Wall St Journal looks at Houston Doc who treats Rupp, other thyroid users

Seriously though, Smyth was what...2nd at US cross in 2009 behind Ritz, 3rd at the US Half Marathon Champs in 2011 behind Hall and Trafeh, and he's done?

george oscar bluth wrote:

Seriously though, Smyth was what...2nd at US cross in 2009 behind Ritz, 3rd at the US Half Marathon Champs in 2011 behind Hall and Trafeh, and he's done?

Retired because he found out what you have to do to stay competitive aka he wasn't comfortable using PEDs like the majority of active US runners.

This article needs to be posted on the front page.

Why aren't more people posting in this thread? This article shows the insanity of PED use right now.

bump

smyth - let his name become immortalized

I agree - this seems to be the front where general medical opinion has not caught on to what the athletes and coaches know. This could be the future of doping - gray areas with no real answers. Nike probably has an army of lawyers ready to protect Salazar's athletes, and they've already done all the work to make sure they could beat any doping allegations. Why dope like Armstrong when you can do it sanctioned and protected by your corporate sponsor? Is that even doping?

TLW wrote:

Why aren't more people posting in this thread? This article shows the insanity of PED use right now.

Yes, it is doping. Sal cheats. Rupp cheats. I'd smash that elf looking face. These creeps have absolutely ruined this sport.

coach d wrote:

Hypothyroidism is a side effect of HGH use. I don't think I want to imply anything about Bob Kennedy, but it seems that we have a epidemic of hypothyroidism among professional distance runners and only professional distance runners. You don't hear much about sprinters who also push themselves very hard, and you don't hear about an epidemic of hypothyroidism in the NCAA (one of the above excepted).

Now if you think this is on the level, I'd like to sell you some property in Manhattan that I don't own.

if you dont want to imply anything about kennedy, then i also have some property for sale in manhattan im trying to get rid of.

From the article:

Brown is well aware of doping rumors. "The general public seems to think that if you have a medical problem and then you get better, that you're on something [illegal]," he said.

I would love to see his definition of "medical problem" because something tells me it varies from most doctors. If I am running 140 mpw and not recovering, is that a medical problem?

Doctor diagnoses Oregon runner with thyroid deficiency

Updated: May 4, 2006, 2:06 PM ET

Associated Press

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EUGENE, Ore. -- Oregon distance runner Galen Rupp, who has struggled through a bout of pneumonia and fatigue this season, has been diagnosed with a thyroid condition.

A Houston doctor determined that Rupp has hypothyroidism, which occurs when the body does not create enough thyroid hormone.

Rupp will have to take medication every day to replace the deficiency.

With his personal coach, marathoner Alberto Salazar, Rupp went to Texas on Monday for an appointment with Dr. Jeffrey Brown of the Endocrinology Associates of Houston.

"We suspected it a little bit," Rupp told The Oregonian newspaper. "Looking back on all the things that have gone on in the past year, I had some of the symptoms."

Rupp said his chances of running in Friday night's Oregon Twilight meet -- where he broke a junior record in the 10,000 meters a year ago -- are slim. Instead, he'll focus on the Pac-10 championships next week.

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Information from: The Oregonian,

Thyroid medication is just the beginning. The thyroid hormones are inextricably linked to the pituitary and hypothalamus, all of which produce hormones necessary to growth, strength and metabolism. As someone else said, once you push one button the other buttons need pushing too.

From the pituitary:

Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH)

Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH)

Luteinizing Hormone (LH) responsible for secreting testosterone (get where they are going yet?)

Growth Hormone (HGH)

ACTH — the adrenocorticotropic hormone (also involved in testosterone production)

From the hypothalamus:

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) (also involved in testosterone production)

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) acts to release ACTH

Thyroid hormones are not "masking agents". Bodybuilders who take steroids or HGH upset the balance of the other hormones in the body. The body senses too much here so it tries to balance things by cutting back on secretions of complimentary hormones elsewhere which will eventually wreck the body. Along comes modern science so that doctors who are monitoring androgenic/anabolic hormones will also manipulate and restore FSH, TSH, CRH etc. to their normal levels.

Thyroid hormone induces erythropoietin gene expression through augmented accumulation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1

http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/287/3/R600.full

Confused1 wrote:

So the IOC and WADA have looked into this and decided to move on. What is the story here? This is a strange article for the Journal to write as it seems like the facts within the piece diffuse the intended speculation. You have a handful of respected athletes (with different shoe companies and coaches) who haven't tried to be discreet with their prescribed medication for something IOC says may actually "inhibit performance."

Shh. Rojo doesn't want you to talk to much about that.

It proves my contention that WADA and IAAF have looked into this -- they've had 7 or more years, and it is a non issue to the point where you don't even need permission or TUE's to use them.

TLW wrote:

george oscar bluth wrote:

Seriously though, Smyth was what...2nd at US cross in 2009 behind Ritz, 3rd at the US Half Marathon Champs in 2011 behind Hall and Trafeh, and he's done?

Retired because he found out what you have to do to stay competitive aka he wasn't comfortable using PEDs like the majority of active US runners.

This article needs to be posted on the front page.

Why aren't more people posting in this thread? This article shows the insanity of PED use right now.

Because you are being paranoid and reading the wrong conclusions into the story.

WADA and IAAF have studied the issue, they've been on it for at least 7 years. They have found no problems. It only helps who it helps and it can actually deter performance.

The treatment is considered so legit that it is not illegal and you don't need a TUE for it.

And very, very, very few athletes are on it.

5 out of all the athletes that have flowed through Nike in the past ten years...

If it was a slam dunk performance improver, they'd all be on it.

It doesn't work that way.

Salazar and Nike run everything they do by IAAF and WADA first -- that is what all athletes are told to do -- as what goes in their body is their responsiblity.

WADA and IAAF see the thyroid supplement as health care, and not sports performance enhancement.

Let them do their jobs and stow your paranoia and cynicism.

It is a small percent of athletes, and it is a health matter.

I'd like to think most of our runners have higher morals than that.

well the issue is if thyroid treatment improves performance. WADA says no.

Does anyone here dispute that with medical reasoning?

And if they decide to ban thyroid meds a year from now, will you admit you were wrong?

To me the most troubling aspect of the article is the athletes are seemingly going to this doctor as a way of "shopping" for meds.

As I've always said, Rupp and Salazar TRANSPARENT.

He never gives this interview, you never see these paranoid threads all over this board.

It's a medical issue.

agip wrote:

well the issue is if thyroid treatment improves performance. WADA says no.

Does anyone here dispute that with medical reasoning?

Exactly, and they have had at least 7 years to assess these things.

Yep, Rupp is so transparent that he declined to comment for the WSJ article.