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American Morning
House Call: Raiders Banned Robbins From Super Bowl
Aired January 30, 2003 - 07:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Over in Raider Center, Barret Robbins was supposed to be playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday. Instead, he wound up in a California hospital. His absence from the game was a mystery at the time. It now appears to be a case of clinical depression.
And our own medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is making a "House Call" in person to study the case for us this morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning.
ZAHN: It's that bad.
GUPTA: It is.
ZAHN: What happened to him?
GUPTA: Well, you know, he missed all of the teams' meetings on Saturday -- that was the day before the Super Bowl -- and therefore was suspended from the game on Sunday. According to people close to him, the reason was most likely a recurrence of bipolar disease. He has had this in the past, bipolar disease, in his career previously. Of all of the psychiatric disorders, bipolar has the highest lifetime risk of alcohol abuse. Apparently, he did show up with alcohol on his breath for one of the meetings.
People try and self-medicate themselves if they're feeling particularly down. That's why they take the alcohol.
There's also a range of medications to take. It's very treatable, but stopping these medications abruptly will likely cause a relapse, which may have happened to him.
Also, another quick story, Paula. Testosterone, you mentioned this earlier, is in the news. We've spent a lot of time talking about estrogen replacement therapy. But what about testosterone replacement therapy for men?
ZAHN: Yes, what about it?
GUPTA: Yes, well, that's the question that scientists are going to try and answer today in Washington. They're going to decide if a clinical trial should take place.
Testosterone production peaks in adolescents and then declines throughout adulthood, although it never shuts off completely the way estrogen production does in women. Testosterone has never been studied in a large clinical trial, but millions of men take it already, citing that it's a fountain of youth and provides boundless energy. Millions of prescriptions are written for this.
Critics charge that there are risks of taking testosterone, such as increased prostate cancer and strokes, so they're a little bit more cautious about it. That's why they want to do the clinical trial.
ZAHN: So, how long will it be before men know what the real answer is?
GUPTA: It will be years.
ZAHN: You're going to live in the margin for a while.
GUPTA: And then there probably will be studies after those studies come out, saying we're not so sure about the first studies again. We've been...
ZAHN: Those studies are so unsatisfying, Sanjay.
GUPTA: They can be, they can be.
ZAHN: Thanks.
GUPTA: Yes.
ZAHN: See you a little bit later on this morning.
GUPTA: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 30, 2003 - 07:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Over in Raider Center, Barret Robbins was supposed to be playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday. Instead, he wound up in a California hospital. His absence from the game was a mystery at the time. It now appears to be a case of clinical depression.
And our own medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is making a "House Call" in person to study the case for us this morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning.
ZAHN: It's that bad.
GUPTA: It is.
ZAHN: What happened to him?
GUPTA: Well, you know, he missed all of the teams' meetings on Saturday -- that was the day before the Super Bowl -- and therefore was suspended from the game on Sunday. According to people close to him, the reason was most likely a recurrence of bipolar disease. He has had this in the past, bipolar disease, in his career previously. Of all of the psychiatric disorders, bipolar has the highest lifetime risk of alcohol abuse. Apparently, he did show up with alcohol on his breath for one of the meetings.
People try and self-medicate themselves if they're feeling particularly down. That's why they take the alcohol.
There's also a range of medications to take. It's very treatable, but stopping these medications abruptly will likely cause a relapse, which may have happened to him.
Also, another quick story, Paula. Testosterone, you mentioned this earlier, is in the news. We've spent a lot of time talking about estrogen replacement therapy. But what about testosterone replacement therapy for men?
ZAHN: Yes, what about it?
GUPTA: Yes, well, that's the question that scientists are going to try and answer today in Washington. They're going to decide if a clinical trial should take place.
Testosterone production peaks in adolescents and then declines throughout adulthood, although it never shuts off completely the way estrogen production does in women. Testosterone has never been studied in a large clinical trial, but millions of men take it already, citing that it's a fountain of youth and provides boundless energy. Millions of prescriptions are written for this.
Critics charge that there are risks of taking testosterone, such as increased prostate cancer and strokes, so they're a little bit more cautious about it. That's why they want to do the clinical trial.
ZAHN: So, how long will it be before men know what the real answer is?
GUPTA: It will be years.
ZAHN: You're going to live in the margin for a while.
GUPTA: And then there probably will be studies after those studies come out, saying we're not so sure about the first studies again. We've been...
ZAHN: Those studies are so unsatisfying, Sanjay.
GUPTA: They can be, they can be.
ZAHN: Thanks.
GUPTA: Yes.
ZAHN: See you a little bit later on this morning.
GUPTA: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
