Your Steroid Resource

Can cheap and readily available treatments like steroids and cholesterol-lowering statin drugs help save the sickest of H1N1 patients? New efforts by researchers in Canada, the United States and France could help answer this pressing question.Randomized controlled studies looking at whether corticosteroids, statins or a combination of the two could contribute to improved survival rates in gravely ill pandemic flu patients are being organized in the three countries by linked networks of intensive care specialists, according to Dr. John Marshall, chair of the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group.The aim is to try to gather data fast enough to answer the questions in real time, a goal that eluded researchers during SARS.Toronto physicians treating SARS cases tried to mount a clinical trial to see whether the antiviral drug ribavirin — which was routinely given to SARS patients for lack of other options — was actually helping. But before the trial could be approved, the disease disappeared. The same could happen with this effort, admits Marshall.

Gym instructor unexpectedly dies of ‘mild malaria’ because, doctors suspect, his internal organs had been ravaged by use of steroids

Mahesh Khokarale, a 25-year-old instructor with Gold’s Gym, had everything going for him. The fitness freak and bodybuilder had won the Mumbai Shree title last year and was training for the Bharat Shree competition scheduled for February 2010.
After that, he was planning to get married in May. But, all the dreams vaporised on Saturday morning when Mahesh passed away due to ‘mild malaria’.Doctors say it was not the malaria that killed him, but use of steroids which had weakened his liver so much that when illness struck, his body could not fight back.

Mahesh was an instructor with the Worli branch of Gold’s Gym. A resident of Ramdoot building near Currey Road Railway Station, he had mild fever on October 31. “He took some medicine before going to work. All of us thought it was a regular fever and there was nothing to worry about,” said Sukhdev Khokarale, Mahesh’s elder brother.

On Sunday, when the fever persisted, Mahesh decided to rest at home. On Monday, accompanied by his fiancé, Mahesh went to KEM Hospital for a blood test and specialised treatment. But, at the hospital, he collapsed and went into coma. He was taken to the emergency ward and then shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The blood test report, which came on Tuesday, revealed that he was suffering from mild malaria. “A patient does not go into coma and neither does the liver fail in case of mild malaria. His liver was damaged even before the malaria struck,” said a doctor at KEM.

Doctors, however, admitted that they had no record of Mahesh’s medical history, as he was admitted only after he collapsed. “We suspect he was on steroids since he was a fitness trainer and also a body builder. Secondly, liver damage leading to death in case of mild malaria is unheard of. His family too said that we must treat him assuming that he was on steroids,” said another doctor at KEM.

‘HE HAD NO VICES’

According to Sukhdev, Mahesh used to wake up at 5.30 am every day and exercise in between his work at the gym. “He had no vices and was very particular about his diet. We don’t know if he used steroids to pump up his body.”

Althea Shah, general manager, fitness and operations at Gold’s Gym, said, “Mahesh was with us for five years and popular among our clients. As a trainer with us, there was no need for him to take steroids. He may have taken them last year when he took part in a competition,” she said adding what trainers do outside the gym is ‘not something we look at’.

Dr Sanjay Oak, dean at KEM Hospital, who was involved in Mahesh’s case, did not deny that the case got complicated because of steroids, but refused to elaborate. “I will not be able to say anything about the case, as it falls under the purview of patient confidentiality,” he said.

Expert Speak

These days, youngsters use steroids to get pumped-up bodies like film stars. They end up using anabolic steroids without prescription or guidance from qualified doctors. They do not even know about the harmful side-effects and that steroids should be taken only after a careful examination of their bodies. Constant use of steroids or consumption in large quantities damages liver and kidneys.

—Dr P L Tiwari, cardiologist and physician, Bombay Hospital

Most people who want better bodies use anabolic steroids, which are very different from the ones that doctors prescribe. Anabolic steroids strengthen the muscles. However, prolonged use can damage kidneys and the liver. It is extremely essential that steroids are taken under medical observation and, that too, after a proper check-up. In this case, the patient died due to liver failure after mild malaria. Liver failure in mild malaria is very rare.

—Dr Anita Matthew, physician and specialist in infectious diseases, Wockhardt Hospital

Apart from anabolic steriods, androzens and testosterone steriods are commonly used by trainers. Plus, there are lots of new steroids in the market, which even we don’t know of. Such steriods can have an adverse affect on our organs.

Minnesota and New Orleans fans have reason to cheer, but the recent blow struck against the NFL’s drug-testing program is nothing to celebrate.

In a move that greatly bolsters the Vikings and Saints defenses, four starting linemen — Minnesota’s Kevin and Pat Williams and New Orleans’ Charles Grant and Will Smith — are cleared to play this entire season. The quartet, along with ex-Saint and currently unsigned running back Deuce McAllister, had faced four-game suspensions following positive tests for a substance banned under the league’s steroid policy.

