Thyroid Hormone IS Cheating

How do you feel about asthma medication?

And what do you think about Gabriele Anderson, who takes artificial thyroid because her thyroid was removed because she had an aggressive form of thyroid cancer?

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/london-calling-2012/201205/gabriele-anderson-minnesota-cancer-track-olympics

Keep Sport Pure wrote:and says he never feels tired.

This is the key factor for me.

I believe it is ok to compensate for a deficiency or, like in Gabriele Anderson's case, a total lack of production of the hormone.

What is not ok is to overcompensate.

Fatigue is a normal result of hard training so giving an athlete enough hormone to eliminate or reduce what is a natural effect of training doesn't seem fair to me.

I think you need a dictionary so you can look up what cheating means.

Keep Sport Pure wrote:

I'm done with allowing athletes like Farah, Rupp tell me that thyroid hormone isn't cheating. It is! Normal people have to deal daily fluctuations in hormone levels and metabolism in response to training but with thyroid hormone you stay perfectly constant without having to worry about this aspect of normal human physiology.

The line was finally crossed for me when I learned that a teammate of mine got a prescription for thyroid hormone this past year. This guy has never been able to beat me and now he's killing me in workouts and races. He's now somehow been able to lose weight, put up ridiculous miles and says he never feels tired.

This stuff is just legalized PEDs!

Keep Sport Pure wrote:

The line was finally crossed for me when I learned that a teammate of mine got a prescription for thyroid hormone this past year. This guy has never been able to beat me and now he's killing me in workouts and races. He's now somehow been able to lose weight, put up ridiculous miles and says he never feels tired.

This stuff is just legalized PEDs!

A girl on my team got diagnosed with asthma last year, and got a proscription for Advair and Albuterol. A few months later she PR'd by 3 minutes in the 5k and now she's faster than me! Now she doesn't collapse and wheeze on the ground for 5 minutes after every race, it's like she's not even trying! What a cheating b!tch!

You must not know much about medicine / human physiology if you're comparing these two things.

Dennis Reynolds wrote:

How do you feel about asthma medication?

How do you know he is not legitimately hypothyroid?

How do you feel about thyroid meds and asthma medication?

Dennis Reynolds wrote:

How do you feel about asthma medication?

What is the limit?

Testicles removed - testosterone

Thyroid removed - thyroid hormone

Arms amputated - carbon fiber arms

Legs amputated - carbon fiber blades

Asthma - Albuterol

Heart condition - heart transplant from Kenya

Genetic issues - gene therapy

Where does it end?

A line needs to be drawn somewhere.

I believe Salazar's runners fall into the legal but unethical category by abusing loopholes that allow asthma inhalers and thyroid medications.

I actually sent a letter to WADA last week about this because I don't like the rules as they are now. I urge all of you who feel the same way as I do to do something about it and write to WADA.

how do you know wrote:

How do you know he is not legitimately hypothyroid?

Because Dr. Brown is diagnosing people as "hypothyroid", contrary to the range most endocrinologists use.

But how high is too high? According to American College of Endocrinology literature, the range of normal TSH level is broad, from 0.5 to an upper limit of near 5, depending on a patient's gender, age and other factors. In practice, many endocrinologists consider TSH levels above 4—combined with symptoms such as fatigue—evidence of an underactive thyroid.

Brown and a small camp of other endocrinologists argue that thyroid insufficiency can be signaled by a TSH level as low as 2, for which Brown cites some recently published research. By their standards, about 10% of the population is hypothyroid—double the 5% that is cited by mainstream endocrinology.

vic conte wrote:

I believe Salazar's runners fall into the legal but unethical category by abusing loopholes that allow asthma inhalers and thyroid medications.

I actually sent a letter to WADA last week about this because I don't like the rules as they are now. I urge all of you who feel the same way as I do to do something about it and write to WADA.

I don't think it stops there. With big daddy Nike's money I think they are so far ahead of the curve with supplements that they are onto many things that are not even tested. They can justify it with "no one has taken anything on the banned substance list," but as you say it is unethical for sure and illegal as well.

opinionated guy wrote:

...but as you say it is unethical for sure and illegal as well.

Well if you know they are doing something illegal, why don't you just call the police? Oh, because they aren't doing anything illegal.

opinionated guy wrote:

They can justify it with "no one has taken anything on the banned substance list," but as you say it is unethical for sure and illegal as well.

you've got a problem here. you say they're taking stuff that isn't banned, then you say it's illegal. you can't make both of those statements

besides, none of it is "illegal" it's just a rule violation

Another question wrote:

And what do you think about Gabriele Anderson, who takes artificial thyroid because her thyroid was removed because she had an aggressive form of thyroid cancer?

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/london-calling-2012/201205/gabriele-anderson-minnesota-cancer-track-olympics

Kinda hate to bring this up as she's an amazing story, but the fact is that she has gone from a pretty good college runner to world class since having her thyroid removed and having her levels artificially regulated.

reed wrote:

you've got a problem here. you say they're taking stuff that isn't banned, then you say it's illegal. you can't make both of those statements

besides, none of it is "illegal" it's just a rule violation

Let me try again.

My opinion is that they are doing what Armstrong, and countless others have done. That is paid to have science ahead of testers. It is illegal, but they are ahead of the testers since it is not yet on the list, and it is very difficult to catch because testers don't even know what to look for.

It is also my opinion that Nike's money buys silence. If you remember, CJ Hunter tested positive, but USATF tried to slide it under the rug so that it would not taint Marion Jones. It got leaked that he was positive and all hell broke loose. It is proven that money and prestige buys negative tests. Whom and to what extent we don't know, but there is so much smoke around Salazar and the OP (Conte, Athletics West, Gunderson, Thyroid meds, immediate huge time drops, etc.) that it is only common sense to be skeptical. Being skeptical is not guilt, but only a polyanna can't see something is likely amiss.

yep before you know it all the rich white kids are going to be buying this stuff on the street like crack in the hood... I think I might find a few chunkie people to go to the Dr. and get a prescription and then I can sell it at weekend meets to hobby joggers out of the back of my van....

I was talking about the op's teammate.

how does either medication performance enhance? Does it increase red blood cells?