Thyroid Hormone IS Cheating

Took synthroid and the natural thyroid before that all my life. One one occasion, the dr upped the dosage too high, and I never want that to happen again. Performance enhancing? Ha! Not if palpitations, anxiety attacks and sleeplessness help your performance.

Wow, this is new to me. You're telling me lots of athletes are now on thyroid meds? And that somehow they are enhancing performance, or possibly masking other PED's?

You know, this sounds like it just might be true. I would not put it past the runners of today. There's just no integrity anymore and I'm fed up with ll of them. I bet baseball players are taking this now. God, I'm mad. Bullocks.

Really? So you're stating that numerous physiologists and endocrinologists have done researched and proven that thyroid med in fact cannot be used as a performance enhancer by elite athletes? Name one and I'll shut up. And preferably from one of the LEADING exercise physiologist. Surely your beloved WADA can provide a link.

How dare we disagree with WADA's science and process. The science and process that allowed Lance Armstong to rule over cycling for almost a decade, that allowed Marion Jones to become track's biggest star. That could not even catch the blade runner!

Fam has already stepped forward stating that "an astonishing number of the top ten Americans of all time" were on thyroid med. Magnuss and Fleshman have also made it clear they are of the opinion that thyroid med is being abused by athletes. But they're all just crazy, right? Just attention seekers and jealous of other people's success.

I absolutely love this argument. If the Chinese were cheating back in the Ma days than all the Chinese would have been cheating. So why did the men suck so much? Why did the sprinter's suck so much? So it must be that the Chinese woman were not cheating. Also, "to the best of your knowledge?" Is this part of the TrackCoach science and process?

And that's the loophole a lot of people like Lauren Fleshman speak of. The doctor determines if there is a thyroid condition and that determination is based on his opinion. Ruppy could have a TSH of 2 and Dr. Brown could state that a TSH of 2 determines a thyroid condition. There is no test result by which any authority can step in and say "Hey, Dr. Brown, you can no longer prescribe thyroid med to that patient. It is his discretion of what normal is. One thing is certain though, he absolutely loves to diagnose some of America's best athletes as needing medical help to return to "normal".

"if taking Thyroid meds was the key to success, you would see a flood of elite athletes taking it. A lot of athletes have taken Thyroid meds and received no performance benefit and/or got worst. Also, to the best of my knowledge AlSal has only had 3 athletes out of all of the athletes he has ever coached take Thyroid medicine; if that was key to his success, all of his athletes would be taking it. In terms of pushing the limits, when join any of elite pro training groups, one of the first things they do is have you get blood chemistry analysis and then put you and a regiment to correct deficiencies. If there is a Thyroid issue, you will probably end up taking something similar to the medicine Galen’s taking."

----->

"if taking erythropoietin meds was the key to success, you would see a flood of elite athletes taking it. A lot of athletes have taken erythropoietin meds and received no performance benefit and/or got worst. Also, to the best of my knowledge Morroco has only had 3 athletes out of all of the athletes he has ever coached take erythropoietin medicine; if that was key to his success, all of his athletes would be taking it. In terms of pushing the limits, when join any of elite pro training groups, one of the first things they do is have you get blood chemistry analysis and then put you and a regiment to correct deficiencies. If there is a erythropoietin issue, you will probably end up taking something similar to the medicine Galen’s taking."

That said, don't mistake me for actually caring. In my opinion if you are competing against dopers, it isn't ethically wrong to 'counter-dope.'

he fixed the firn wrote:

Magnuss and Fleshman have also made it clear they are of the opinion that thyroid med is being abused by athletes. But they're all just crazy, right? Just attention seekers and jealous of other people's success.

If you meant Magness, he doesn't seem too convinced that taking thyroid hormone would help someone without a problem:

" You actually take your body from a normal state, to a hyperthyroid state. What does hyperthyroid entail?

It’s basically like you are hopped up on adrenaline or caffeine all the time. Which may sound like performance enhancing, but it’s not. It’s to the extreme, not a short jolt of energy, but instead like you are the verge of a breakdown. You have crazy anxiety, inability to sleep, weight loss, increased appetite, nervousness, heart racing, your hands shake, your muscles are weak, and you generally feel like crap. And for those who know anything about overtraining, you overstimulate your sympathetic nervous system. For those who don’t know about overtraining, overstimulating your NS is one of the ways in which people theorize overtraining occurs."

Sure, if you take too much. No one is saying they are ingesting mass quantities of the hormone, just enough to boost their metabolism.Remember, Rupp went to a doctor in Oregon who told him his levels were in the normal range. So why was that doctor wrong and Dr. Brown in Houston right when he diagnosed him as hypothyroid? And to what did he attribute the problem? Over exertion, or did he run additional tests to rule out an autoimmune disorder or other cause. If it was the latter, then that is a health issue. If the former, that is a training issue, and where you get into a grey area. I'm sorry, but I am suspicious when I google synthroid and find body building websites that devote pages to using the stuff.

