor in
Switzerland and convinced him to let me give Ritalin a try. Two
years later, I still can't honestly say whether it really helps.
Sometimes I think it has, sometimes I think it hasn't - and often
I get a headache. (My wife agrees, btw.) Because of the headaches
(not to mention losing prescriptions on account of still being
scatterbrained ... ) I don't take it very regularly. Pperhaps I
could say something more conclusive if I did.

However, kids and adults who rate higher on the ADD scale than I
do most certainly *do* benefit from the drug.

So ... doping does work sometimes, for some people; by no means
always, for everyone.

Baaaaaa!

Aberforth's Goat (a.k.a. Mike Gray, who realized about 3/4 of the
way through this post that he was writing in circles, but figured
he'd be darned if he stopped now and is hence going to hit the
send button NOW.)
_______________________

"Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that
may not have been bravery...."



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