Testing Citrus bioflavonoids and hormone balance Blockers can be detected in human urine using Gas Chromatography Tanlets Spectrometry. Anti-Doping Agency — USADA". Endurance Citrus bioflavonoids and hormone balance tableets especially try to use erythropoietin, believing they they can perform longer with more oxygen. Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation. However, steroids cannot improve an athlete's agility or skill. But doping for sports isn't one of the uses the drugs are approved for.

Performance-enhancing tablets -

And it continues to be a problem among athletes. In summer , Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare was kicked out of the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for hGH. Today, athletes get hGH from a variety of sources: doctors willing to write prescriptions for off-label use, online pharmacies, illicit websites for performance-enhancing drugs and clinics that use the hormone to reverse the effects of aging.

A few athletes even turn to black-market dealers that collect hGH from human cadavers. It's a risky gamble, especially considering the lack of scientific evidence to suggest that hGH actually increases athletic performance. Oh, and don't forget the side effects.

Using hGH has been linked to a variety of medical conditions, including joint pain, muscle weakness, fluid retention, carpal tunnel syndrome, cardiomyopathy and hyperlipidemia [source: Mayo Clinic ].

Another performance-enhancing drug that made the Summer Olympic Games memorable for the wrong reason was bromantane, a sort of stimulant and masking agent combined. Several Russians tested positive for the drug, which at the time was not included on the International Olympic Committee's IOC's list of banned substances.

That didn't stop the IOC from disqualifying several Russian athletes, stripping medals from two and ultimately blacklisting bromantane based on its performance-enhancing effects. The effects of bromantane are quite unlike any other PED.

Russian army doctors developed bromantane as a stimulant, something they could give to soldiers and cosmonauts to help them feel more alert and fight fatigue.

Soon after, Russian athletes got hold of the drug, reporting that it helped them perform at peak levels without feeling exhausted. Some anti-doping officials believe bromantane can hide the abuse of more serious drugs, such as steroids. Known as masking, this is just one more way athletes can find a way to cheat.

For example, the masking agent probenecid stops the excretion of steroids for a few hours, decreasing the concentration of steroids in the urine. The exact masking mechanism of bromantane, however, remains unclear. Bromantane gained popularity because it appealed on multiple fronts.

But stimulants by themselves function reasonably well as performance-enhancing substances. Athletes take stimulants to improve athletic performance, reduce fatigue and increase aggressiveness.

And someone trying to qualify for a lower weight class may rely on stimulants for their ability to suppress appetite. You may think first of amphetamines — prescription-only "speed" pills — when you hear of this class of drugs, but not all stimulants require a physician's signature.

Ephedrine, for example, is available behind the counter in drug products, mostly as decongestants. Dietary supplements containing ephedrine are illegal in the U. Athletes, of course, aren't interested in these. They want ephedrine for an extra boost of energy despite the warnings that the drug can cause high blood pressure, dizziness, shortness of breath and cardiac arrhythmia.

Along with bromantane, diuretics have long served to mask steroid use. Diuretics are any drugs that affect kidney function, resulting in increased urine output. The "water pill" chlorthalidone , for example, prevents kidney tubules from reabsorbing fluids and salts and returning them to the blood.

As a result, more water leaves the body. In patients with certain conditions, such as heart disease, diuretics can also help control high blood pressure. But athletes who take anabolic steroids pop diuretics to dilute their urine, which decreases steroid concentration and makes it much more difficult to detect during drug testing.

Of course, there is testing for diuretics, too. Weightlifters and boxers may also down water pills to expel large amounts of fluid, which qualifies them to compete in a lower weight category.

Then, right before the match, they stop taking the pills to return to their heavier fighting weight, giving them an advantage against their opponent. However, an athlete taking diuretics may also get dizzy, become dehydrated or experience a severe drop in blood pressure — symptoms that make it hard to compete.

Sometimes, a drug's effect on athletic performance depends on how it's administered. For example, the well-known asthma drug albuterol works by relaxing the muscles lining the bronchial tubes, allowing more air to flow into the lungs.

Athletes with asthma believe it or not, elite athletes tend to have higher rates of asthma than people in the general population commonly use inhaled albuterol to treat their symptoms, allowing them to compete without shortness of breath [source: Kindermann ]. But what about athletes who don't have asthma?

Could they suck in a few shots of albuterol and increase their lung capacity? According to research published in the journal Sports Medicine, this performance-enhancing effect simply doesn't exist.

The authors found that, in 17 of 19 clinical trials involving non-asthmatic competitive athletes, the performance-enhancing effects of inhaled beta2-agonists could not be proved. All bets are off, however, when an athlete takes albuterol orally or by injection.

When administered in this fashion, albuterol has anabolic properties, which means it can help build muscle like steroids and, according to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, it can also boost sprint and strength performance.

Another orally ingested beta2-agonist known as clenbuterol aka clen packs an even bigger punch than albuterol. Athletes in several sports — cycling, swimming, baseball and soccer — have tested positive for clenbuterol use, although many have claimed that the drug could be traced to contaminated food.