The decision was levied Tuesday by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after a Minnesota judge ruled that Pat and Kevin Williams could pursue having their tests disallowed through the state’s workplace laws. Such legal wrangling is expected to continue into 2010.

Grant, Smith and McAllister didn’t have that same option under Louisiana law. Goodell, though, tabled their suspensions because of “considerations of fairness, uniform application of our policies and competitive integrity.”

Unfortunately, “integrity” isn’t a word used much lately when it comes to the league’s drug-testing policy. In a statement, Goodell admitted legal wrangling with players and waning support from the NFL Players Association has created “needless uncertainty” for a program that needs all the help it can get.

During the Starcaps proceedings, the NFL’s contention that players are ultimately responsible for what substances they put in their bodies was repeatedly affirmed in court. Grant, Smith, McAllister, and both Pat and Kevin Williams tested positive last season for Bumetanide. The substance is found, but not listed, in an over-the-counter supplement called Starcaps. All five players claim to have taken Starcaps as a weight-loss aid. Bumetanide, though, is barred by the NFL because it also can serve as a masking agent for steroids.

Suspensions for banned supplement use are normally cut-and-dry. Even star players like Carolina’s Julius Peppers and San Diego’s Shawne Merriman weren’t immune when busted. But the Starcaps appeals process revealed some warts in the way the NFL does business.

The doctor who oversees the program didn’t specifically convey to players that Starcaps contained Bumetanide when the league received that information in 2006. Two federal court decisions upheld that Dr. John Lombardo didn’t violate any rules, but the situation has contributed to the union’s mistrust of the NFL’s program.

Believing a suspension under such circumstances was unjust, Pat and Kevin Williams hired independent attorneys to clear their names. The result: Discovery of a loophole so big that not even the vaunted 700-pound “Williams Wall” could plug it.

The Starcaps case marks the second time in two years that an NFL player has manipulated the court system to void a drug suspension. Denver running back Travis Henry had a positive test for marijuana overturned in Dec. 2007. Besides professing innocence, Henry successfully argued that his player rights were violated when an expert of his choosing wasn’t present when the drug test was administered.

The Henry decision opened the floodgates for players to circumvent a collective-bargaining agreement for the NFL and NFLPA to handle the drug testing program. Find a sympathetic judge and a player like Henry — a repeat NFL drug offender currently serving prison time for cocaine trafficking — can stay on the field.

The union’s response to the Starcaps decision also shows how frayed its relationship with the league has become. The NFLPA presented a 400-page argument on behalf of the players accusing the NFL of fraud, negligence and bias in the suspension process. Players have complained that information about supplements isn’t quickly forthcoming from the NFL. For example, a league telephone hotline intended to answer questions reportedly malfunctioned last season. NFLPA counsel Richard Berthelsen has said the union wants an independent body to handle future appeals and discipline.

This will be yet another issue the NFL and NFLPA haggle about as a new labor pact gets negotiated. It also serves to undermine a program that has enough challenges as it is.

Not even the thousands of NFL steroid tests administered each year are enough to catch all the cheaters. For all we know, some players are taking “exotic” boosters either undetectable or unknown through testing. The steroid nicknamed “The Clear” was one of those once-untraceable designer drugs that surfaced earlier this decade in baseball and football.

Human growth hormone use is an even bigger problem. The only reliable testing method involves the drawing of blood, which the NFLPA will not allow. A player hell-bent on using HGH for a physical edge despite potential long-term health effects can get away with it. You’d be naïve to think that isn’t happening.

Supplements are an NFL way of life. Many players pop enough tablets to fill a tackle box. I suspect most aren’t sure of the exact ingredients contained in what they’re taking.

The league warns that ignorance is no excuse, but tries to protect players from themselves through repeated warnings and seminars. There are still those either too lazy or ignorant to check with team trainers about whether the supplements being taken are kosher by NFL standards. Others are oblivious because they’re being pumped full of pills and protein-shake powder by personal trainers who fall outside the NFL’s auspices. And quite simply, some players are knowingly ingesting steroids, but blame a supplement when popped.

That’s the ultimate goal the NFL and NFLPA should share — catching the cheaters who threaten to undermine the game’s credibility like Barry Bonds and Co. did in Major League Baseball. Protecting athletes who want a level playing field is even more important. The NFLPA agreed to drug testing in the late 1980s after late union chief Gene Upshaw was approached by players who didn’t want to take the health risks inherent with steroid use to compete against their peers.

Here’s hoping the NFL and NFLPA can compromise and work through their differences to achieve those ends. That would be the only positive result to come out of the Starcaps spectacle that has taken some of the shine off a once-respected NFL drug testing program.

Chicks dig the long ball, right?

That was the underlying message that prefaced the story of baseball in the past decade or two. It suggested that nothing is more impressive than being able to knock a ball out of the park, even if it’s Yellowstone.

