Opioid Use in Athletes: A Systematic Review PMC

Some of the world’s most famous athletes have spoken openly about their own battle with addiction and mental health problems, including Michael Phelps, Lamar Odom, and Andre Agassi. Yet steroids are only part of the picture when it comes to medications banned by the 10C. Over-the-counter (OTC) medications can also affect athletic preformance, and many of them, including analgesics, antithistamines, https://ecosoberhouse.com/ and decongestants are on the IOC’s list of banned substance. Many banned drugs are very safe when prescribed by a doctor for a specific health reason. However, these medicines are not approved for use by healthy people, in higher doses or in combination with other substances. It’s common for athletes who exercise for long amounts of time to use a lab-made type of erythropoietin called epoetin.

Risk and enabling environments

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. And continued stress on the heart can eventually lead to cardiac arrhythmia, stroke, and heart attack. Our culture expects athletes to display mental toughness at all times, and we often view struggles with substance abuse in athletes as antithetical to that expectation. Even though science has made it clear that addiction is a chronic disease of the brain, many people still believe it is a symptom of personal failure or lack of character — especially in the sports world. The use of prescription opioids for more than a few weeks leads to tolerance and potential addiction.

Materials and methods

Doping with erythropoietin may raise the risk of serious health problems. Learn more about the effects that performance-enhancing drugs can have on health. It is important for athletes who use drugs in sports to seek help as soon as possible, as a drug test for athletes is a regular occurrence, and one random test could severely affect their reputation.

Results of Individual Studies

• Androgens include exogenous testosterone, synthetic androgens (eg, danazol, nandrolone, stanozolol), androgen precursors (eg, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone), selective androgen receptor modulators, and other forms of androgen stimulation.
• However, the role that they best play in sports medicine is unclear and fraught with difficult ethical questions.

Red blood cells are responsible for carrying oxygen throughout the body. Muscles, in particular, use oxygen to generate the energy needed for motion. Therefore, the more red blood cells that you have, the greater the oxygen capacity, and the greater the supply of oxygen available for drug use in sports muscles to generate energy without “burning out” during extreme physical activity. Below is a selection of studies on a range of issues related to performance-enhancing drugs. It has sections on their potential economic impacts, prevalence, health effects and athletes’ attitudes.

Patterns of Steroid Use

• Anxiety disorders may be the most common psychiatric issue among athletes.
• The current conversation around the practice can be traced back to the revelation of steroid use in MLB players back in the late 90s to early 2000s.
• When it comes to drugs and athletes, our favorite players are no exception.

Any player testing positive for a drug of abuse or found to possess such a drug must submit to an initial evaluation by medical personnel, who then determine whether or not a treatment program is necessary. The treatment program is agreed upon by medical personnel and the player, who can complete treatment as either an inpatient or an outpatient. Players who refuse to comply with the treatment program or who test positive for drugs of abuse after their evaluation and commitment to the treatment board may find themselves suspended or subject to other discipline. The leagues tend to treat marijuana as a recreational drug; athletes, however, have cited it as a substance that helps with recovery and pain management. With the athletes’ perspectives in mind, marijuana is grouped with amphetamines, anabolic agents, and other PEDs in the graphic below.

• This study found that the structure of employment and working conditions could be addressed in ways to reduce risk as a preventative measure against doping.
• Other countries followed suit, but international cooperation in anti-doping affairs was long restricted to the Council of Europe.
• Indeed, doping can be understood as a contextually specific substance use practice.
• Here is how the top three mental health conditions can influence addiction in athletes.

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• Systematic doping involves centrally organising doping for a group of athletes.
• These latter models offer specific recommendations for how sports policy may adapt to allow for harm reduction.
• Table 2 illustrates some ways organized doping groups may seek to change environmental factors to enable doping.
• Although all three athletes were suspected of steroid use for years, they were technically suspended only for manipulating the required urine samples during [unreadable] random drug test.
• Heroin today is commonly adulterated with extremely potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl that greatly increase the likelihood of overdose.
• Males who participated in organized sports were more likely to be prescribed an opioid in past year, had higher odds of misusing and great chance of using to get high compared to non-athletic males but less risk of heroin use [23,24,25].

Despite their love for sports, even professional players have their reasons for using drugs. When the topic of performance-enhancing drugs arises, it’s likely that you think of drugs that promote strength and muscularity, including anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. While far from aligning with hegemonic ideals of sport and anti-doping, systematic doping has provided a way of protecting athletes from the risks and harms produced by anti-doping within the sports environment. These efforts exist in tension with anti-doping, forming a responsive relationship between the two groups.

How is the amount of oxygen you receive connected to your energy output?

The connection between athletes and drug abuse can also be attributed to poor mental health. Many athletes suffer from mental illnesses like depression or anxiety that are often sparked by immense pressure from the public and coaches and personal struggles. With all eyes on them, it’s not uncommon for athletes to struggle with their mental health. They may turn to drugs or alcohol in an attempt to numb their symptoms. When someone finds themselves in this situation, dual diagnosis treatment at our Chicago rehabs may be able to help. Researchers are finding that some individuals may be at greater risk of developing an addiction to drugs compared to their teammates.

Signs of an Emerging Addiction in an Athlete