Why didn't he just take a shower? (SCNR)
Although I think he was guilty as hell on the blood-doping charges, I'd cut him some slack on this one. A professional athlete with knowledge of available doping options isn't likely to consume DHEA for the purpose of securing competitive advantage. I believe that he was simply looking for a nonpresciption alternative to prescribed antidepressants that didn't seem to be working for him, and decided that an herbal alternative that contained DHEA was worth the risk of a positive doping test. It sounds like a pretty desperate way of trying to alleviate depression, but I'm also unaware of any solid evidence that DHEA has any significant ergogenic (performance-enhancing) effect; the ethical implications of his use of this herbal compound are hardly straightforward. Even though I would likely uphold the the finding of a doping violation and the imposition of a significant sanction, I would be very hesitant to label, as "cheating," the use of an easily detectible substance with no known ergogenic effect for legitimate, non-performance-enhancing purposes. If this were an athlete in the prime of his career and an otherwise clean doping record, it would raise serious questions about current doping rules. As it is, it just kills a career that was probably on the verge of expiring anyway.
Are there any exceptions to the prohibition aganist taking substances on the banned list? For example if, before taking the vitamins that contained DHEA, Hamilton notified WADA of his intent to take the product and sought an exception because 1) he was taking the drugs for depression, not performance enhancement; and (2) he was not taking doses that were sufficent to improve performance.
where do you get dhea doesn't help performance ???
it's a potent steroid & in enough dose for long enough, it damn well helps !
as for anti-depressants "not working for him", you either increase dose or try alternative & titrate up - i haven't had to give ECT in 20y, because modern anti-depressants are so effective
how on earth can anyone conclude they "don't work" without maxing legit avenues ???
i've never met anyone other than in a life-threatening situation, medical or social, who hasn't had a significant improvement in their depression with either venlafaxine 225mg o d or mirtazipine 45mg o d
have you ?
i'd be pretty depressed if i was a sociopath who was really bad at being a sociopath, too.
I'd be depressed if I had a fetal twin stealing my blood, lacing it with steroids, and reinfusing it.
boo-flipping-hoo wrote:
i'd be pretty depressed if i was a sociopath who was really bad at being a sociopath, too.
ditto ditto ditto ditto
i think all drug cheats are serious sociopaths. for many strange reasons they rationalize what they do.
not guilty by reason of depression....is that a defense?
"There's not a Mother F____er here that wouldn't take a pill to get paid more at their job!"... Chris Rock
It is a typical, but unfortunate response of many clinically depressed individuals that they go off helpful medications because either there are side effects that they don't like or they decide that they are fine and don't need their medication anymore.
DHEA as a PED ? You got to be f***ing kidding me. It has to undergo like 10 chemical transformations before it resembles anything in the vicinity of Testosterone. The PE benefit's of DHEA might be more pronounced if DHEA were available as an I.M. inj. Taken orally, expect nil PE benefits. Pretty soon, they are going to ban beef steak, because it contains cholesterol, which is the first precursor in the metabolic pathway to Testosterone.
Basil wrote:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/apr09/apr17news3
Tyler is a cheat. You are in denial if you can not see that.
tyler, get off letsrun
Here is why this smells.
You can get a prescription for several substances that contain DHEA that are allowed to be declared. He chose to take a "homeopathic" version of this despite having being diagnosed as clinically depressed since 2003. Yet, there is no record of his declaration of any medication outside of the "exercise induced asthma" that every professional cyclist has. If you are depressed for 6 years, why do you start treating it in 2009 while having no previous declaration?
I think he was testing the waters to see how close they were watching him before he really got back into the hard stuff. He got popped, so he has quit.
You think the cyclist aren't testing the testers? Don't be so naive. Why do you think dopers are usually one step ahead of most testing. This is common practice.
Blutsbrüderschaft wrote:
DHEA as a PED ? You got to be f***ing kidding me. It has to undergo like 10 chemical transformations before it resembles anything in the vicinity of Testosterone. The PE benefit's of DHEA might be more pronounced if DHEA were available as an I.M. inj. Taken orally, expect nil PE benefits.
Pretty soon, they are going to ban beef steak, because it contains cholesterol, which is the first precursor in the metabolic pathway to Testosterone.
I agree that the evidence for classifying exogenous DHEA as a banned PED is, at best, highly equivocal. Some studies show a possible benefit with extremely high dosages; others show no benefit with similar dosages, beyond placebo effect. Larger studies show no increase in exercise ability or changes in body composition with moderate dosages. It appears that any performance-enhancing effects are more likely to be found in women and elderly men (whose bodies generally produce very low amounts of DHEA); even then, the evidence for enhanced athletic performance is probably not as strong as the evidence for improved mental state, so the rationale for banning exogenous DHEA seems murky. In any event, I don't know why someone like Hamilton (who presumably has great connections in the PED world) would choose to use DHEA as a PED.
There is no proven PED effect of DHEA. The drug is sold mostly as an 'antiaging' elixir. This is based on the fallacy that since levels of DHEA decrease with age, aging can be reversed by increasing levels of DHEA.
HA, HA, HA!
I remember the first time this guy got caught & everyone rushed to his defence after his website was posted. Well, now how to you feel LOSERS.
This like all the rest, & I include the great Armstrong(not proven yet) have to use these drugs to get ahead of people with real talent, aka Bo Jackson. Cycling is an endurance sport & to maintain that you either train your body hard to withstand the breakdown it takes on a tour or you supplement yourself with drugs & these days the medications that are out there with enhancing performance are many. Check the list the IOC bans.
Hamilton, you & Landis can ride to hell!!!!