Chris Benoit: Was Roid Rage to Blame?

[samanthajane13]

Pro Wrestler's Alleged Murder-Suicide Spurs Questions About Roid Rage and Anabolic Steroids
By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Feature
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD



Pro wrestler Chris Benoit apparently was taking testosterone before his death, toxicology tests show.

Benoit, his wife, Nancy, and their son, Daniel, were found dead in their home in Fayetteville, Ga., near Atlanta in late June. The deaths are suspected to be a murder-suicide that began when Benoit allegedly killed his wife and son and ended when Benoit hanged himself.

Toxicology tests performed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) show that Chris Benoit had the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and the painkiller hydrocodone in his blood, and elevated levels of testosterone in his urine.
Benoit's Xanax and hydrocodone levels were in line with typical therapeutic doses of those drugs, but the testosterone levels indicated that Benoit had been taking testosterone for some unknown time before his death, according to GBI officials.

No other steroids were found in Benoit's urine.

When the Benoit family deaths were first discovered, many people speculated about whether Benoit had been taking anabolic steroids and whether he might have experienced "roid rage" triggered by steroids.
In a June interview with WebMD, Gary Wadler, MD, answered questions about roid rage and anabolic steroids, which are synthetic substances related to male sex hormones.

Wadler is a clinical associate professor of medicine at New York University's medical school. He is an expert on roid rage and also a spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine, a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, and author of the textbook, Drugs and the Athlete.
What is roid rage?

Roid rage, in many ways, I would characterize as a form of loss of impulse control. It provokes overreactions via a stimulus that normally doesn't produce such a severe reaction.

So say somebody says something to you that you don't like. You may put your fist through a wall. The impulse is there; it's overreaction. Forget the roid, for the moment. It's a rage ... and that rage is precipitated by the brain being exposed to anabolic steroids.
How common is roid rage?

I don't think there's really good data on how common [it is]. It's not rare by any means, that's probably fair to say. It's not extraordinarily common.
I think a better way to view this is a spectrum of behaviors by people on anabolic steroids ranging from being somewhat more assertive, moving up one notch to being frankly aggressive, and moving up another notch to actually having this roid rage. It's really an extreme of a spectrum of kind of behavioral things that you see with anabolic steroids.
Could anabolic steroids account for severely violent acts?

Yes. It's been implicated in a number of murders and can result in extreme aberrations of behavior including the taking of one's life.

Another thing you have to be mindful of -- it may unmask an underlying psychiatric disorder that has been basically kept in check until the individual is exposed to this category of drugs. And so what you may be seeing is unmasked psychiatric disorder.
Are there some people who may be particularly vulnerable to roid rage?

I don't know if that's been studied, but certainly, I would be concerned about those who are on steroids for a long time on a high dose. There seems to be some correlation that the higher the dose, the greater the likelihood of having roid rage.
What is the difference between anabolic and corticosteroids?

The way I like to say it is it's the difference between John Smith and Mary Smith. They're both Smiths, but they couldn't be more different.

Anabolic steroids mean steroids that build muscle, retain protein, and corticosteroids are so-called catabolic. They break down tissue. They're basically used for anti-inflammatory effects. People on corticosteroids for any length of time, you'll see them actually get muscle weakness. Their body will go through changes which are quite the opposite of what you see with anabolic steroids.

I don't believe that the shorthand-word "steroids" should ever be used because the public has been confused, and many people who are taking corticosteroids for a variety of medical illnesses are of the belief that they're going to get all these horrible side effects that people talk about in terms of anabolic steroids.

Continued below...

[samanthajane13]

Chris Benoit: Was Roid Rage to Blame?-Part 2

So people who are taking corticosteroids for legitimate medical reasons like asthma or arthritis -- they have no need to be concerned?

Corticosteroids have a lot of side effects, but they're not the side effects we see with anabolic steroids. They have their own unique set of side effects.
Aren't there some people who experience temperament changes while they're on corticosteroids?

They can be irritable. They can have difficulty sleeping, for example.
But that's not the same as roid rage?

No, it's entirely different.
Are there any valid reasons for people to be taking anabolic steroids?

Well, there were many reasons. Most of those reasons diminished [with the development of] better drugs.
If someone is experiencing roid rage while they're taking anabolic steroids, is there treatment for it?

