Cam Levins Addresses Doping Allegations, Says He Takes Asthma Medication for Adult Onset Asthma

Claims no benefits wrote:

From your first link:

"Ozone and particulate matter are the most widespread pollutants of concern for the exercising population; chronic exposure can lead to new-onset asthma and EIB. Freshly generated emissions particulate matter less than 100 nm is most harmful."

Is this the kind of environment the Nop trains in?

The second study was just for short term exposure to the inhaler.

"After salbutamol inhalation, Forced expiratory volume in 1s improved significantly in athletes with exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (M (SD)=6.1% (47.6)) and athletes without exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (4.0% (3.1); p≤0.02)."

What are long term affects for greater lung

Volume?

The first link I provided was an article about the role of air quality in EIB (did you even read the title?), which is why it talked about pollution. I just provided it to give some background showing that the condition is indeed real.

Here's another one for you (there are over 900 articles about it in PubMed):

"Airway dysfunction is prevalent in elite endurance athletes and when left untreated may impact upon both health and performance. There is now concern that the intensity of hyperpnoea necessitated by exercise at an elite level may be detrimental for an athlete's respiratory health..."

(Hyperpnoea basically means breathing heavily.)

As for your question about the long-term effects of asthma meds on "greater lung volume," I could tell you that there aren't any, but you probably wouldn't believe me anyway. That said, if you have some evidence that you didn't just make that up, I'd certainly be interested in seeing it.

Here's a better experiment. Try taking inhalers regularly over a period of two years. Use them in conjunction with thyroid medication, Prednisone, testo-boost, altitude tents, and if you can keep your mouth shut, testosterone. With the help of a lab, carefully control dosages to boost your workout recovery time and lung capacity. Then report back to me on your 10k time.

Yes indeed. It gets your name on letsrun forum for all to discuss your diseases.

adsfadsfasfasdf wrote:

Alex... wrote:

So lets take thyroxine, prednisolone, ventolin, l-carnitine and lets go running

I hear ventolin has some nasty side effects.

Sesamoiditis wrote:

[quote]Just try it ya wimps! wrote:

I can't imagine anyone doing Cam's mileage in Utah and not having lung problems. Bronco dilating Inhalers had no impact on my PB or finishing times wrt peers. And due to unpleasant side affects, I only take the rescue inhaler after a race if things are quickly getting worse.

Why did he get asthma after he left Utah and started running less mileage then?

He probably developed it in Utah, or at least flipped the epi-genetic switches up there, and got final diagnosis later. Asthma symptoms are similar to many other issues and can take a long time to diagnose. It took me over a year for final diagnosis cuz initially two doctors stared at me saying "no, you do not have asthma" and one guy saying i had COPD. It took a full 2 years before finding meds with the least harmful side affects.

I remember when Cam raced in London Oly and a little before that, both times he said "my breathing was off, i have a cold or something" and my first thought was: 190mpw in Utah? Here's another guy w exercise induced asthma.

In anycase Cam's had it before joining NOP.

"Yeah, I was dealing with it before I joined the project actually. A little bit after the London Olympics I started having quite a bit of difficulty with it. So it was before I joined the project."

For those of you with asthma that are saying it doesn't help non-asthmatics...how could you know that for sure?

Albuterol or Salbutamol have a slight stimulant effect and can help with nitrogen retention during times of dietary restriction. In short, better recovery for someone who is trying to stay as skinny as possible. It's not about the lung function for non-asthmatics.

Here's a better experiment. Try taking inhalers regularly over a period of two years. Use them in conjunction with thyroid medication, Prednisone, testo-boost, altitude tents, and if you can keep your mouth shut, testosterone. With the help of a lab, carefully control dosages to boost your workout recovery time and lung capacity. Then report back to me on your 10k time.

Lung capacity is not the limiting factor in 10k, it's your lazy assed training.

In fact if you compare Caucasian to east african of the same height, the lung capacity charts are 10% lower for those of east african descent, no joke!

Alex... wrote:

Yes indeed. It gets your name on letsrun forum for all to discuss your diseases. [quote]adsfadsfasfasdf wrote:

[quote]Alex... wrote:

So lets take thyroxine, prednisolone, ventolin, l-carnitine and lets go running

I hear ventolin has some nasty side effects.

If it's Ventolin^3, the side effects of headaches and eye-rolling are uncontrollable.

