Drugs that decrease performance??? (not doping related)

Hi everyone,

I have a question about drugs that may have the side-effects of decreased performance.

A couple years I ago I did triathlons and road running and I started to finish well in local races despite only a year of serious training.
Because of some mental health issues I went on a low dose of Risperdal, 1mg per day (an anti-psychotic) and Celexa, 20mg/day (an anti-depresent), 20mg/day.
I remember after I went on the Risperdal (a few months before the Celexa) all of a sudden I lost something in my hard workouts (while dealing with my mental health issues). Like I couldn't redline it when I wanted to and my body stopped completely responding to hard training.

Over the next couple years I had to constantly tone down my workouts. My running decreased from the point where I was running better than 6 minute miles for distance races to this year where I could barely run an 8 minute mile for anything longer than a mile. My cycling suffered too, I used to be able to take my road bike up to almost 40km an hour (loop course as a triathlete) for 20 minutes and by this year I could barely exceed 30km an hour for anything but a 30s sprint no matter how hard I tried.

Now here's the punchline... I went off of the Risperdal a couple weeks ago and all of a sudden I can run faster (I still run two times a week although I really want to focus on cycling) and cycle faster (I cycle four days a week), I just ran my best 400m and 800m intervals in almost 3 years with zero change in training!!! Same with cycling, I time my climbs and I can climb faster without even trying than I could just 2 weeks ago.

Does anyone else know of this sort of phenomenon? Maybe there are some people with medical experience that might know? I tried to do a literature search and couldn't find very much. It was suggested once in an article on Graehm Obree that his treatment for manic depression killed his cycling. And Risperdal is some horribly funky stuff!!!

I know that blood thinning medication will cause a decrease in performance. Also, drinking and smoking can be considered drugs that would inhibit maximum performance.

I would think any of the anti-psychotic drugs, old or modern, are pretty catabolic. Not sure about anti-depressants, although the selective seretonin uptake drugs allow people to lead normal lives, while the MAOI drugs pretty much made almost anything beyond sitting up a struggle.

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Well if they were pretty catabolic that reflects my own experience although that sort of thing isn't listed in the side effects. My performance deteriorated like I was not training at all and even long easy rides with no pressure on the pedals or long walks took a long time to recover from.
I think I have heard of elite athletes on SSRIs as they are not banned? Anyone else heard this?

Right now my only goal is to get to the point where I can start participating in hard group rides.

Haven't heard of any elite athletes use SSRIs, but they're not on the current banned list.

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Risperdal can cause weight gain as was mentioned previously. For performance I think the main problem would be the cognitive and neuromuscular slowing that results. There is a curve of activation (anxiety) versus performance. With increasing activation performance is improved to a point. Beyond this point increasing activation with be a detriment to performance. With Risperdal your level of activation may be at the lower end of the curve resulting in diminished performance. This would all be related to your ability to overcome central fatigue. Also if Risperdal is being used as a mood stabilizer then the lack of periods of mania or hypomania would make you feel like you are training at a lower level. This is what Graham Obree described in his books/articles. This is also why it is difficult for patients to take mood stabilizers (esp athletes and artists) since they miss the high energy and productivity they have during manic episodes.

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"if at first you don't succeed, redefine success"

This makes sense. A few days after I had to start on it I couldn't push myself in workouts anymore. Like I could cruise OK but when I really wanted to redline it there was no way to do it.
I continue to make dramatic improvements in cycling. Whereas a few weeks ago I could barely take my bike up to 30km/h I can now dig deep and sprint up to 45km/h (same course, nearly windless conditions). My body is starting to feel like my body of old.