I may have been misinterpreted here. I've coached a fast guy (8:55 steepler who'd had his thyroid removed and also currently coach a woman who needs medication to regulate her thyroid. I don't have a problem with that. What irks people here is the healthy athlete who might manage to get away with taking a micro dosage to enhance their performance at some level.In my prior statement I was actually hoping to make a broader point about WADA. This organization is woefully insufficient. WADA's banned list fails to cover all of the banned substance alternatives available in the scientific realm. There are many times more testosterone derivatives available in science which are not appearing on WADA's banned list.

coachingmama wrote:

Oh darn! Now you are all on to our little secret!!!! Those of us who have had our thyroid's removed and take artificial levels are such good athletes! Everyone should do it if they can afford to have the surgery! No problems ever.....there is no adjustment period, no issues, nothing. I wish that by being artificially adjusted it was nice and even...but that is not the case. It can take years to get things straight, and it is never a direct path. The runner was lucky, and she probably just feels healthier now that she is regulated.

It is absolutely true that there are many marginal cases out there, that would benefit from medication. And sometimes, shockingly, excess exercise screws it up.

But do go ahead and have your thyroid removed if you think it will make you a better athlete.

What a douche

What about Margaret Gros (1988 Olympic Trials Marathon winner, 2:29) who had her thyroid removed due to Graves disease two years earlier? And then she had to supplement thyroid hormone.

And what about an athlete that has too much thyroid, and have to medicate to keep the levels normal? Would that be cheating too?

And what about letting letsrun trolls out of their mom's basement? Would that be be considered performance enhanced?

T4(thyroid) is used in conjunction with growth hormone

they have a synergestic effect

common knowledge among bodybuilders

that's why athletes go to dr brown

remember carl lewis and his braces

he was also a client of dr brown

There are many legalized PEDs, as well as many other advantages having nothing to do with talent that WADA, LRC et al turn a blind eye to. Why focus on this one?

"Thyroid Hormone IS Cheating"

Obviously.

What about the rumours of using 'adrenaline shots' before the olympic 5k and 10k?

I feel bad for you and your ignorance of the thyroid metabolism. You are measuring yourself against someone with an illness/disease that will progress in severity without hormone replacement. You should not be worrying about him and his health and worry only about making yourself better. You will never do well in this sport if you are worried about others. Spend each day making you better as an athlete and person and 100% you will do great things in this sport and in life. If you worry about others like this - you will always be a sidelining whiner.

If went and got your TSH tested, I bet you would measure between a 1-2. You probably sleep normal, do not gain weight, loss hair, feel well mentally and physically day to day. Your metabolism is running well.

The standard TSH range is .5-3.5. If someone is over 2, they subclinical hypothyroid and anything over 3.5 is Clinical hypothyroid. So the grey is area on when to treat is where most Drs disagree, do they wait until the thyroid is completely off line or do they try to maintain thyroid health and keep someone in the 1-2 range as this is where the anyone without thyroid issues will measure.

90% of hyper/hypo cases in American are autoimmune diseases!!! Which means the body is attacking the thyroid. It is being marked by the body for destruction. If it is left untreated the body will eventually destroy the thyroid completely.

Why should some else just except a mediocre existent/health? And wait for the thyroid to be destroyed????

If you take thyroid meds and are already healthy - you will get F**ked up on them with a risk of a thyroid storm and death. Google thyroid storm - NOT FUN - thyroid meds are dangerous and not something to fool with. You can not just a small dose in hopes of a performance increase. If do not need it, you are risking serious health issues.

Someone in a early said it best, the other runner has been better than you but his thryoid masked his abilities. Stop whining and go run more or read a good book on how to make you a better person and less of a whiner.

If you need thyroid hormones in order to be "normal" then maybe you weren't meant to be a pro runner.

10 years from now no one will question that this is cheating.

This kid is not a prorunner! These are high school athletes.

Additionally what you are saying that genetically speaking you aren't meant be a prorunner if you are genetically predisposed for thyroid autoimmune disease????

Taking thyroid will not increase your performance - it levels the playing field or worse it can worsen your running performance.

http://thyroid.about.com/od/hypothyroidismhashimotos/a/Editorial-Controversy-Over-Diagnosing-Hypothyroidism.htm

Stop being ignorant. Read and understand it before you take a high horse position on it.

notintheknow wrote:

Gabriele Anderson's performance actually improved from 4:22 to 4:06 before her thyroid was removed and before she was started on thyroid medication. She had her parotid gland removed prior to this improvement though so maybe that is the answer. Parotidectomy will cause a 16 second pr in the 1500.

Maybe she was on the meds and had it then removed so she could keep taking it and not get in trouble now that she'd be tested with her improved times.

Losertown wrote:

Remember, Rupp went to a doctor in Oregon who told him his levels were in the normal range. So why was that doctor wrong and Dr. Brown in Houston right when he diagnosed him as hypothyroid? And to what did he attribute the problem? Over exertion, or did he run additional tests to rule out an autoimmune disorder or other cause. If it was the latter, then that is a health issue. If the former, that is a training issue, and where you get into a grey area.

I certainly understand any suspicion regarding NOP or any elite athlete for that matter, but getting a second opinion about a potential medical condition isn't unusual.

happyracer wrote:

This kid is not a prorunner! These are high school athletes.

Further clarification, this is a college athlete that I was originally talking about. Also I'm currently doing an experiment to see if I, as a competitive and high mileage collegiate runner, can "qualify" for a thyroid hormone prescription too. I have no need for thyroid hormone but am going to see if I can do the same thing as my teammate and get the prescription.

happyracer wrote:

Someone in a early said it best, the other runner has been better than you but his thryoid masked his abilities. Stop whining and go run more or read a good book on how to make you a better person and less of a whiner.

Or, do all of the above and get diagnosed with hypothyroid by the right doctor and unleash your masked abilities.