MADISON, Wis. -- As the congressional inquiry continues on the use of steroids in professional sports, local medical professionals say some steroids can perform like miracle drugs.

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The controversy is over the alleged use of performance enhancing steroids by professional baseball players, but doctors say that while androgen steroids such as these may be a hit for athletes, another class of steroids is the grand slam of pain relief.

Cortical steroids such as Prednisone are used for anti-inflammatory purposes on a wide variety of ailments including arthritis.

Steroid inhalers are also effective asthma medicines, but they act differently from performance enhancing or androgen steroids.

"I think there is confusion," said Dr. James Porter, who has been practicing medicine for 20 years. "As a rhumathologist, I see people with inflammatory diseases and we will sometimes use cortical steroids to help decrease inflammation and control pain."

Allan Bogue suffers from an inflammatory disorder and has taken Prednisone.

"When I started to take it I was really in considerable pain," said Bogue. "Within a week, I began to notice some relief."

Steroids like Prednisone are effective because they act quickly. But doctors warn it is a powerful drug that is not usually intended for long-term use.

According to Porter, the medical use of androgen steroids is rare. It is a type used for people who produce abnormally low amounts of testosterone or for AIDS patients and others with diseases that cause the loss of lean muscle mass.