If somebody is experiencing that, chances are they are using it for illicit purposes. So they've got to get themselves in the hands of a psychiatrist. And you have to be careful, because if you suddenly stop anabolic steroids, it can precipitate a profound depression.
Are there signs that parents or coaches should keep in mind -- signs that a child, an athlete, may be using steroids?

One is change in musculature. Secondly, excessive acne. Third, irritability. Fourth, obsessing over muscle mass ... becoming obsessed with the gym.

Those would be sort of some of them. It's basically a change in personality, an obsession with your body and putting on muscle and increasing lean body mass, [excessive] use of dietary supplements, obsessing over web sites that are directed towards body building.
It's a little bit of a complicated question. If you talk about a [male] teenager, you have to distinguish between a normal adolescence, which is heralded by a surge in testosterone.

If it's a difficult adolescence [in someone] who is not on anabolic steroids, they have a lot of acne, may be very irritable and may get many of the kinds of things we associate with anabolic steroids. Except in that case, the steroids are coming from his own testicles.

So it's a difficult thing for parents. They may overlook the abuse of anabolic steroids, or conversely, they may take [someone] who's not on anabolic steroids and assert that they are and lose the confidence of their kid.
How young does some of this use begin?

We know that as many as 1.5% to 2% of eighth graders have used anabolic steroids at least once in their life, and between 3% and 4% of 12th graders have used anabolic steroids at least once in their life.
There are estimates that between half a million and a million youngsters have used anabolic steroids.
Is it very easy for them to get it?

Particularly with the Internet, it's alarmingly so. And it also has much of the dynamics of other forms of drug dealing. They're not philanthropists handing out steroids.
What else would you want to add, either about roid rage or anabolic steroid use?

My concern is that it's a silent epidemic. [With drugs such as heroin and cocaine], you see people who don't look well, are losing weight, they're not concerned about their body. [People using anabolic steroids] look well, they're putting on muscle mass, they're more assertive, and so people don't think that this could be the product of illicit drug use.

People have to be aware that this is a very dangerous behavior. We have to make -- particularly parents and physicians -- aware of this silent epidemic.

[evergreen]

I really feel that if this was 'roid rage' it would have been noticed by colleagues, friends and family. Someone would have noticed and stepped in, several of the colleagues and friends stated they had seen 'roid rage' firsthand, and Chris was not a person of concern, if the allegations are true about 'all' the steriods prescripted(May06-07) I feel Chris would not have been able to hide the 'rage' for the time period. The question of why will still linger was it a medical issue, mental issue, domestic issue, steriods, drug side affect, nobody imo knows the facts of why this happened! Everyone IMO can speculate, even the authorties, the only people that know have died and have left no reasoning as to 'WHY'
JMO

[samanthajane13]

I still haven't heard anything about an autopsy...and did the brain trauma researchers ever get sample??? We know about the toxicology reports...

All the injuries he sustained over the course of his career may have lead to a brain abberation that-when combined with the testosterone-made him even more prone to "snap".

[justiceforcb]

Originally Posted by samanthajane13

I still haven't heard anything about an autopsy...and did the brain trauma researchers ever get sample??? We know about the toxicology reports...

All the injuries he sustained over the course of his career may have lead to a brain abberation that-when combined with the testosterone-made him even more prone to "snap".

Hi,

I'm new but have been following this case since day 1. To answer the question about the brain trauma research, it is probably too damaged to examine or test.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2920925

"A source told ESPN.com, however, that even if the researchers' request is granted, the brain might be too damaged to examine. By the time police found Benoit's body on Monday, it had been lying in the 93-degree heat for at least a day. According to a source familiar with the local coroner's exam, it was virtually "liquefied."

I have been awaiting the DNA samples and full autopsy as well. Hope that helps.

[samanthajane13]

I was also hoping to see if there was any finding of liver damage-from the testosterone-or any injury to him-possbily from an altercation with Nancy???

I know about the whole 93 degree thing, but I was hoping maybe some of the brain was salvagable.

He was known for giving some pretty serious head-butts in his career, and I wonder if he may have had damage.

