Press Release

NEWS

Schwarzenegger Calls for Steroid Crackdown

Schwarzenegger gets headlines at Fitness Week in Columbus OH (3/5). Arnold fights to remove steroids from the body building sport.

DR. FRED VAGNINI, a cardiovascular surgeon and also an amateur body builder, comments on the steroid controversy in sports.

Dr. Vagnini has seen steroid use in the gym. He tells how athletes misuse steroids and describes the effects of steroids on their bodies.

He explains why athletes can't stop using steroids and how steroids can affect the heart. (He also talks about the good use of steroids in Anti-Aging Medicine.)

Contact 631-323-3523

Dr. Fred Vagnini, Heart Specialist and Body Builder, Comments on the Steroid Controversy

Hold on! There are steroids and there are steroids. The public should not be confused by the current steroid controversy in sports. Steroids are hormones. Steroids are our friends. The body produces them, and they also may be manufactured synthetically. Often in the treatment of disease symptoms, steroids are an important therapy. Like many therapies involving drugs, steroids must be prescribed and administered under the direction of a physician, because they are "class three controlled substances" regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Every physician and certain other professionals must be licensed to administer drugs -- including steroids.

Bad Steroids
When these restrictions are circumvented and steroids are obtained and used improperly, problems arise -- not only violations of law, but also serious health risks. Body builders and other athletes, baseball players, for example, have discovered that certain steroids will build muscle, improve mental acuity, and enhance their performance overall. They inject or take steroids orally indiscriminately, without professional medical counsel. Testosterone, for example, the hormone associated with male characteristics tends to produces body mass and taken in excess (common among athletes) it produces excessive results: visible changes in muscle and bodily strength. There are a number of other steroids like testosterone that do the same, all artificially manufactured, and all illegal.

Serious Health Risk
While steroids are not in themselves addictive, they are so effective in enhancing athletic prowess and performance that once used the athletes are reluctant to give them up. And they use then in excess. Athletes are known to use super human doses of testosterone, doing six or seven injections a day. As they continue to use steroids indiscriminately (and illegally) they incur grave risk to their health. The excess is never cleansed from the body thereby damaging the liver. Adrenalin triggered by steroids causes the heart to be overworked, leading to an enlarged heart and hypertension. These are life-threatening conditions. In addition, the long-term bodily effects of undirected steroid use are unknown.

Steroids for Good Health
There are appropriate and beneficial uses of steroids. The metabolic syndrome, regarded as a minor epidemic by U.S. health authorities (waistline obesity, high blood pressure, glucose abnormalities, high triglycerides) is sometime also characterized by low levels of testosterone in men. Regulated dosages will bring testosterone to a normal level in metabolic syndrome patients and improve their clinical status and insulin sensitivity. Cortisone analog steroids are also administered in therapies for asthma, dermatitis, severe arthritis, and autoimmune disorders. As the human body ages, its hormone production wanes. The mainstay of anti-aging medicine is the discrete application of various hormones, including human growth hormone, DHEA, and testosterone. There is no question that steroids are effective and offer some marvelous benefits in the treatment of human ailments. Always, of course, used under the direction of a physician. Never used indiscriminately or when it's against the rules of the game.

Interview Dr. Vagnini - (cell) 516-369-2040