kathy_caribe wrote:
klehner wrote:
gpdtx wrote:
Actually it is legal to take testosterone for low levels provided that governing bodies are forewarned with medical evidence and thereby exempted. Low testosterone levels has been labeled a disease process. Low levels have been associated with a symptom complex, and those often debilitating, and sometimes deadly (heart disease) effects actually gets better with treatment.
A hematocrit of 39 or 40 is not associated with a disease process and would not qualify for treatment by a physician. The only reason to take epo would be for athletic superiority and that is cheating.
people who suffer from low T levels and want/need to take them to ameliorate symptoms should not be ban from sports.
Your attitude is sickening and ignorant. Good luck with anyone having a non-zero testosterone level getting a TUE. Aging is not a disease process.
I don't care is someone has
no naturally occurring testosterone: if he takes exogenous testosterone, he shouldn't be allowed to compete. Period. Participate without competing, maybe, but not eligible for any results/prizes/accolades.
I'm 54, and I would like to think that the guys I compete against are playing the cards they were dealt.
Except many are ALREADY not playing the cards they were dealt and doing so legally. The asthmatics, the joint folks, the low vitamin D folks, the depressed folks, the heart diseased folks, the diabetic folks. All these folks are allowed to change their "dealt cards" and improve their abilities - albeit, the improvement is simply a leveling of the playing field, and in the case of diabetics, they are constantly just trying to reach that level playing field - they're almost always still disadvantaged. You've got a doctor here saying that bringing someone to a heart-healthy situation without increasing his T over the norm (and honestly just barely TO the norm) will not give him superhuman abilities but *you* (in general) seem Stuck on the illegality of T regardless of the logic. I recently got tested and I'm at 0 T. Zippo. My quality of life has sucked for a while now but I'm trying to figure a way out if it without hormone supplementation. HOWEVER, I wouldn't think twice about HRT if that became the choice I had to make because triathlon is just a SPORT, a HOBBY and FUN and my quality of life is so much more than that.
It seems you guys just cannot reason at all and are stuck at the "illegal" and can't see the forest you're in. Can you explain to me how, when 200 ng/mL is the low end of normal, supplementing with T to reach the absolute bottom of normal is giving someone an advantage over someone else in the normal range of T? The logic simply Does Not Follow. Unless the only logic you can follow is "it's illegal".
Asthmatics take medicine so they don't die while exercising. "Joint folks" get treatment to allow them to participate at all. All those examples you cite take treatment to allow them to participate. T supplementation allows guys to compete *at a higher level*. Do you see the difference? There is a reason by inhaled asthma medication is allowed, but T supplementation is not.
You don't know what "the norm" is for any given individual, nor does anyone else. There are ranges of "normal." You don't know what the minimum is for a given individual or age group. Following your logic, people should be allowed to supplement with EPO to bring their hematocrit up to "the norm."
I'm not stuck on the "illegal:" I'm stuck on the "unfair."
I don't take supplements, vitamins, or anything other than "food" (excepting my infinIT mix in races). No medicines, no chemicals, no drugs. I sweat like a pig, thereby restricting my ability to do longer distance races. Perhaps I should supplement with glycerol to bring my ability to retain water up to "the norm." You okay with that? It's against the rules, but heck, I'm only bringing myself up to the absolute bottom of normal for sweat rate, so I should be good to go.
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"Go yell at an M&M"