[Silverwolf]

Originally Posted by evergreen

I really feel that if this was 'roid rage' it would have been noticed by colleagues, friends and family. Someone would have noticed and stepped in, several of the colleagues and friends stated they had seen 'roid rage' firsthand, and Chris was not a person of concern, if the allegations are true about 'all' the steriods prescripted(May06-07) I feel Chris would not have been able to hide the 'rage' for the time period. The question of why will still linger was it a medical issue, mental issue, domestic issue, steriods, drug side affect, nobody imo knows the facts of why this happened! Everyone IMO can speculate, even the authorties, the only people that know have died and have left no reasoning as to 'WHY'
JMO

Exactly! I've never heard of any wrestler either in Japan, WCW, or the WWF\WWE ever mentioning anything about Chris Benoit ever experiencing roid rage in the ring or the locker room. It's a sad case altogether, but I can only speculate that the drugs he was taking must have altered his mind so badly that Benoit thought he was somehow "protecting" his family by killing them. Bizzare as that sounds, it seems the only explanation that makes any sense, in my opinion.

[samanthajane13]

Silverwolf-

I'm of the opinion that this whole thing was caused by the brain damage that Chris had sustained during his career and thee fact that he was EXTREMELY DEPRESSED after the death of his best friend Eddie Guerrero.

Yeah-the 'roids may have factored in to increase those things exponentially, but 'roid rage?

Nope.

Just wondering-have you read the thread about the brain damage???

BTW-Welcome to CrimeLibrary!!!

[Silverwolf]

Thanks, Samanthajane13

Yes, I've read the story on the brain damage, but I don't really buy the theory, because Benoit never acted like he had any brain damage or screwed up any wrestling moves in the ring. And so far as Mr. McMahon has said Benoit never had any directional problems getting to the arenas for shows and stuff - up until the final fatal week Benoit rarely missed any shows he was assigned for. It just don't add up to say he snapped because of too many chair shots to the head, etc.
Mick Foley or Terry Funk would have been even worse by now considering their hard core style of wrestling, don't you think?

[samanthajane13]

As far as wrestling goes, I think he was on auto-pilot. It was second nature to him. I've watched him on TV and live for years, and saw little difference in the months before the murders and suicide.

"The level of brain damage Benoit had could have caused depression and irrational behavior, said Cantu, who also is chief of neurosurgery service at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass."

"Frontal Lobe Syndrome causes emotional and social withdrawal, outbursts of rage and violent behavior."

"Bailes and his colleagues theorize that repeated concussions can lead to dementia, which can contribute to severe behavioral problems."

"Mike Webster died of a heart attack, but suffered from dementia, depression, and exhibited erratic behavior after retiring from football."

I do know from watching the Eddie Guerrero tribute shows, that Chris was horribly shaken by Eddie's loss. He could barely speak, and he wept like a child who'd just lost his entire family and every friend he had in the world!

They were best friends, and Eddie even brought Chris to religion in the months before he died, and they often prayed together before matches.

I think that something happened it the days or weeks leading to the final eruption that set him off, but I don't think the steroids were DIRECTLY responsible.

I don't know for sure, 'cause I wasn't there, but it still sounds more like Chris was suffering from brain damage and depression-perhaps potentiated by the steroids-to me.

[samanthajane13]

And by the way-"Mr. McMahon" would sell his own mother into prostitution, so anything he says about anyone is BULL as far as I'm concerned.

Mr. McMahon Sr.-Vinny's father would be rolling in his grave to see the travesty his son has made of his business.

Mr. McMahon Sr. brought respectability to wrestling and brought it into our living rooms rather than in back alleys and bar rooms.

I used to watch wrestling sitting in my grandfather's lap as a child in the 60's, and got my daughter hooked, but since A-hole Vince disavowed Chris, we've boycotted wrestling completely.

Vinny turned wrestling into a flocking SOAP OPERA and a JOKE.

If Vince was standing in front of my house-in flames-I wouldn't bother to go out to pee the fire out, although I might drive my van over him a few times.

[Silverwolf]

No malicious intent in your post, huh? I'm glad you're not angry. . I get your point and agree that Vince often gets tasteless in his shows. The sad thing is that even with Vince's so called "wellness policy" he made after Benoit's death it would not have prevented the tragedy from being played out because Benoit had doctors prescriptions for the drugs he was using, so perhaps his death will be in vain and occur again somewhere else? The only possible antidote from this will be that the wrestlers will be more watchful for each other and maybe point out when actions seem out of kilter or normal behavior. Although this might lead to charges of tattle-tailing or "Big Brother ism".

[samanthajane13]

I'm only angry with TPTB at WWE...in other words, Vinny the Weasel. He's a piece of chit.

I do agree with you on the whole "wellness policy" schlock, although I believe it was instituted after Eddie Guerrero's death.

Hopefully, the guys will keep an eye on each other and intervene if necessary.