He actually says after he joined then corrects himself.

hold the phone wrote:

Here's another one for you (there are over 900 articles about it in PubMed):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24117544

"Airway dysfunction is prevalent in elite endurance athletes and when left untreated may impact upon both health and performance. There is now concern that the intensity of hyperpnoea necessitated by exercise at an elite level may be detrimental for an athlete's respiratory health..."

You can find a few lines in a journal abstract to support just about any plausible medical opinion. That abstract doesn't tell us how prevalent or severe the airway dysfunction is, but maybe you could buy the full article and report back to us.

You know what else two of the authors wrote about? They did a study of English professional soccer players, and found that 88% (!) were on asthma medication. When they actually examined the athletes, a high proportion showed no actual signs of lung dysfunction:

Actually to diagnose exercise induced bronchoconstriction one must get spirometry before and after exercise (EIB= drop in FEV 1 significantly after exercise) so running up the stairs prior to the test would not result in a false positive dx of EIB, but may result in someone with EIB to test positively for spirometry c/w persistent asthma. (ie fev1

Data from the past five Olympic Games obtained from athletes seeking to inhale β2 adrenoceptor agonists (IBA) have identified those athletes with documented asthma and airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR). With a prevalence of about 8%, asthma/AHR is the commonest chronic medical condition experienced by Olympic athletes. In Summer and Winter athletes, there is a marked preponderance of asthma/AHR in endurance-trained athletes. The relatively late onset of asthma/AHR in many older athletes is suggestive that years of endurance training may be a contributory cause. Inspiring polluted or cold air is considered a significant aetiological factor in some but not all sports. During the last five Olympic Games, there has been improved management of athletes with asthma/AHR with a much higher proportion of athletes combining inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) with IBA and few using long-acting IBA as monotherapy. Athletes with asthma/AHR have consistently outperformed their peers, which research suggests is not due to their treatment enhancing sports performance. Research is necessary to determine how many athletes will continue to experience asthma/AHR in the years after they cease intensive endurance training.

http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2012/01/08/bjsports-2011-090814.short

Runner "A" runs 27:27.96 in 2012, finishing in 55.7, while in college. That same year he runs 13:18.29. He joins some running group. Now, three years later he has run 20 seconds faster in the former (and is currently 151st all time), and 3 seconds faster in the latter. He still does not hold the Canadian record in the 5000. He states he now has asthma and takes a med for it. "He's a lying SOB." "He's clearly doping." "He's faking it." "It's the devil Salazar at work." Runner "B" runs 3:38.33 in 2009; 3:38.53 in 2010; 3:38.11 in 2011; nothing in 2012; 3:36.34 in 2013; 3:38.10 in 2014; and now 3:32.97. " . . ." " . . . " Hilarious, really. But in terms of understanding such phenomena as the Salem Witch Trials, priceless. And for whatever it's worth, Jim Ryun had a terrible case of exercise induced asthma. See the link below.

http://pennstatehershey.adam.com/content.aspx?productId=28&pid=28&gid=000124

agip wrote:

the point of sport is something like 'how hard can you train to get into maximum shape? And then how hard can you compete?'

this is all botched when you say 'well, training has made me sick so I need to medicate myself so I can train harder.'

No - that's against the spirit of sport - if you can't handle the training, you need to back off. Maybe someone else CAN do the training.

Just tired of it.

Absolutely. That's why I hate people who take water during marathons. Hey, if you can't run it with assistance then just don't do it. Ibuprofen? More like "Ibu-amateur-fen". Perhaps you should just back off if your widdle muscles can't handle the pain. Oh, and what is it with those fancy running shoes? Need the support? Wimp. Run barefoot or just get out of the way and let some folks with a little chest hair take over.

