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So what, exactly, is hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ)? HCTZ is a thiazide-class diuretic, most commonly prescribed as a first-line treatment of high blood pressure (hypertension). It is banned by WADA because of its potential use as a masking agent, as are basically all other diuretics.
While there are different classes of diuretic with different mechanisms of action, the end result tends to be more or less the same; the person taking them will expel more fluid via urination than usual. In theory this means the urine that is produced will be more diluted, which could make detection of banned substances in that urine more difficult, especially for substances with detection/decision thresholds.
Hydrochlorothiazide is known to show up, unlabelled, in supplements, as most recently happened to UFC athlete Guido Cannetti, who had his suspension reduced when USADA testing on both opened and sealed batches of a supplement showed they contained banned substances, including HCTZ, which were not present on the label.
Hydrochlorothiazide has also been shown to turn up in medications like non-steroidal anti-inflammatories which are completely legal and purchased in pharmacies. Even if companies follow the industry standard 10 parts-per-million allowed contamination, that’s still enough to cause a false positive for hydrochlorothiazide.
What this means is, it’s possible for an athlete to buy some ibuprofen over the counter from a pharmacy, and for that ibuprofen to, legally, contain a tiny amount of leftover hydrochlorothiazide. An amount not enough to have any physical effects, but still enough to show up on a drug test.
We don’t know what kind of levels of hydrochlorothiazide JDS’ test came back with yet, but it’s worth noting that contamination of both supplements and unbanned medications with HCTZ are not exactly unheard of.
Source: https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2017/8/...ydrochlorothiazide-peds-usada-banned-steroids