Giambi Possibly Have Deadly Disorder

[duckman]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1846688

This is not good at all. :( I hope they find it not as serious and that he can get back on his feet again.

[Franklinnoble]

I blame A-Rod.

[Eaglesfan27]

That parasite is almost never deadly with appropriate treatment. However, he was given the treatment three weeks ago and is still fatigued. It's very rare for the parasite to be resistant to medications. Giambi's wife and some other player and his wife all got the parasite during a vacation this past offseason. It would be wierd for him to have the only resistant organism among the bunch.

Hopefully, it is not something even more serious.

[miked]

Did he get it in Japan, or was it before the preseason? I thought I read somewhere he came back from Japan and was feeling tired and ill...

[Ksyrup]

Someone threw this out on a talk radio show within the past week, but I don't know the answer - what are the effects of "crashing" off of steriods? If a guy wasn't cycling but constantly giving himself steriods, and then suddenly went cold turkey, what kind of reaction would his body have?

Not that I'm accusing him of anything...but given his link to BALCO and that trainer, I'm just wondering.

[Eaglesfan27]

Did he get it in Japan, or was it before the preseason? I thought I read somewhere he came back from Japan and was feeling tired and ill...

I remember reading an article about this and it was a player in California who also got the parasite. Also, both player's wives got it. They were vacationing in the Caribbean when he is suspected to have become infected.

As far as the last post, certainly the cynics might think that the parasite explaination is all to cover up his loss of strength from suddenly stopping steroids. I don't think so though. The whole cancer/aids angle is a little much for me to feel that this is a cover-up. However, that is just my gut instinct.

[Suicane75]

Don't forget that Kevin Brown had this same exact same thing. A few weeks ago there were rumblings going around the NY media that Brown was very worried that he had cancer, so the steroids angle doesn't really seem to hold water.

[hhiipp]

Someone threw this out on a talk radio show within the past week, but I don't know the answer - what are the effects of "crashing" off of steriods? If a guy wasn't cycling but constantly giving himself steriods, and then suddenly went cold turkey, what kind of reaction would his body have?

Not that I'm accusing him of anything...but given his link to BALCO and that trainer, I'm just wondering.
Haven't found anything specifically about not cycling, but here are some of the symptoms of withdrawal from cycling: depression, fatigue, decreased sex drive,
insomnia, loss of appetite, dissatisfaction with body image, and
craving for more steroids.

[Ksyrup]

As far as the last post, certainly the cynics might think that the parasite explaination is all to cover up his loss of strength from suddenly stopping steroids. I don't think so though. The whole cancer/aids angle is a little much for me to feel that this is a cover-up. However, that is just my gut instinct.
Yeah, I don't think it is, either. But it's something that's out there, and I was just wondering if at least some of the symptoms might overlap, which would seem to give some legs to such a rumor. It is far more likely that, for whatever reason, his body has been unable to recover from the parasite, while others have.

[McSweeny]

yep

sounds like steroid withdrawl to me

[JeeberD]

Scary shit, hope he gets better...

[pennywisesb]

Since others had the SAME parasite, and they have been able to recover from it, maybe something else (maybe steroids) could be contributing to it....I don't know, but he certainly deflated during the offseason which COULD (read: not does) also point to stopping the use of steroids. I'm not saying that he did use steroids, I'm actually just saying this to get others opinions, could this be a viable explanation for his health problems?