Crossing the Line: Athletes Risk Their Health When Using Performance-Enhancing Drugs

Athletes want to win—sometimes taking extreme measures to push through the pain and perform at their best. But when has an athlete gone too far? When it gives the athlete an unfair advantage—and threatens his or her health. Painless Play Abusing drugs to overcome pain or inflate athletic abilities is definitely an unfair advantage. This doesn’t include the appropriate use of doctor-prescribed treatments, such as cortisone injections or prescription opioid pain medications. However, using prescription pain medication in a way other than prescribed is not only unfair, it’s dangerous. Besides causing confusion, nausea, and breathing problems, abuse of opioids can lead to addiction and overdose. Even abusing cortisone—which doesn’t have the same medical risks as abusing opioids—can damage your joints. Endless Endurance Endurance is the ability to play or compete for a long time without needing a break. Athletes most often increase their endurance by exercising and training. However, some athletes turn to dishonest ways of increasing endurance such as blood doping, which boosts the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream. Because red blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, a higher concentration in the blood can improve an athlete’s endurance. Many methods of blood doping are illegal, particularly in professional sports. Famous athletes like Lance Armstrong and Alex Rodriguez have been linked to erythropoietin (EPO)—one method for blood dopin...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - Category: Addiction Authors: Source Type: blogs