I cannot, for the life of me, understand how anyone can take any of those meds advertised on TV. Here, I'm talking about the prescription drugs that are meant to treat this or that ailment, but can kill you a hundred different ways to Sunday! I mean, if you have a splotch on your arm that makes you self conscious, why do you need to wear short sleeves, as the guy in one ad constantly does? Wear long sleeves, and avoid a drug that can give you cancer, destroy your liver, make you gain weight, etc., etc. The class of drugs that ramp down your immune system, like the one above, to try and call off autoimmune responses that attack your own body, doesn't seem like a very bright idea, in view of this filthy, germ-ridden world we live in. Then, there are the new generation antidepressants that "may increase your thoughts of suicide!" Great! Now, you can, perhaps, stop feeling sad, and devote your time to thinking about how best to kill yourself! Woo-hoo! Give me a dang break! I suppose that if you're at your wit's end, and it's either death or one of those advertised meds, then, in desperation, I guess one may feel the need to try anything, in a last ditch effort. Still, I think I'd rather be done with this incarnation, than to gamble on possibly dying a more terrible death by trusting the stuff on TV. The advertising budgets on those meds must be huge! On one hand, I think they may be very popular, so their companies have the money to spend. On the other hand, maybe they're the dogs of their respective companies, and so those companies use their billions made on their popular drug sales, to try and move the dogs of their inventories. "Ask your doctor for Mydizil! It may not treat what you're suffering from, but you just might die from something else, more terrible, that it'll give you!"......I think I'll pass!
I think I’ve mentioned it before but the one that I recall that is hard to believe women fell for was a TV ad for the treatment of yeast infections. Okay, so instead of treating the infection as one would normally and waiting for 7 to 10 days for things to clear up, the ad promoted a pill that would get rid of it within 2 days. The caveat was that the medication could cause liver and kidney problems, headaches, diarrhea, heart attacks and with that possibility, death. Now, given the choice I think sticking to what works without any problems and abstaining from sexual activity would logically be the best move to make but I’m sure that there were some who ran to their doctor and asked for the advertised prescription.
Some tv meds require a doctor's prescription. I'm sure when a patient asks their doctor about a certain medication they've seen on tv, the doctor really has something to say about it. Sort of like, "why on earth would you think I'd prescribe something you've seen on tv?"
In a nutshell .... I agree with the above replies, however ..... I did have a doc who's first thought was to have me try Humaria [sp] have you ever read the warnings that accompany that stuff ?! It was reccomended for a combination arthritis & psoriasis. I said , no thanks..... he [the doc] got pissed at me because i defied his recommendation.
Generic medicines probably eat up drug company profits so they have to come up with something new for things gullible people might think they have because of the power of suggestion, so it’s “call your doctor”. It probably works on some. When I had a different doctor, I would wait in the waiting room, and more than once a young man or woman in a business suit would walk in with a briefcase and go right in, and I’m 90% sure they were just drug company reps trying to pitch some new miracle drug with free samples.
Chantix is another one. The warning is that it could cause depression and thoughts of suicide yet the VA highly recommends it. Yeah, let’s give a Veteran, fresh of the battlefield and suffering from PTSD something that will further their thoughts of suicide. Yup, he quit smoking but put a bullet into his head anyway. Good way to get veterans off the claims payments and into a box where we belong.
I think advertising prescription medications should be illegal. It's not like we can just go buy the crap so who is the target of the advertising??
We are the target. We see it on TV and go tell the doctor that we want it ignoring the warnigs that are in such small print and ignoring the ad that lists the side effects.
I think they are a bit like the gasoline or oil additives that people buy for their car when they can't afford to have it fixed. The sad thing is that doctors are indeed pressured into subscribing stuff that people have been sold on television.
I agree wholeheartedly, @Beth Gallagher! I don't think they should be able to advertise anything on the media that you cannot purchase over the counter. Who would choose chemo meds from a TV ad? Most of these meds have such a limited legitimate market that the drug companies are pressuring the medicos through their patient base. I may be wrong, but I think the U.S. is the only nation who allows it. Bill Clinton strikes again.
Those ads are directed at people like us so they pressure their doctors into prescribing them under the threat of "I'll take my business elsewhere." (Michael Jackson's death is an extreme example...I doubt his doctor was trying to kill his golden goose.) Of course, there may be other behind-the-scenes incentives given to the physician. The commercials could also be to lay the groundwork so that when the doctor prescribes them, we'll say "Oh, yeah. I've heard of that." I think part of why we are being told of those new meds is that doctors cannot possibly stay on top of every new development for every single malady...I bet we've all had encounters where we are more informed on our own conditions than our doctors are, and I don't necessarily blame the doctors for not having both broad and deep understandings. The responsibility to be responsible for our own health always lies on our own shoulders. I bet most of us remember when it was unethical (but not illegal) for lawyers to advertise, too. Now we're all invited to chase ambulances.
I get it! This reminds me of an idea I had for a dating service. People are matched based upon maladies and medication side-effects. So if you had gastric distress and the meds that cured it give you blurred vision, you get hooked up with someone who had blurred vision and their curatives give them gastric distress. You had so much in common.
Never in my life have I gone to a doctor and said, "I want that drug I saw on TV last night while eating dinner." I guess I'm just not susceptible to advertising.