Warren, EPO is a naturally occurring hormone that all but a few very rare and short lived people
have in their bodies. The body has a very high tolerance for this stuff for several reasons. But
the important thing is that it has been used in megadoses for very ill cancer patients and athletes
have been using it in very high doses as well. There are certain families that are missing a gene
that controls the body's production of EPO and so we know that there is a very high tolerance to
the stuff.
There can be no allergic effect to hEPO or else you'd already have died. Therefore the only way to
kill yourself with EPO is to use so much of it that your blood thickens up like syrup and your
heart, being enlarged and with a deep slow stroke from athletic training, slows to the speed at
which it stalls. This generally occurs in sleep or sometimes when you are doing something like
meditating.
I was relieved when the UCI set a hematocrit limit instead of relying on an EPO blood test. EPO is
voided from the body quite rapidly and the marked rhEPO only is detectable for a couple of days.
However, since the danger sign is excessively high red blood cell count, limiting this to the high
end of the natural hematocrit pretty much eliminates EPO as a health threat to racers. And it also
makes it possible for athletes who wish to stay clean to have the same hematocrit as cheaters just
by high altitude training. 2 birds with one stone.
You can look it up on Medline if you like.
"warren" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:060620030805380324%[email protected]...
> In article <
[email protected]>, Kurgan Gringioni
> <
[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > "warren" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:050620032237535374%[email protected]...
> > > In article <
[email protected]>,
Kurgan
> > > Gringioni <
[email protected]> wrote:
> > >
> > > > "warren" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:050620032102509943%[email protected]...
> > > > > In article <
[email protected]>, Nick Burns <
[email protected]>
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Another rare moment when Tom nails it. EPO is harmless at
levels
> > that
> > > > allow
> > > > > > passing the "health" tests.
> > > > >
> > > > > And you know this how?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > It's not unusual for people to be naturally above 50%.
> > > >
> > > > That's why the UCI can only issue a 2 week health suspension
if someone
> > > > tests higher.
> > >
> > > I know this. I wondered how he knows that "EPO is harmless" even
when
> > > the 'crit level is 50 or less.
> >
> >
> > Here's a good anecdote:
> >
> > A friend of mine is a professional racer and his mother has been
worried
> > about the lure of performance enhancing drugs and what it might do
to his
> > health (she is a nurse).
> >
> > Finally, one day she asked him about it. He told her he was clean
(he is).
> > Then she asked him what the doped up riders were taking. He said
"EPO". She
> > was very relieved. She doesn't think it's a big deal because she
sticks it
> > into patients all the time.
>
> She gives to people who can't make enough red cells already. What
about
> people who can? What does EPO do to their body's normal mechanisms
to
> regulate the blood? Remember the wild swings Pantani had? This
problem
> occurs for creatine and testosterone supplementation and perhaps
EPO.
>
> -WG
