You name it, there’s a pill for it!
This is nuts! They’ve got a pill for whatever ails me – or, whatever I think ails me … or, whatever I’ve been scared into thinking ails me.
Is this the age of the quick-fix mentality? I’m afraid so, but don’t blame us for expecting a pill for just about anything and everything. We, and many of our doctors, too, are being played like a fiddle by the giant pharmaceutical companies – while being lured down that legendary, “primrose path.”
The pharmaceutical giants spend millions on those upbeat television commercials that hammer away at us, night and day, showing beautiful and healthy people, enjoying their formerly perfect lives once again … thanks to the “little pink pill.”
Then they plant the seed: “Maybe you need this drug, too.” All we need to do, the commercials advise us, is to ask our doctors about prescribing that drug for us. (Note: Drug commercials are not allowed anywhere else in the world, but the U.S. and New Zealand.)
Likely, our doctors find it offensive when we patients actually do “ask them about prescribing” such and such drug, as if we’re suggesting the doctor himself is behind the curve on available drugs for our condition. Now we become their problem patient, making our own diagnosis and treatment decisions.
Adding to these woes for doctors and patients alike – and this is really insidious: The drug companies don’t just market their blockbuster pills through advertising – they market conditions for their medications to cure.
We have become the most medicated society in the world. The United States represents just 5 percent of the world’s population, but we buy 50 percent of the world’s drugs. This is according to Alan Cassels, a drug policy researcher from Victoria, B.C., and co-author of the book, “Selling Sickness: How the World’s Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All into Patients.”
When asked if most Americans are overmedicated, John Abramson, M.D., of Harvard Medical School, responds, affirmatively, “They sure are.”
Giving the Devil his due, however, we certainly must acknowledge that drug companies make wonderful products that have extended our lives and eased our suffering. (Personally, I’m grateful for the med that keeps me heartburn-free.)
But, it seems to me, drug companies are stepping way out of line when they aggressively target the healthy, as well as the sick, to increase their already huge profits. How do they do this, we may wonder? One way is to broaden the boundaries that generally define and constitute an illness.
As we know, high cholesterol itself is not an “illness.” Rather, it’s just one of the many risk factors for a future illness – heart disease. In 1990, 13 million Americans were being treated (medicated, that is) for high cholesterol levels.
A mere 12 years later, that number suddenly soared to a staggering total of 49 million Americans, now considered to have dangerously high cholesterol levels and thus, candidates for cholesterol lowering medications.
How did that happen? It was easy. With the swipe of a pen, a panel of “experts” rewrote the guidelines for safe cholesterol levels. They lowered the numbers so drastically that 36 million more Americans were instantly customers for cholesterol lowering drugs. A pretty nice gift to the pharmaceutical company, I’d say.
And, here’s a clever ploy. The manufacturer of a popular anti-depressant drug took a little known psychiatric condition known as social anxiety disorder and popularized it into an often-diagnosed condition for which their particular anti-anxiety drug was the cure.
Drugs are being recalled with increasing frequency and influential medical journals are calling for closer scrutiny of pre-market drug trials. At this time, a pharmaceutical company can conduct dozens of trials for a new drug, but only publish the positive-result trials and use those as evidence for drug approval.
When drug companies fund their own drug trials and studies, watch out. It’s like the proverbial fox guarding the hen house.
As early as 1970, the toxicity of early breast implant devices was well known by their manufacturer, as research animals in which these were implanted died. The implants were sold all over the world, enriching manufacturers and doctors alike.
Thousands of women became ill, suffering gross complications from their implants, resulting in a worldwide class-action lawsuit. It became mired in the courts and few of the injured were ever compensated.
It’s important to know what we’re swallowing in those pills – beyond their color. We must read the package enclosures and learn the drug’s potential side effects so we make an informed choice about taking it.
The way we live our lives is the major factor in our health – no pills can change that. But, you say, taking pills is easier than making lifestyle changes. Yep, it’s true.
“You lays down your money and you takes your choice,” to quote my dad.