Substance Use and Its Impact on Athlete Health and Performance Psychiatric Clinics

In fact, any illicit drug is, according to WADA, contrary to the spirit-of-sport since it diminishes the good name and public image sport commands. Although caffeine improves performance, it is not illegal, does not incur health concerns, and fits the play-true requirement. Neither is alcohol nor tobacco/nicotine a major problem under the WADA Code since they also fit the play-true requirement in that they do not for the most part improve sporting performance, remain freely available to adults, and form an integral part of sporting club culture. Yet, studies reveal that athletes binge-drink and use recreational drugs to alleviate the pressure accumulated from demanding seasons of abstinence and stress [33]. The use of analgesics and painkillers also remains unclear especially when under legitimate prescription by medical practitioners. Though there is a range of motivations for engaging in doping (Henning & Dimeo, 2014), a primary one at the elite level is winning.

EFFECTS OF PEDS: STIMULANTS VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Moreover, natural testosterone levels may never recover, making the consequences of doping irreversible. Side effects may also be psychological, with testosterone often being connected to increased aggressiveness because it impacts the brains subcortical structures in the amygdala and the hypothalamus. As with any anabolic steroid use, withdrawal from testosterone use may lead to depression, and even suicide.

• This was my opportunity, everybody else was doing it, so I kind of had to just join the club and not think so much about it.
• Use of hallucinogens can produce different signs and symptoms, depending on the drug.
• Although many athletes train year-round, they have defined periods when their athletic performance is more salient and relevant.
• Furthermore, athletes (or athletic programs) taking explicit measures to evade detection exacerbate the ethical violation with overt deception and cheating.
• Former Olympic 1500m champion Lord Coe was named the new president of the IAAF on Wednesday and says he is determined to prove athletics’ world governing body is committed to ridding the sport of drug cheats.

Risk factors

All in all, at least 9,000 athletes were given performance-enhancing drugs. Following German reunification in 1990, some perpetrators of the doping scheme were tried and found guilty. However, this didn’t erase the price paid by athletes, many of whom had been left with lifelong health problems, including heart disease, infertility and cancer. But, does it matter that athletes underplay the significance of health or morality as long as they remain ‘list’ compliant? Yes, it does matter, because punitively driven deterrence does not work, especially when the motivation for substance use comes from the pursuit of superior performance.

The science behind gene doping

At low doses, stimulants can lead to increased perspiration, shaking, inability to focus, and sleep loss, as well as low appetite and dehydration. In higher doses, stimulants can also lead to more severe health effects, such as rapid heart rate and high blood pressure. In combination with exercise, stimulants can take a normal heart beating like this, to a heart that’s beating dangerously fast. Abuse of some stimulants has been shown to age the cardiovascular system more aggressively than smoking.

“Secret data revealing the extraordinary extent of cheating by athletes at the world’s most prestigious events can be disclosed for the first time today [Aug. 2, 2015], after the biggest leak of blood-test data in sporting history… Note that individual growth factors are still prohibited when given separately as purified substances as described drug use in sports in S.2.5. The substances discussed in this issue probably all have a legitimate role in treating pain in various medical conditions. Even the cannabinoids can be justified in those dealing with terminal, painful conditions. However, the role that they best play in sports medicine is unclear and fraught with difficult ethical questions.

Even for the astute family physician, it can be difficult to identify patients who are using performance-enhancing drugs. Though there is a notion that a relatively large percentage of athletes use anabolic steroids, studies have shown it to be rare, and under 6% of professional athletes. However, information from an Iranian study showed an interesting difference with a value of 36.2% among athletes. The anxiolytic effect of beta-blockers is what makes them abused as PEDs.

Cyclist Lance Armstrong is stripped of his Tour de France titles

Opponents claim that with doping legal, all competitive athletes would be compelled to use drugs, and the net effect would be a level playing field but with widespread health consequences. A common rebuttal to this argument asserts that anti-doping efforts have been largely ineffective due to both testing limitations and lack of enforcement, and so sanctioned steroid use would not be markedly different from the situation already in existence. In countries where the use of these drugs is controlled, there is often a black market trade of smuggled or counterfeit drugs. In countries where anabolic steroids are strictly regulated, some have called for regulatory relief.

Marijuana, hashish and other cannabis-containing substances

Environmental interventions to refer to a broad class of interventions designed to impact behavior by changing the external environment in such a way as to inhibit alcohol and drug use. The interventions addressed thus far in this chapter are individual interventions, in that they are designed to change thoughts, behaviors, and emotions of specific individuals who receive the intervention. In contrast, environmental interventions are not necessarily targeted to specific individuals but are designed to create a context that disincentivizes alcohol and drug use among all of those in the environment.

• It can mean increased heart rate and blood flow and elevated body temperature.
• I didn’t really think about it too much, I just knew he was a well-respected doctor that worked with big champions over the years and that I should listen to him.
• Examples include human growth hormone (hGH), erythropoietin (EPO), insulin, human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG), and adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH).
• Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices.
• If an athlete is not competing with someone else, they are competing with who they were yesterday, striving to do better, to be better.
• Both Major League Baseball and the National Football League have seen significant controversy in recent years related to players’ drug use in sports.

A month or two later I was introduced to my first injection of a drug called EPO, which basically boosts your hematocrit, which brings red blood cells to your muscles. And I remember the first time I ever did it, the blood was pulled out in Spain, outside of Valencia, Spain, and it was put back into me three weeks later in the middle of the Tour de France. My life went from being a wide-eyed, green bike racer from Marblehead, Massachusetts to a few years later in a little bit of a dark world, very secretive, two different faces.

• It might also be ambitious to expect elite athletes to eliminate their use of drugs when society as a whole relies on drugs to help its members cope with the pressures and tensions of daily living and to help them feel psychologically and physically better.
• There are two different types of controls that can be conducted in competition or in training.
• The pressure that comes with being a competitive athlete with a team, fans, and family behind them can be intense, and in many cases, can prompt the abuse of alcohol or drugs in sport.
• Family physicians should continue to be alert to signs of use of traditional performance-enhancing drugs, such as anabolic-androgenic steroids and stimulants, and also be aware of the emergence and accessibility of novel doping agents.
• Some drugs, such as opioid painkillers, have a higher risk and cause addiction more quickly than others.