02-05-2006, 05:30 PM
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#4 (permalink)
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| My name is EARL
Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: On my bloody bike doing cardio
Posts: 3,475
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It is generally recommended and encouraged that any person undertaking activities that can be deleterious to their health, especially recreational drug use, should mention this to their GP. Unfortunately the majority of AAS users do not volunteer this information and this is documented in a recent study conducted by Harvard Medical School. Click here to read Anabolic steroid users' attitudes towards physicians.
Many users avoid sharing the complete details of their lifestyle with their GP and from feedback from previous clients this is due to a number of reasons.
During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the medical profession lost a lot of its credibility with anabolic steroid users by stating that there was no evidence as to their supposed efficacy. In fact it was as late as 1996 in a landmark study by Bhasin et al (1) using supraphysiological doses of testosterone that confirmed what users had known for over a half a century. This stance of the medical profession had several consequences.
Firstly, anabolic steroid users, on realising this view, would be deterred from attending the general practitioner for fear of a dismissive response to the requests or not having their concerns heard.
Secondly, the majority of doctors have little practical knowledge of Anabolic Steroids. The few indications where Anabolic Steroids were used in Medicine thirty or fourty years ago such as in treating osteoporosis in postmenopausal women or aplastic anaemia, have been superceded by better treatments. Apart from testosterone replacement therapy in hypogonadism, these medications are not prescribed in routine clinical practice and combined with the prevailing stance of the time has resulted in a generation of medics not being taught about these drugs in any depth as undergraduates and divorcing themselves from users in their clinical careers.
Finally and most importantly, clients have issues with confidentiality as anything related to drug abuse written down in their clinical notes may potentially cause them problems later on in life if their medical records are requested for life and health insurance purposes, new employment applications or even as note of contention in legal proceedings. Eventhough medical records with your doctor are confidential to some extent, when applying for the above, the application form will usually stipulate for you to give consent for the organisation to contact your doctor to have access to your medical records. Of course you have the right to refuse them access to your medical records but then your application may be refused, a no win situation.
This situation has become both inconvenient and also less than ideal for the individual.
At TheDoctor Ltd this is changing...
putting YOU in charge of YOUR health.
This service is provided as a harm minimisation strategy to those individuals who insist on using these drugs despite the potential risks involved.
Advantages of TheDoctor Ltd include: Complete privacy and confidentiality. There are no waiting lists and you can order which tests you want when you want. We have a fast turnover time with results being available the very next day after we receive your blood samples. You will also get a copy of your results for your own records and a fully personalised report explaining the findings. Patient education is a very important part of our philosophy. References:
1. Bhasin, S, et al. The effect of supraphysiological doses of testosterone on muscle size and strength in normal men. N Engl J Med (1996) Jul 4; 335(1):1-7.
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