OT: Ryan Braun

[El Gordo]

I would quess/assume that the team a a "team dentist" and that dentist has a list of what can be taken with and without paperwork.

I doubt it. But even so I don't think they compell me to use their in house dentisrt. I find it ironic that a trainer can give me a shot of cortisone for tendenitis, but my doctor can't for a bad case of poison ivy.

[Can_of_corn]

4.4% of the American adult population (18-44) suffer from some symptoms of ADHD.

7.86% of MLB players claim symptoms and are allowed medications to combat it.

http://www.help4adhd.org/about/statistics

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3822193

You give the players a work around they will use it. If they fail a drug test they will be able to find a Doctor that will write them a script for it, even if they have to backdate it.

[Stotle]

With PED yes, with precription medication which can't be used as a PED no. My diazide is for blood presser. I wouldn't know if it triggers a positive. b.t if it did so what? And the last time I went for a route canal I got ibuprofen. But another time I got percodan. The Dentist gave me a couple to take right away for the pain, and a prescription for later. I am supposed to wait until I can get a waiver from the team? And if the next day I happen to test positive for a banned substance, I am out 25 games because I went to the dentist? Overkill.

I couldn't disagree more. Allowing players to provide a doctor's note to explain traces of banned substances found in tests would completely gut any utility of the test in the first place.

In your example, you would tell your team that you're going in for a route canal and the doctor is prescribing X. If there is an issue, you will be notified.

If it is an emergency route canal with no time to call anyone or start the process, you would not wait to take your medication. You'd do what you need to then go to your team and explain when you are able. They would notify the league, and if there was an issue you would be asked to switch your meds to something that isn't a problem.

The league isn't looking for reasons to bust players (it's bad for the league's image when players are busted). If everything is harmless, and you follow protocol as you are supposed to, you will not run into any issues. If Braun is telling the truth, he could have saved himself this public headache by suffering a little bit of private humiliation and disclosing to his team that he needed to take herpes medication. If he is lying, he is demonstrating exactly why MLB has this policy in the place. Players shouldn't have the option of "Oops I got caught, not let me figure out a way to explain it."

[Richmond Bird 9]

El Gordo, I am not an insider nor have any baseball connections. However I can't believe a home team does not have local "dentists" and or doctors available if needed (for a visiting team) and its players. I can understand if a home player wants to find his own dentist and or doctor they can.

[El Gordo]

El Gordo, I am not an insider nor have any baseball connections. However I can't believe a home team does not have local "dentists" and or doctors available if needed (for a visiting team) and its players. I can understand if a home player wants to find his own dentist and or doctor they can.

So I am on the road, and the team recommends a dentist. So I call for an appointment and I ask him what pain killers he plans to use.(in most cases I would expect him to say, I can't tell until I've examined you, but in general I use x,y, and z,) Then I consult my list of banned substances and tell him which he can use and which he can't? Did you ever do this with your doctors?

[Stotle]

So I am on the road, and the team recommends a dentist. So I call for an appointment and I ask him what pain killers he plans to use.(in most cases I would expect him to say, I can't tell until I've examined you, but in general I use x,y, and z,) Then I consult my list of banned substances and tell him which he can use and which he can't? Did you ever do this with your doctors?

You are really blowing this out of proportion...it's really not that complicated or onerous, and is there to protect the player from being wrongly pinged for a banned substance.

[Lucky Jim]

The league isn't looking for reasons to bust players (it's bad for the league's image when players are busted). If everything is harmless, and you follow protocol as you are supposed to, you will not run into any issues. If Braun is telling the truth, he could have saved himself this public headache by suffering a little bit of private humiliation and disclosing to his team that he needed to take herpes medication. If he is lying, he is demonstrating exactly why MLB has this policy in the place. Players shouldn't have the option of "Oops I got caught, not let me figure out a way to explain it."

This. I mean, seriously, why are we stretching reason beyond reason to leap to Braun's defense, exactly?

[Mitch Connor]

1 out of 4 women have herpes.

1 out of 4!

Maybe he needs to find another WOMAN?

[crowmst3k!]

Interesting, I was googling to see if Valtrex (herpes medication) has ever been linked to elevated testosterone. If you google valtrex testosterone level, you get lots of Ryan Braun hits. Judging by the comments on articles like this one, it sounds like there have been Braun-herpes rumors for at least over a month.

I did find that Herpes Zoster (shingles, not the same thing as genital herpes) is treated with corticosteroids, which is an MLB banned substance.

I bet it's Herpes Zoster. That makes way more sense than HSV-II, unless a quack doctor is trying to treat HSV-II with corticosteroids, rather than valtrex.

[MrOrange82]

I feel as though I should be reading this thread through the window of a quarantine tent.