Ephedrine

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Orioles pitching prospect Steve Bechler, who made his major- league debut five months ago at Camden Yards, died yesterday morning of multisystem organ failure caused by heatstroke. He was 23. Bechler was rushed to North Ridge Medical Center toward the end of Sunday's spring training workout after becoming pale and disoriented on one of the back fields of the Orioles complex. He was attempting to complete his final conditioning run. His body temperature later peaked at 108 degrees, a team physician said.

The NFL upheld Ravens receiver Javin Hunter's four-game suspension yesterday for violating the league's policy on banned substances. Hunter, who started in Sunday's 27-23 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, will miss the remainder of the regular season, is banned from the training facility and can't attend team functions. The Ravens signed cornerback Tom Knight, a first-round pick in 1997 who started eight games for the Arizona Cardinals last season, to a two-year contract to fill Hunter's spot.

Gymnast shouldn't lose gold medal due to sniffles Now it can be told: I'm a drug user! Last winter, I stopped into my local drugstore for some over-the-counter cold relief. After a couple of sleepless nights, I had a hunch the medicine might be to blame. A quick check of the ingredients revealed that the caplets contained a large dose of pseudo-ephedrine - the very drug that just cost Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan a gold medal in the latest Olympic "doping" scandal. I was concerned.

Q.Many of the new "natural" diet pills have ephedrine as an ingredient. My husband has been told he should lose weight to lower his blood pressure, so he is taking a formula that contains ephedrine. Is this compound really safe? A. Ephedrine is one of the main components of the Chinese herb known as ma huang. Losing weight is one of the best ways to lower blood pressure without relying on medication, but the pills your husband is taking might make matters worse. Either the herb ma huang (Ephedra sinica)

Q. I had toenail fungus so bad that my family doctor said it would take three visits and three treatments to clear it up, and the medicine can be hard on the liver. What really got my attention was the cost: $700.I checked with a friend who is a podiatrist. He confirmed what the doctor said but assured me that the liver scare was no big problem.A week later, just before my wife and I left on a one-month trip to Europe, she read your column about using Vicks VapoRub to kill toenail fungus.

Snowfall: No new snow in Nagano City or on men's downhill course. That left 6.7 inches in Nagano City, and 6 feet, 6 1/2 inches on the downhill course.Update: A haircut salon has opened in the International Zone of ** the Olympic Village, where 100 barbers and beauticians who volunteered to run the salon will take turns serving athletes and officials during the games.Going for the gold: Michael Dionne, a push-athlete on the U.S. bobsledding team, was barred from the Games after testing positive for the banned stimulant ephedrine in November, the international bobsled federation said.

One ingredient is a Chinese medicinal herb that has been used for 5,000 years to treat asthma.The other is an herb used as a substitute for the anti-depressant Prozac.Taken together, they are the latest thing in weight-loss drugs.The combination of ephedra and Saint-John's-wort entered the competition for dieters' dollars recently, when Horsham, Pa., weight-loss chain Nutri/System Inc. began selling the herb combination in tablet form in its 500 diet centers nationwide.Because the ingredients apparently mimic the action of the popular prescription diet-drug combination phentermine/fenfluramine, the new product is called Herbal Phen/Fen.

When I was a teen-ager my doctor prescribed Quadrinal for asthma. It contained ephedrine and other ingredients. I don't like taking drugs, so now when I have an occasional problem with asthma as an adult I rely on an ephedra-containing tea from the health food store. It works just like my old prescription.I have been reading that the FDA is cracking down on ephedrine because people have had heart attacks and seizures. I worry that the FDA might ban it, and that would be a shame. This herb has been used for centuries, hasn't it?

Some people assume that what is natural is good for you, or at least harmless. That assumption, as it turns out, is a great marketing ploy but a dangerous motto for living.So far, at least 15 people have died in the United States after taking herbal products containing ephedrine, also known as ephedra or ma huang. And yet, this herbal drug is still on the market along with other untested herbs and so-called food supplements, including vitamins, amino acids, melatonin and "natural" birth control pills made from yams.

The federal government has issued a warning to Americans not to buy any of the Chinese herbal products being sold as "legal highs," because they can cause heart attacks, seizures, psychotic episodes or even death.The Food and Drug Administration has focused on widely available products with names like Herbal Ecstacy, Ultimate XPhoria and Cloud 9 because they contain ephedra, or ma huang. Used for centuries in China, it is the herbal form of the central nervous system stimulant ephedrine, which can act on the body like methamphetamine, commonly known as speed.