WADA has posted the 2010 Banned substances and methods updates, and USADA comments on it here.

Interesting to note: Psuedoephedrine (Sudafed) has been placed back on the banned substances list. I had not heard that this was coming. Given that it is one of the very few effective nasal decongestants (and has minimal, if any, performance enhancing characteristics), it makes me glad that I won't be racing next year.

Huh?

Did you mean that the way that it reads?

Dave.

Yeah, I use Sudafed for congestion. It's the only one that works and leaves me awake.



So, to be clear (since you were not clear in exactly how you interpreted this):

I am not racing next year.

One reason that I am glad I am not racing next year because this is one more thing that I would have to worry about - a product that I take that makes my life somewhat more bearable during allergy season that I would have to avoid taking during a competition. The fact that it (at best) enhances performance barely even measurably just makes it sillier. What's next - caffeine? Uh...

Why, were you inferring something else?

How long does it take Sudafed/Psuedoephedrine to exit the body? Is there a concentration threshold? I agree with you Steve, that Sudafed is the only effective nasal decongestant on the market. It makes allergy season bearable. And the fatigue I get from seasonal allergies greatly out paces any performance benefit from the Sudafed. I wonder what caused them to tighten back on its use again.

Also, it's interesting to note that albuterol doesn't require a TUE unless taken in an oral preparation. I guess the way they would distinguish that is the concentration? Wasn't this the issue that got Petacchi in trouble a few years ago?

'Course, none of this matters for me personally, because I'm not racing bikes this year or next.

Just being an English teacher and pointing out that what you said may not have been what you meant.

Alternately, I could likely say the same thing as a joke, even if I never raced with sudafed.

There are many that do, of course - and some that do so on purpose. Or, many that take ephedrine and caffeine or substitute sudafed for ephedrine and hope for the same, well documented, boost.

Remember, I come from a country that not only has had a popular athlete stripped of a medal for sudafed, but is the same country that offers the well documented sudafed/ephedrine and caffeine effectivity test from its military forces.

It works. It is legal. Many people use it - or at least that is what the discarded wrappers down the cycling course would suggest.

Maybe they should revisit caffeine. Eight cups of coffee equivalent is a bit extreme even for a hardened hyper-caffeinated type.

Dave.

It amazes me that rumor and opinion conflates to "well-documented." Wikipedia can't even cite a study to show the "well documented" effects of heightened mental acuity that is claimed to be brought on by pseudoephedrine. WADA in it's declaration adding it back on the banned substances list can only state that "(f)urthermore, the available literature demonstrates scientific proof of its performance enhancing effects at certain doses," without citing a single study. It seems that the major and overarching reason is, just as you allude to, that people are using it. And so because it is being used, back on the list it goes. Never mind the thousands that use it properly.

I suppose that if one supports this logic then one needs to start spanking all of one's children when one of them runs afoul of the established familial rules.

Thanks WADA! Another fine, fine victory in the anti-doping fight. Meanwhile, you can't catch people using the real serious stuff. Good Job!

for some of us eight cups in the morning is a medical necessity. i can't leave the house without it.

Apparently not everyone has allergies -


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/...2/nhlstory.html


Hello?

Sorry, but I guess we disagree on well documented,

The two C+E trial (Caffeine and Ephedrine) run times were similar and both were significantly faster (p < 0.05) than control and all placebo trials. HR during the (test) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) for the C+E trials compared with the other trials. WT performance was not impaired by C+E ingestion 24 h earlier. In conclusion, performance of the (test) was improved by ingestion of C+E.

Yes, yet other papers will cite tests with pseudoephedrine as well and the conversion ratio between P and E.

According to various studies, it appears to work. Also, according to various studies, pseudo- can be substituted with ephedrine for the same effects. Yet further studies cite that the C+E (or C+P) appears to have individual response rates - some people are more responsive. Yet even further studies indicated that Caffeine may be the bigger factor, and some have suggested a catalytic effect on the caffeine boost.

Yes, it is well documented.

Dave.

As a long-time sinusitis sufferer who has had headaches so severe as to cause debilitating nausea and light sensitivity (to the point that they were originally diagnosed as migraines) I have long relied on pseudoephedrine as the ONLY real source of relief. I have also long appreciated the adverse effect it has on me as a stimulant.

Anxiety, elevated pulse and blood pressure, flushed skin, sleeplessness, and shallow respiration are just a few of the effects I can experience with pseudo. In hay-fever season or when the Santa Ana winds blow here in Southern California I pray I don't feel an onset of a headache because I know I can't ride when I take the pseudo. I'm afraid of just how high it might push my pulse and BP under effort (and that's during training). There's no way I could take the stuff prior to a race, banned list or not.

Plus, the fact they can make crystal meth out of the stuff has to tell you something. From a wholly unscientific standpoint, if I need to show ID and register just to buy Sudafed at Walmart, I'm not surprised it's on the list.

PS, the junk they substituted into the over-the-counter versions of most products, phenylephrine (neo-synephrine) is crap. I'll ask for the stuff behind the counter every time. By the way, I knew you could get the old version of Sudafed behind the counter, but just found out you can also still get the old versions of Nyquil and Tylenol Sinus with the pseudo as well.

Well yeah I’ve know about the real stuff behind the counter for a while. I buy cases of that stuff! I have a bunch of fake I.D. cards so I can get enough to cook the real stuff! "DPF BLAZE BOYS at it again"

LMAO

Just wanted to make sure everyone knows I was jokeing around in the statement above!

You've hit on the exact problem with using it (along with caffine - by itself there's not much evidence of performance enhancement) as a PED. Too much doesn't work, because while it may raise your HR for a given intensity level, it does not raise your max HR, so you tap out earlier on maximal efforts.

Ok, I will buy that.

What if, however, it pushes up your aerobic/anaerobic threshold instead of your max HR?

Dave.

It's certainly possible. It's also possible that since pseudoephedrine is a decongestant, that taking a lot of it will dehydrate you, and reduce stroke volume of the heart (which lands you back in the same place VO2-wise), which would be one reason why your heart rate would elevate when you take a lot of it.

I actually have a lot of material on my other computer on this. I don't like to post this stuff, because it is directionally enabling for prospective dabblers. But, now would be the time to post it.

I will see if I can get access to it in the near future.

Dave.