PEDs: Is It OK Outside of Sports? Part 2

There once was a time when I believed in Santa Claus.  And the Easter Bunny.  And even the Tooth Fairy.  Hell, I even believed in Lance Armstrong, that he'd won 7 Tour de France titles against all odds despite metastatic testicular cancer, all by shear dint of hard work w/o any chemical assistance.  But now that more athletes are getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar, Lance included, I guess it's time for me to return to reality.

Well, a friend pointed out an article posted in Grantland prior to the Super Bowl in which the author looked at the epidemic of performance enhancing drug use in professional sports.  While no one has direct proof per se, he points out some fairly damning circumstantial evidence supporting the idea that many players who are enjoying some of their best years late in their career after returning from a devastating injury much more quickly than would otherwise be expected might be doing so owing to better living through chemistry.

My thought process is why hide this brightly shining light under a bushel?  After all, if it's going to enhance physical performance, why not make it accessible to you & me?  In fact, as I noted in a post last month, there's no prohibition against use of testosterone & other PEDs in white & blue collar jobs, assuming you need it.

But rather than sneak around and order PEDs sight unseen from some shifty online off-shore pharmacy (sorry, I don't mean to lump everyone together but you know that saying about a rotten apple spoiling the barrel), go see your family doc & talk about your concerns (take the Androgen Deficiency Assessment screening test here).  Get your drugs filled at your local pharmacy (or a legitimate online one) and your labs drawn by your local lab.  There's no reason why your doc should be selling you a prescription drug or profiting off your labs.  Make your care transparent: pay for your doc's skills, not for your medications & tests.  Most important, get medical oversight: using PEDs is not a DIY project.

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