Lift more weights. Build more muscle. Eat, drink, and inject anything that has the ability to make your forearms bigger than your thighs. Then, like Casey, get your at-bat and strike out. Strike out again. Strike out 200-plus times every season as long the ball leaves the yard every so often.

The fans will forgive the strikeouts, while SportsCenter will show the game-winning dinger a thousand times.

It’s all about the long ball—or is it?

When the story of baseball in the Steroid Era is told, it will be with a heavy emphasis on two players who relied purely on consistent contact, good speed, great defense, and a rigorous work ethic that kept them in baseball shape, not the ability to bench press a box car.

One of them, a shortstop, has averaged just 15 home runs a year—a pathetic display of power compared to his diamond buddy who admitted to using steroids. That corner infielder was shamed, jeered, and booed by the fans that cheer his home runs, yet those same fans never had a reason to heckle the All-Star Yankee Captain with less power.

Derek Jeter plays the game the right way. Never would he stoop to the levels of Jason Giambi or Alex Rodriguez to gain the notoriety that comes with the power of the big shot. Hard work, leadership, and clutch hitting are more important to him than cranking one out 40 times a year.

Jeter is now the all-time hits leader for the storied Yankees franchise—more hits than Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and any of the other greats to ever don the pinstripes. Over 100 years of accomplishments by many of the best to ever play the game, and Jeter has more hits as a Yankee.

The other superstar of the last decade is even less of a power hitter, averaging just nine homers per year. However, in 2004 he broke the 84-year-old single season hit record—a feat never achieved by consistent hitting stars like Tony Gwynn, DiMaggio, Ted Williams, or Wade Boggs.

Sorry, Mr. George Sisler, 257 hits is not a benchmark any longer, as 262 hits is the new apex.

Last week, Ichiro Suzuki also broke the 108-year-old record of consecutive seasons with at least 200 base hits. Move over, Wee Willie Keeler. Ichiro now has nine straight 200 hit seasons and is very likely to continue the streak for a few more years barring injury.

Ichiro and Jeter have eclipsed milestones that have stood the test of time—longer than the home run record that everyone coveted during the Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa performance-enhancing drug competition of the ’90s.

Ichiro claims he could hit a lot more homers, but why should he? He knows that is not his job. He’s a lead-off hitter who just needs to get on base, something which he has done extremely well, batting at a career .332 clip, becoming the second fastest ever to reach 2,000 hits.

Derek Jeter has been very consistent with a .317 lifetime average and is the clear leader of the Yankees clubhouse. He leads by example with the defensive gem that saves the game or the clutch hit that keeps an inning alive.

The home run record that had been broken once prior to and also once since McGwire’s memorable season appears to have a stranglehold on the attention of the average baseball fan more than any other record, even if it has become far less of an accomplishment.

Home runs are for those egomaniacs who get paid truckloads of money while batting .240. However, when the story of baseball at the turn of the century is told, will it include more than a mere mention of the likes of Adam Dunn, Jim Thome, and Vlad Guerrero?

Will the admitted use of steroids and PEDs by A-Rod, Giambi, Jose Canseco, and Ken Caminiti diminish all the efforts of every power hitter during the last two decades?

Will the alleged use of the same drugs by Barry Bonds, Big Papi, Manny Ramirez, Sosa, and McGwire cast a shadow on the seemingly clean accomplishments of the power-hitting superstars like Chipper Jones, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Albert Pujols?

Will the actions of Roger Clemens and other pitchers who allegedly used performance-enhancing drugs cause a debate on whether any of the pitchers in the 1990’s and 2000’s could actually have been clean? Maybe Bronson Arroyo isn’t the only one who thinks his name may be linked to steroids.

Although any power hitter of this Steroid Era may have an uphill battle to get into the Hall of Fame, any player allegedly or admittedly cheating the game is almost certainly never going to be elected.

Sometimes, all the power in the world gives a player no power at all.

One thing is for sure: Ichiro and Jeter will be in Cooperstown shortly after they hang up the cleats for the last time.

They will be joined by pitchers like Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Trevor Hoffman, and Mariano Rivera. They will certainly be joined by a few hitters like Griffey Jr., Jones, and Pujols.

However, when the story of baseball is told during the Steroid Era, the two heroes standing at the end of the tale will be Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki.

A man and a youth from Essex have been charged with drugs offences after muscle-building drugs were linked to the death of a teenager.

Matthew Dear, 17, of Southend, died on 20 April after taking a course of anabolic steroids.

Essex Police said a 21-year-old man has been charged with being concerned in the offer to supply a class C drug.

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with possessing anabolic steroids with intent to supply.

Both are from Westcliff and have been bailed to appear before Southend magistrates later this month.

A 25-year-old man who had also been arrested has been released from his bail with no further action to be taken against him, police added.