Swimmer with alopecia

Hi there,

There is a swimmer in my club who has severe alopecia. The last year he has been swimming incredibly fast and it seems almost unnatural. He trains just 4 hours a week and is the champion in multiple swims in the county.
While I feel very sorry for the guy, a few members of my club and I suspect he has been taking steroids in his medication. I have looked up a little and i find some similarities between him and other people taking steroids to treat alopecia. The guy has not got a swimmers physique at all! His belly is larger than his chest.
In terms of the swimming authority, he would be banned if he has been taking steroids in his medication as he is trumping other swimmers in the county who are training around 16 hours a week! It is very unfair and other guys his age in the club are getting very demoralised as they work as hard and train an hour more per week!

Could anyone please enlighten me as to whether the medication he is taking could contain steroids which would heighten his performance?

Thank you in advance,

Richard

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Permalink Reply by Jen on October 2, 2010 at 7:56am
The short answer is, no. Corticosteroids are prescribed mainly as an anti-infammatory medication, unlike anabolic steroids, corticosteroids target immunological responses to the body (such as infaming of joints, skin, etc).

There's nothing to worry about. Topical use of corticosteroids won't affect anyone's performance.

Though, it wouldn't hurt to ask your alopecian club member if he is using medication for his alopecia. The worst he can say that it's not your business.

If you want to read further into Anabolic vs. Corticosteroids, this About.com article is useful: http://arthritis.about.com/od/steroids/f/anabolicsteroid.htm

And this International Doping Code Prohibited Subtances List: http://www.wada-ama.org/Documents/World_Anti-Doping_Program/WADP-Pr...

Hope this clears anything up for you.
Permalink Reply by J.B. on October 2, 2010 at 9:47am
Also I might add, that in many cases, for lower level competition, if there is a medical reason, which alopecia would be, that alone justifies the use, regardless if its banned status.
Permalink Reply by Dominique Cleopatra on October 2, 2010 at 7:57pm
Probably just the lack of hair, that makes him glide through the water with preternatural speed, that and his Superimmune System. Us alopecians have powers you "Hairheads" could never even fathom, so don't you worry your furry little head about it.

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