An article from the the Sacramental Bee, by Dr. Michael Wilkes, looks at the use of 'stimulants' and PEDs for physicians.
Doctors have long prescribed pills to help people concentrate, stay awake, go to sleep, remember facts, control their moods and enhance endurance in such tasks as flying and studying.
Now, doctors are also using these drugs – not to correct abnormalities but to enhance their abilities.
Advertisements for Provigil and other drugs promise that they will help doctors stay awake.
The practice of medicine requires long hours, constant learning and a high level of dedication. Physicians work at all hours of the day and night, making life-and-death decisions.
Don't patients benefit if doctors take pills that will help them stay awake during a long overnight shift in the emergency room or provide better concentration to a surgeon doing a 10-hour operation?
Dr. William Cheshire, writing in the journal Virtual Mentor, asserts that the field of medicine has traditionally drawn a line between treatment (to restore or preserve vital functions) and enhancement (to provide abilities that go beyond normal function).
If the practice of medicine has been devoted to treatment, does that preclude doctors from dealing with enhancement? Certainly in some areas, such as plastic surgery, enhancement – not treatment – is the rule.
In some nonmedical fields, enhancement might provide a competitive and selfish advantage – e.g., working longer hours to impress the boss or taking steroids to beat other athletes.
I have spoken with doctors who feel that enhancing pills help protect their patients and society. For example, they ask, what if two patients urgently need surgery? Without a drug to stay awake, the surgeon could perform just one surgery. With medication, he could operate on one patient and then the other.
Wait a minute, though. Do we want doctors operating after they have taken these pills?
I have colleagues who say these pills are no different than a couple of cups of coffee – just a bit stronger. Is that true? What happens when the pills wear off, and what about the side effects?
There is little or no data on how these drugs affect a doctor's performance.
Until we have more data, doctors should not be allowed to take these medicines when on duty.
If doctors are tired, they should sleep. If they can't concentrate, they should explore why. Medicating our physician to work longer, harder and with superhuman concentration is just not in society's interest – at least not without substantial research.
As we say, one of the largest challenges in the new science age of the 21st century comes in determining the ethics behind performance enhancement: how far, how much, how moral. This central question cuts across all ages, professions, and economic groups.
Why are you guys such haters? You hate the medical profession. Sure, if lawyers were using stimulants, it would be OK, but because you are jealous of doctors you try to bring them down.
Posted by: Steroid Nation | 10/19/2008 at 13:22
I rather have a doctor operate on me at their best and if they need to take something to do that then they should be allowed. Provigil is listed as a treatment for shift work sleep disorder i.e.DOCTORS. As a former user (Legal prescription) it's amazing how it allows you to keep your wits about you after staying awake for 24+ hours.
Posted by: Matt Foreman | 10/20/2008 at 16:48
People of all walks of life ahve and will use steroids! It's our choice to be healthy! With physician aided use there are virtually zero side effects. Cigarettes and alchohol are sold over th ecounter for god sakes and steroids are illegal?
Since just a teen I always fantasized about having the perfect physique. First started training hard at 18 I was a skrawny 6'0 tall 150lbs. I tried everything to get big and put on muscle ; creatine , muscle shakes , perfect workout routines and eating up to 8 times a day! Over 2 years of this with minimal results, I put on a measley 5lbs of muscle. I was fed up. When I turned 20 I took this fantasy/obsession to another level. I purchased my first 3 month cycle of steroids. My choice of drugs was Deca Durabolin , Sustanon and dianabol. I ran 300 mg of deca per week, 400 mg of testosterone (sustanon) per week and 20mg of dianabol tabs per day. First couple days in the gym I was a bit skeptical not feeling much. By the 3rd day I started feeling this insane amount of energy and incredibly huge apetite. Was doing chest that day I remember the most insane pump of my life. My chest and arms felt like the grew over an inch in 3 days and I was putting up 4-5 more reps on every exercise. From then on out I was putting on nearly 5lbs a week of lean mass. I would look in the mirror after a workout and coudlnt believe it was me. I was buffed to say the least. At the end of the 3 months I put on about 30lbs of lean muscle 4 inches on my arms and chest. My bench went from 200lbs to well over 325lbs for reps. In my particular case I had zero side efects and kept over 90% of the muscle after getting off the juice. I am now 27 years old and since have done about 1 cycle per year and am healthy as a horse.
I learned everything I ever neede d to know about steroids from www.musclescienece.com . Even got my stuff from them very friendly people that answer even the dumbest questions.
I want to adress some of the moral issues surrounding steroid use and how the media portrays steroids and users. Steroids are not illegal. In fact thousands of people in the US have legal perscirtions for steroids. These prescirptions are not just limited to the sick. You can legitimatley use steroids for muscle growth if you feel your body lacks it. Muscle is a key ingredient being healthy many people just lack a high enough level of testosterone to build this muscle. No one should be deprived of testosterone and being healthy. Moraly you would say it is illegal and that god would not approve. Well what about people who use insulin because they are diabetic or people who take anti depressents for mental issues. Are these drugs immoral? Physician assited use of steroids is not only 100% legal it is 100% safe and side effect free. It is all this bad portrail of steroids in teh media that makes people turn to the black market to get steroids. Now you have all these un educated kids jabing un sterile needles into their butts having no understanding of any steroid protocal; cycle conditioning,dosage, injection procedure, tapering,post cycle recovery the list goes on. Stop detering steroid use, EDUCATE!!! Over 50% of athletes be it highschool, college, amature, pro have used steroids at one time in their life. I was forced to turn to black market teachers. I happen to find good help http://www.musclescienece.com and http://www.anabolicadvance.com/ but I was lucky. take away what you will from this. Just tyring to shed some light on the subject and have people openly talk about it rather the to keep sweeping it under the rug.
Posted by: adam | 10/27/2008 at 14:29
Can the media please stop bashing steroids. You even realize what steroids are, it's medicine! Just like people can legally use viagra to get a hard #$% you should be able to use steroids to gain lean muscle mass. It's our bodies if I want to go pump 2000 of Sustanon , 1000mg of decadrabolin and 100mg of dianabol a day let me! Life is not fair learn to adapt. Funny how much negative attention steroids get. Then you have products like cigarettes killing thousands of people per year. You know how many people died of steroids last year?
None! I have ben using steroids off and on for 10 years never had any side effects , I look amazing 6'0 220lbs 6% bodyfat. If anyone is interested in more information on steroids and good sources check this site out its where I go. http://www.musclescienece.com/
theres also www.anabolicadvance.com www.musclescienece.com
Posted by: adam | 10/29/2008 at 12:04
www.musclescienece.com is a SCAM DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS SITE. BUYER BEWARE!
Posted by: Roadkingeasyrider | 12/09/2008 at 20:59
I rather have a doctor operate on me at their best and if they need to take something to do that then they should be allowed. Provigil is listed as a treatment for shift work sleep disorder i.e.DOCTORS. As a former user (Legal prescription) it's amazing how it allows you to keep your wits about you after staying awake for 24+ hours.
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