Saturday - April 29, 2006

Take A Pill

In the “You Don’t Say?” department, we are now told that drug companies are inventing diseases in order to push pills. No s**t? This creeping conspiracy has been going on for decades, folks. Here’s the scoop: Your doctor tells you your cholesterol is too high, based on whose standards? Who determines what is too high and thereby decides you need a pill? Take three guesses. In addition, if you have high cholesterol your blood pressure is probably too high also. Who says? Guess again.

So you start taking medicine (side-effects: liver damage) to lower your cholesterol (instead of getting up off your lard-ass and exercising more and chowing down on fewer greasy triple cheeseburgers like any sensible person of the 19th century would have done). Suddenly you become more weight conscious because somebody tells you that fat people with high cholesterol die sooner. You try to lose weight by taking diet pills. You still can’t lose weight. You become depressed. You doctor gives you another pill called an anti-depressant to make you feel better. After a few years on Prozac you notice difficulty getting an erection, which it turns out is a side effect of anti-depressants (also a side effect of blood-pressure lowering medicine and/or having a fugly wife or girlfriend). Guess what your doctor does for you now? You got it. He gives you a prescription for Viagra or Cialis. You are instantly transformed back into “Macho Man” at the drop of a pill (and a one hour waiting period).

All of a sudden, you find your medicine cabinet at home full of little blue, green, pink, yellow, orange and red pills. None of which have anything whatsoever to do with seeing the Matrix as it actually is. In this case, the Matrix is a dream world invented by drug companies to cover up the fact that you can’t take proper care of your body and that you’re extremely gullible. Now in some cases a pill may be called for but overall I’d hazard a guesss that 90% of the pills pushed today are totally unnecesary.

In addition, the drug progression described in the paragraph above can become self-feeding since drugs like Viagra may raise blood pressure which might cause your doctor to increase your blood pressure medication strength which causes .... Never mind. You get the picture. Another day, another disease you need to take a pill for. Speaking of which, have you heard about Anger Concentration Internet Disease (ACID). Symptoms include intense anger and psychotic behavior at something you read or happens to you while browsing the internet (most often caused by blogs). If so, ask your doctor today about Blog-Lax™. Caution: side effects may include reduced spleen function and occasional diarrhea as the s**t is flushed from between your ears. Try one of our little brown pills today ....

Drugs Companies Inventing Diseases To Boost Their Profits
_{April 11, 2006}

LONDON (TIMES-UK)—Pharmaceutical companies are systematically creating diseases in order to sell more of their products, turning healthy people into patients and placing many at risk of harm, a special edition of a leading medical journal claims today.

The practice of “diseasemongering” by the drug industry is promoting non-existent illnesses or exaggerating minor ones for the sake of profits, according to a set of essays published by the open-access journal Public Library of Science Medicine.

The special issue, edited by David Henry, of Newcastle University in Australia, and Ray Moynihan, an Australian journalist, reports that conditions such as female sexual dysfunction, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and “restless legs syndrome” have been promoted by companies hoping to sell more of their drugs.

Other minor problems that are a normal part of life, such as symptoms of the menopause, are also becoming increasingly “medicalised”, while risk factors such as high cholesterol levels or osteoporosis are being presented as diseases in their own right, according to the editors.

“Disease-mongering turns healthy people into patients, wastes precious resources and causes iatrogenic (medically induced) harm,” they say. “Like the marketing strategies that drive it, disease-mongering poses a global challenge to those interested in public health, demanding in turn a global response.”

Doctors, patients and support groups need to be more aware that pharmaceutical companies are taking this approach, and more research is needed into the changing ways in which conditions are presented, according to the writers.

Disease-awareness campaigns are often funded by drug companies, and “more often designed to sell drugs than to illuminate or inform or educate about the prevention of illness or the maintenance of health”, they say.

Particular conditions that are highlighted in the journal include sexual function in both men and women. The prevalence of female sexual dysfunction, one paper claims, has been highly exaggerated to provide a new market for drugs, while the makers of anti-impotence medicines, such as Viagra and Cialis, have been involved with their presentation as lifestyle drugs that can boost the sexual prowess of healthy men.

- More drug company silliness here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 04/29/2006 at 10:46 AM   
Filed Under: • Medical •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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