og15 wrote:LuisArMo73 wrote:og15 wrote:We should differ between diagnosing someone as in giving them actual medical advice vs talking about what a person who is already in the care of competent medical professionals might have.
The first one you want to avoid so that you're not putting people in danger by having them try to treat something they may or may not have, etc, or thinking something is mild when it is not. The later is not directing anyone in medical care.
Where are you guys getting this from? Bells palsy won't get worse because you're playing basketball. Now, it can certainly affect his play in terms of getting dry eyes and blurry vision, but no, not exactly lol
Bell's Palsy is treated with steroids (prednisone or prednisolone typically), at least in Spain where I work. As far as I know steroids are banned for use during competition in most professional sports (the offseason is another matter), so yes, in theory he shouldn't be playing. Now, I don't know if in the NBA they are or if they have used an alternative treatment, but both of those options should also open room for debate (the first one as steroids have proven to enhance physical performance so they shouldn't be allowed during competition and the second one because then he's likely being undertreated according to medical evidence since most guidelines recommend steroids).
I'm honestly baffled that this isn't more talked about, even by other doctors since they don't specify the treatment he's reciving and the first thing that comes across the mind of almost every doctor in my country when thinking about it is steroids.
Good point, love it. I can't factually answer any of those questions as I'm not on the inside of any of this. I can give you my guess.
I do believe that the NBA like other sports competition organizations have medical exemptions for use of corticosteroids. Steroids are used in treatment of asthma too for example, as well as some autoimmune diseases, so I'm pretty sure there's exemptions made for health vs a player just taking something for a performance boost.
If other sports organizations do it, it would be odd that the NBA would be like sorry guy with IBS, allergies or asthma, you can't play.
While players medical records are made available based on sports related injuries, the doctors aren't supposed to publicly tell everyone about everything players are being treated with. They would report to the NBA and ask for exemptions as needed though.
Yeah, I cannot give a definitive answer either, since I don't know the inner working of the NBA, that's why I would love if someone who knew about it could clarify a little about it. Obviously, the doctors who gave him treatment won't tell (they could be sued), what I wonder is why I haven't seen anybody outside questioning it.
Thing with steroids is, it depends on the route of administration since only systemic steroids have a physical enhancing benefit. So pathologies like asthma, treated with inhaled steroids, which don't reach the blood or do so in very little amounts, are allowed. Also, the prohibition is only during competition, that's why many injured athletes get cortisone shots and it's not a deal. The WADA actually has a list with every drug prohibited and details like this. You can check it out here:
https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/2024list_en_final_22_september_2023.pdfIn cases with pathologies like allergies or IBS that need systemic steroids what usually happens is that if the flare is severe enough that they need steroids, they probably cannot play at that moment, and since corticosteroids have a very short clearance time (like 3 days) by the time they are ready to play they should be outside the prohibition window.
Problem I see with Embiid's case is that standard treatment is high dose of prednisone (we are talking 5-10 times usual dose for a pathology like rheumatoid arthritis) during at least a week if not more. So if he's taking it, it's for sure enhancing his physical performance, assuming he started after the play-in game, for at least 3 games.
Now, I agree with you that the NBA is most likely aware and there's some kind of exemption being issued, (specially since nobody seems to be reacting to the possibility), what I'm not sure is if it's something that should be allowed considering the benefit likely outweighs the cons in sports in this particular case (enhanced performance, which by the way probably improves his knee condition, with a trade-off that consists of drooling, tearing, reduced feeling sensation and pain in half your face at worst). If it was the Olympics I would say he most likely wouldn't be able to play right now and would have to wait for treatment to end.
PS: his behavior last game could also be explained by high dose corticosteroids, since one of its side effectes consists on higher irritability and mania/hypomania, both of which might have to do with his reckless play.
