Just the facts ma'am.
Professional athlete tests positive for a suspicious substance.
The professional athlete is duty bound to declare all prescriptions and supplements.
The professional athlete appears to have not declared the prescription drug prior to testing. It was only after the positive test that the athlete sought a TUE - Therapeutic Use Exception.
The suspicious substance is on the WADA, USADA and NCAA list of prohibited substance. The banned substance is a common masking agent or metabolite of a banned substance.
The banned substance or its metabolite has 2 primary effects.
1) Diuretic - quickly flush out other banned substances, or changes/dilutes urine concentrations.
2) Anti-androgen - reduces the masculinizing effects (body/facial hair, deepening of voice) on females who take steroids or testosterone.
Additionally, the drug in question has a very fast clearance time; however, the metabolites it produces, for which the athlete received the positive have a longer clearance time.
The suspicious substance for which the athlete received the warning is a direct metabolite of a drug which is marketed and sold online as a masking agent for steroids and testosterone.
"Aldactone, which is also known as Spironolactone, is a diuretic that helps in hiding or masking the presence of anabolic steroids in the human body. It is used by bodybuilders, strength athletes, and other sportsmen to deliver dramatic on-field performances and yet remaining safe from doping tests."
Aldactone is also an antiandrogen since it reduces the androgen level. Female athletes take advantage of this characteristic by using it to mini-mize the virilization symptoms during steroid treatment or the symptoms after treatment."