Background: Asthma prevalence appears to be increasing in the general population. We sought to determine whether asthma prevalence has also increased in highly competitive athletes. Objective: Our aim was to determine how many United States Olympic athletes who were chosen to participate in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games had a past history of asthma or symptoms that suggested asthma or took asthma medications. Methods: We analyzed responses to questions that asked about allergic and respiratory diseases on the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Medical History Questionnaire that was completed by all athletes who were chosen to represent the US at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Results: Of the 699 athletes who completed the questionnaire, 107 (15.3%) had a previous diagnosis of asthma, and 97 (13.9%) recorded use of an asthma medication at some time in the past. One hundred seventeen (16.7%) reported use of an asthma medication, a diagnosis of asthma, or both (which was our basis for the diagnosis of asthma). Seventy-three (10.4%) of the athletes were currently taking an asthma medication at the time that they were processed in Atlanta or noted that they took asthma medications on a permanent or semipermanent basis and were considered to have active asthma. Athletes who participated in cycling and mountain biking had the highest prevalence of having been told that they had asthma or had taken an asthma medication in the past (50%). Frequency of active asthma varied from 45% of cyclists and emountain bikers to none of the divers and weight lifters. Only about 11% of the athletes who participated in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games were reported to have had exercise-induced asthma on the basis of other criteria that may have been less restrictive. On the basis of these less restrictive criteria, more than 20% of the athletes who participated in the 1996 Olympic Games might have been considered to have had asthma. Conclusions: Asthma appeared to have been more prevalent in athletes who participated in the 1996 Summer Games than in the general population or in those who participated in the 1984 Summer Games. This study also suggests that asthma may influence the sport that an athlete chooses. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 1998;102:722-6.)

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091674998700107

People making out Sal is the devil for having athletes on Asthma meds are idiots. He may be the devil for other reasons though! A significant percentage of the worlds endurance athletes are on it. I have seen Jerrys athletes with Inhalers as well. Why didn't lets run ask them about thyroid and inhalers?

As far as I am aware not all asthma meds are banned anyway. We don't even know what it is Levins takes.

This casting of doubt against Levins and his asthma diagnosis is highly misguided and I guarantee you it will prove to be an unfortunate red herring in the effort to shed light on Alberto Salazar. I understand the deep level of skepticism out there right now. Salazar has placed himself in the hot seat by his imperious and secretive behavior, and by playing fast and loose with medicine. However, speaking as a health care professional, I see epidemic levels of asthma in the field of respiratory health. It is a complicated problem involving multiple modes of diagnosis--taking into consideration environment, the body, and the mind. But it does not require a degree in medicine to understand that it is an increasing problem. Having followed Levin's career about as closely as anyone who is a mere fan, I think his diagnosis is very likely bona fide. And to those who think his lack of comfort in that interview was a sign of being deceptive, I would say you are being led by hypothesis and not evidence. To my view he is a young man who is trying hard to be forthcoming but is also understandably uncomfortable being the object of skepticism. Personally, I find it harder to trust the people who are able to give smooth answers. In my diagnostic role in medicine, I deal with all kinds of lying, and my experience has been that most attempts at deception are carried out by those who are comfortable in the role.

Having asthma doesn't mean that you can't be a top-level athlete. Not many people realize that Paula Radcliffe had lifelong asthma. If the investigation into NOP wasn't happening, nobody would bat an eye at his condition. According to the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America, anyone with any kind of non-food allergy can develop adult-onset asthma from that alone. He hasn't personally been indicated by anyone, so it's probably okay just to let the guy have his success.

I recognize the gray area and yes it is sometimes hard to draw a firm line

But we're talking prescription medicine, taken long term, for a condition caused by training.

Does that seem to be on the wrong side of the line to you?

Asthmatic College Runner wrote:

Having asthma doesn't mean that you can't be a top-level athlete. Not many people realize that Paula Radcliffe had lifelong asthma. If the investigation into NOP wasn't happening, nobody would bat an eye at his condition. According to the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America, anyone with any kind of non-food allergy can develop adult-onset asthma from that alone. He hasn't personally been indicated by anyone, so it's probably okay just to let the guy have his success.

Yes but there is an investigation into NOP. Investigations that they trick doctors into prescribing them asthma medication. Why wouldn't we be skeptical when a NOP athlete admits to taking asthma medication once he joined the team?

Started running seriously and without a long break at 14. Never was allergic to anything. Moved from San Diego to Upstate NY at age 30 and started having difficulty with my harder runs or runs >6 miles. I should have been running 35. Back pain, chest pain. I'd never had something like it before and felt confident it was an allergen. I borrowed my wife's inhaler a couple of times and it seemed to help. I am not defending anyone. I just think it's legitimate that one can develop issues that can be aided by a prescription. But I hate the TUE program. If I can't race well in NY I should have to suffer or move. That's genetics. Happily, I moved back to San Diego and left the problem behind.