What do we know about meldonium (drug Aregawi was busted for)?

so at least we know it is not very effective as a smart drug

in the east used as stimulant by athletes/students for long time.

so no performances drop.

why others start to use 2013?

real question is why afew ethiopians etc start to use now.

hardly as stimulant,just

use caffine,pre-race drink like most

wada ban it not to get at russians again .as low.

to ban nd keep quiet

key is igf-1 lr3 use nd added effect

dibaba slows

rekrunner wrote:

What if we do not see any drop in performances? Will anyone take back their words?

i really don't think that these athletes are going to see a doctor to use only meldonium. They will be using bunch of other PEDs as well. Arsmtrong was not just using EPO; EPO was just one part of his PED arsenal.

This drug finally banned! wrote:

It will be interesting to see if there is a drop off in performances in the Olympics now that this drug has finally been banned. Long delay by the governing associations to ban it, given the rumored widespread abuse by athletes over the last several years.

There are very few fast times set in Olympic running events (except for sprinting) because the races are tactical. So no, there will hardly be a visible effect. Maybe people are faster, because there are many PEDs around, and places to go for training, and advance notices on tests.

From another thread:

Decreased levels of lactate and urea in blood

Improved economy of glycogen: level of glycogen increased in the cells during the long-lasting exercise

Increased endurance properties and aerobic capabilities of athletes

Improved functional parameters of heart activity

Increased physical work capabilities

Increased rate of recovery after maximal and sub-maximal loads

Activates CNS functions and protects against stress

I guess that is fair but no one is getting a TUE for this. I would like to hear a plausible reason for being on the drug but I guess it's nice to be contrarian.Your standard of not improving performance should be clarified. I guess you are saying if Aregawi returns to being a world champ or a 3:56 runner, then no improvement. Or if the 2:04 Ethiopians runner another one, then no impact.

Here is an AP article (it's not an ESPN article it was just on ESPN) where the makers of the drug say a normal treatment cycle last 4-6 weeks and can be repeated 2-3 times per year.http://www.usnews.com/news/sports/articles/2016-03-08/4-6-weeks-is-normal-treatment-for-drug-in-sharapova-case

The AP wrote:

The AP was able to buy vials and tablets of meldonium over the counter in Moscow on Tuesday. Accompanying documentation stated that side effects could include blood pressure changes, irregular heartbeat and skin conditions*

Not my performance standard but "This drug finally banned!"'s. He says it will be interesting if we see a drop off in performance -- I guess it's also interesting if we don't.I'm not trying to be contrarian (at least not now). So far, I'm only asking questions about a drug I never heard of and any known connection to performance. As I said, WADA's reasons were that athletes were using it. (They rejected thyroid medicine and L-carnitine despite the same reasoning.) Clerk gave an informative response. I saw Jake Shelley's post about which kind of athletes take it.Looks like there is a legitimate medical use in Eastern Europe and Russia. And that many athletes also take it, like they would take aspirin.Why wouldn't athletes be able to get a TUE? Not in the US of course, but in Eastern Europe?

Bring back the 660 wrote:

I guess that is fair but no one is getting a TUE for this. I would like to hear a plausible reason for being on the drug but I guess it's nice to be contrarian.

Your standard of not improving performance should be clarified. I guess you are saying if Aregawi returns to being a world champ or a 3:56 runner, then no improvement. Or if the 2:04 Ethiopians runner another one, then no impact.

I see a lot of people thinking the same way, that every athlete is sophisticated like Lance Armstrong. I wouldn't call that an example of critical thinking.

critical thinker wrote:

rekrunner wrote:

What if we do not see any drop in performances? Will anyone take back their words?

i really don't think that these athletes are going to see a doctor to use only meldonium. They will be using bunch of other PEDs as well. Arsmtrong was not just using EPO; EPO was just one part of his PED arsenal.

Thanks for answering the question -- I did see it in the meantime.

Clerk wrote:

From another thread:

Decreased levels of lactate and urea in blood

Improved economy of glycogen: level of glycogen increased in the cells during the long-lasting exercise

Increased endurance properties and aerobic capabilities of athletes

Improved functional parameters of heart activity

Increased physical work capabilities

Increased rate of recovery after maximal and sub-maximal loads

Activates CNS functions and protects against stress

Why are so many athletes getting busted for this? I'm discounting any of the usual excuses dopers make and also the claims that they still had residual drugs in their systems from use before 1/1/16. So I basically see two options:

a) They failed to look at the updated drug list for 2016 and realize it had been added.

b) They knew it was added but not think WADA had an effective test for it.

Thoughts?

Certainly looks like a lot were caught off guard.Maybe they didn't click mildronate = meldonium?

zhorik questions wrote:

Why are so many athletes getting busted for this? I'm discounting any of the usual excuses dopers make and also the claims that they still had residual drugs in their systems from use before 1/1/16. So I basically see two options:

a) They failed to look at the updated drug list for 2016 and realize it had been added.

b) They knew it was added but not think WADA had an effective test for it.

Thoughts?

rekrunner wrote:

Certainly looks like a lot were caught off guard.

Maybe they didn't click mildronate = meldonium?

At least the packaging shown in the usnews article at

has labeling that says Mildronat then on the next line Mel'donii. So that packaging from Grindex looks like it used both names.

Here's a good article about Meldonium and how it came to be a prohibited drug:

http://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/analysis-maria-sharapova-tests-positive-for-meldonium/

Doping in our time wrote:

Doping in our time wrote:What is the source for the statement that some people are making that Meldonium remains detectable in the body for 2 months after taking?

Trying to answer my own question, this paper doesn't make it sound like a normal dose of Meldonium would be detetectable after 2 months:

Regarding the administered amount of up to 2000 mg per day and the half-life of around 6.5 h, the estimated LLOD at 200 ng/mL for the initial testing assay and 10 ng/mL for the confirmation assay is suggested to be sufficient for a reliable Mildronate detection over a couple of days after

administration.

http://pilarmartinescudero.es/OctNov15/Midronate%20interferencia%20con%20cromatografia.pdf

Maybe WADA is using a more sensitive test, etc., but 2 months sounds unlikely.

You don't know anything about cumulative effects. If you took 2000 mg only once it might drop below the LLOD (lower level of detection—the ability of equipment to test for the presence of a substance) after a few days, a week. But, take 2000 mg, or more, every day and the LLOD level of 10 ng/mL will be hit for a much longer period of time.

Based on everything I am finding, Meldonium is a very good PED, especially for a middle distance female. Apparently it came on the radar screen about 5 years ago starting in anti-aging and then bodybuilding in the U.S. Looks like it did not catch on with athletes in the U.S. But, to be clear, Meldonium is definitely a PED and is apparently relatively cheap and easily to come by which means there are probably a lot of athletes using it. I would not be surprised to see several elite athletes unable to match their previous marks, just like what we saw when the EPO test came out and then the BP.

This is the situation USATF found itself in back in 1988 with Carl Lewis, the stimulant he was busted for was only added to ban list 4 weeks prior and actually taken off the ban list a year or tow later.