I usually don’t watch much television but just by chance this week, I caught the evening news. It didn’t take long to discover that most of the commercials dealt with prescription drugs. I was so amazed by the number of these commercials that the next evening I sat down with paper and pencil and flipped back and forth through the major network stations writing down the names of the drugs being advertised.
Before this little exercise, I thought I was fairly healthy. Now, I have the nagging feeling that I should ask my doctor if Levitra, Prilosec, Advair, Cialis, Reclast, Spiriva, Onglyza, Symbicort, Hydrox or Restasis “might be right” for me.
It used to be that I went to the doctor, explained my symptoms and, after a few questions and maybe a test or two, the doctor would decide what needed to be done.
Now, after visiting a few websites, watching the commercials, and reading the magazine ads, we go to the doctor with the diagnosis worked out and the prescription drug already in mind. If the doctor doesn’t agree we offer Wikipedia or WebMD printouts to prove that we really do need Levitra, Prilosec, Advair, Cialis, Reclast, Spiriva, Onglyza, Symbicort, Hydrox and Restasis. And we are assured that side-effects only occur in “very rare circumstances.”
I wonder if med school is getting easier now that patients already know everything, or at least everything the pharmaceutical companies want us to know.
A. Reader
Note: A 2003 study found that every $1 spent on pharmaceutical marketing resulted in a $4.20 increase in sales. In 2008 the sale of prescription drugs in the U.S. was $291 billion. Most other countries don’t allow “direct to consumer” advertising for prescription medicine. One data source - http://prescriptiondrugs.procon.org/.
Editor's note: And how about those warnings..? Rapidly delivered in lilting tones, they gloss over such things as "side effects may include death."
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1 comment:
We are having some financial troubles and I'm no longer insured. So I had to drop a prescription for an acid reflux and go to the OTC version. That was also getting too expensive, so about 10 days ago I stopped cold turkey. The scary part is what happened then...after 5 years or so on this medication, first RX, then OTC, I had side effects like you would not believe...like the worst flu. And yes, I'm almost positive that's what it was from...I checked several sites on the web. Four days of hell whenever I put ANYTHING in my stomach. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
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