Liz Randall's Cycling Blog - a life behind bars

"With ordinary talents and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable"



Wednesday 26 March 2008

Ok, so when WILL I be well again?

This is getting very boring. An URTI first, now allergies/hay fever.

I woke up at 3am this morning feeling generally a bit off and with my left eye doing the Mr Magoo act again. Yesterday I'd been sneezing alot and had very itchy eyes..so today..another sick day and another visit to the doctor.

This time it was to a younger doctor who had to be educated into what medication I could or could not take; her first suggestion coming up with a "Forbidden in Sport" warning.
Finally she found an antihistamine I could take and then she wanted me to try Ventolin for the wheezy cough I still have...I couldn't be bothered in going through the whole "I can't take this" bit again but I'm sure others will correct me if I'm wrong as I'm sure I'd have to have a specialist's ok for Ventolin usage plus a lab test showing that I have asthma.

That over, I wandered off to the chemist only to be asked if I had a Senior's card. Dammit. From the highs of worrying about being tested for performance enhancing drugs to the lows of being one of the invisible grey haired wrinklies!!!

I had two options give in to the
sudden homicidal urge that threatened to surface or exercise admirable self control and ignore the insult. I chose the latter...smiled weakly, paid up and left.....

I'm thinking of auditioning for "Grumpy Old Women"

Racing the Masters State Track champs this weekend? I don't think so....

4 comments:

Lisa said...

You don't need to see a specialist to be able to use ventolin, but you do need get the doctor to fill in an
Abbreviated Therapeutic Use Form
http://www.asada.gov.au/substances/exemptions/about.htm#atue
and
http://www.asada.gov.au/substances/exemptions/atue.htm

Once I get going again and before I actually start racing I need to get a couple of these filled in for my asthma drugs

Lawrence said...

Lisa, you need the atue to be completed by an asthma specialist ie need to be tested to verify existence of the condition and what drugs are appropriate to take. This also needs to be done every 12-24 mths depending on WADA/ASADA/CA's current requirements (which change regularly). A regular doc can't do this, according to those requirements.

Lisa said...

Hrmmm weird, when I rang ASADA they didn't say that, they said my GP could do it - Imight have to follow this one up, thanks Lawrence

Lawrence said...

It's likely to be a Cycling Australia requirement. There are ASADA regs and CA requirements to be met. CA overrides ASADA, as it is sport specific (and draws on UCI regs). As I mentioned earlier, the rules change regularly so best to check. It's a confusing area and hard to get concrete advice via the phone (speaking from experience!).