While clenbuterol has historically been given to animals to produce leaner meat, the U. banned its use in meat in and the European Union followed suit in If the acronym sounds familiar, it probably is.

GHB is known as a "date rape" drug because it can quickly render a user so relaxed and euphoric — especially when combined with alcohol — that they are easily taken advantage of.

Even scarier, it can cause amnesia, improving the chances that predators who slip the tasteless chemical into an unsuspecting imbiber's cocktail will get away with their misdeeds. Because of the risks it posed, the Drug Enforcement Administration DEA banned GHB in but then brought it back to the market two years later after it was found to be useful in treating narcolepsy.

Its use has since expanded to include another rare sleeping disorder, but GHB is only prescribed under strict safety controls.

Even before it gained infamy as a date rape drug, GHB was thought to improve exercise performance and muscle mass. There's even some scientific evidence that GHB increases growth hormone concentration.

The drug apparently became popular among bodybuilders looking for alternatives to steroids in the s when the hormones were first being controlled. Mike Fox , who was a personal trainer and good friend to retired New York Mets' player Mike Piazza, shot himself while trying to give up GHB in Bodybuilder Mike Scarcella, who was Mr.

America and Mr. USA, died in August during a GHB withdrawal while hospitalized after a bar fight in Texas. But the alleged performance-enhancing benefits of GHB live on. In , "Full House" actor John Stamos was arrested for driving erratically through Beverly Hills under the influence of GHB.

If your teen admits to using performance-enhancing drugs, encourage him or her to stop immediately. Make an appointment for your teen to see his or her doctor for a check-up and counseling.

In addition, consider informing your teen's coach. Tell your teen that you're disappointed and enforce the consequences that you've established — such as quitting the team. Most importantly, emphasize healthy methods for achieving his or her goals. All rights reserved.

Terms of Use. Most high school, college, amateur and professional athletes participate in sports for the opportunity to pit their abilities against those of their peers, and to experience the satisfaction that comes from playing to their potential.

Others do so to satisfy a desire for recognition and fame. Unfortunately, that creates some atheletes who are determined to win at any cost. And, they may use that determination to justify the use of anabolic steroids, despite evidence that these drugs can inflict irreversible physical harm and have significant side effects.

Anabolic steroids, commonly called "roids," juice, hype or pump, are powerful prescription drugs. They are controlled substances that people abuse in high doses to boost their athletic performance.

Anabolic steroids are not the same as steroid medications, such as prednisone or hydrocortisone, that are legitimately used to treat asthma and inflammation of the skin or other parts of the body.

Anabolic means body building tissue. Anabolic steroids help build muscle tissue and increase body mass by acting like the body's natural male hormone, testosterone. However, steroids cannot improve an athlete's agility or skill. Many factors determine athletic ability, including genetics, body size, age, sex, diet and how hard the athlete trains.

Anabolic steroids are a chemical derivative of testosterone, the "male sex hormone. But, because of their potentially serious side effects, they must be prescribed and used only under close medical supervision. Under both federal and New York State Law, anabolic steroids may only be prescribed by an authorized prescriber after a face-to-face examination of a patient.

The number of athletes who abuse anabolic steroids is unknown. Many athletic associations ban their use, including the National Football League NFL , Major League Baseball MLB , National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA and the Olympics, so few athletes are willing to admit that they use these drugs.

The NFL tests its athletes for illicit use. Players who test positive face suspension and, upon testing positive a second time, are expelled from the League. MLB players are tested once a year, and if they test positive they can be suspended for up to ten days.

If a player tests positive after the first test, they can be suspended without pay for up to one year. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Sports Medicine condemn the use of anabolic steroids for enhancement of sports performance or body building. Believing that anabolic steroids can improve competitiveness and performance, uninformed or misguided athletes, sometimes encouraged by coaches or parents, abuse these drugs to build lean muscle mass, promote aggressiveness, and increase body weight.

This is called "stacking. What they don't know, or choose to ignore, is the damage to the body that abuse of these drugs can cause. Over the counter dietary supplements, such as creatine, should be used with caution.

Manufacturers claim they can build muscles and improve strength without the side effects of steroids. Taken in small doses, nutritional supplements may not be harmful. Before taking any over-the-counter nutritional supplements or adding them to your regimen, talk with your doctor.

Performance-ennancing had another Performance-enhancing tablets sinister meaning. If you Performance-ebhancing prepared, Performance-enhncing meant Weight control exercises were doped. To compete in modern Performnce-enhancing sport, to win gold or Citrus bioflavonoids and hormone balance hold a trophy high as the flag is raised and the national anthem played is the dream of many. But it will come true for only a few. Only the gifted, only the dedicated, only the best will win. Modern sport is plagued by suspicions that many top athletes resort to drug-taking—doping—to enhance their performance, but this is not a new phenomenon.