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A curious,
even alarming, trend has surfaced over the last several years. It has slipped into our consciousness through television,
radio, and even popular publications. Relatively little has been written about this phenomenon, and only a rather small
segment of the population appears to have noticed. Nevertheless, this development is likely to potentially affect every
person in this country at one time or another from the moment they inhale their first breath until the time they exhale their
last.
I am speaking of the newly aggressive
marketing of prescription drugs via various media to the public. There suddenly seems to be a pill or injection for virtually
everything. This actually might be a positive thing were it not for the fact that even unique personality traits have now
been demoted to the status of “diseases” and thus medicated… with the seemingly obligatory side effects,
risks, and chances of ineffectiveness (only in certain individuals, of course).
For instance, perhaps you are one of
those people who tends to feel somewhat gloomy in the absence of warm and sunny weather. You may have what has now been diagnosed
as SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder. This is not to be confused with being shy, which is now termed Social
Anxiety Disorder. Are you a woman experiencing PMS once a month? Be advised that you now suffer from the far more
sinister-sounding Premenstrual Dysmorphic Disorder. Gone are the days when people were advised to buy special light bulbs
for their homes that mimic sunlight to help chase winter blues away. Forget gathering enough courage to utter the first “hello”
to that fascinating stranger in an effort to make a new friend, or joining a club or taking a class to expand your social
circle. Never mind that cup of chamomile tea and a soak in a warm bath to relieve cramps and bloating every twenty-eight
days. You can have a prescription that makes you feel happy on a cloudy day, turns you into a social butterfly, or make
you forget what a menstrual cramp is.
Are you a man with performance concerns? Do you perhaps feel that the family
gene pool has…ahem, left you shortchanged? We have pills for that, too. Sadly, none of these remedies offer
relief minus potential side effects that oftentimes are far worse than any hoped-for benefit. Worse still, if a side effect
is experienced and a prescription discontinued, one’s previous health status may not resume. It isn’t unusual
to be found to have developed a new problem, thus requiring…drum roll, please…a new prescription! One commercial
for a cardiovascular drug stated (in a very hushed and hurried voice) several serious side effects, then added (in a louder,
authoritative tone) that discontinuing treatment “may result in death”. Of all treatments, chemical or natural,
that abound, why would anyone choose this one? As usual, the promotional spot cheerily concluded with, “Ask your
Doctor if (---) is right for you!”
Before I continue, I want to make it
absolutely clear that I in no way oppose matching a helpful medical prescription to a patient who shows a genuine demonstrated
need or condition which cannot be reliably and effectively treated in any other way. After all, in certain severe cases,
the treatment could actually be worth the possibility of any risk. I merely wish to point out that never before in the
history of modern medicine has the general public been so continuously prompted to solicit their medical provider for access
to the newest pharmaceutical wonder drug to hit the market, whether or not they are viable and likely candidates for it.
One Nation Under the Influence?
More and more Americans, even healthy ones, are beginning to believe that they
may need to take something to "fix" themselves. Perhaps a supplement to enhance brain function in order to appear smarter?
What about using a stretch mark cream on my face to minimize or prevent deep wrinkles? Don’t laugh. I just saw the ad.
The problem lies not so much in the drugs themselves, but in the overly insistent way in which they are marketed and promoted...not
to mention how we have been conditioned to clamor for them. A recent commercial for a popular antacid shows a crowd
of teens and twenty-somethings at a rock concert. The band onstage is singing a rock n’ roll version of the well
known jingle while the massive crowd holds aloft glasses of effervescing heartburn relief. What’s wrong with this
picture? Simple. No one is eating! Statistically, this demographic is also least likely to suffer from
indigestion! The message conveyed: you’d better take this before you need to… just in case you develop
heartburn later. Does this approach make sense? Of course not. If we were to see these same young people (or
better still, anyone over thirty-five) at a party dealing with the aftermath of gastronomic overindulgence and thus subsequently
helping themselves to this same product, this commercial would have hit the correct target.
Far more disturbing is the widespread
marketing of cholesterol-lowering drugs to healthy people as a safeguard against future health risks. Reliable
medical research shows that only men with known conditions of heart disease have been seen in clinical trials to benefit
from statin medications that reduce heart attack risk. There’s far less evidence that these drugs help women with
no history of disease, yet some health practitioners have begun to issue prescriptions to women with no test indicators
for the disease if they have a close relative who died from, or currently suffers from cardiovascular problems. Healthy
people would do better to exercise and keep saturated fats to a minimum in their diets as prevention against
cardiovascular ailments.
This last example is one of many addressed
in the provocative book, Selling Sickness: How the World’s Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All
into Patients written by Ray Moynihan, an award-winning medical writer, and Alan Cassels, a drug policy researcher at the
University of Victoria in British Columbia.
Know The Facts
What can the consciously aware consumer do?
Ask yourself and your medical professional some tough questions before considering any prescription as well as before you
take any over the counter remedy for the first time. The following are great places to start:
* What exactly
is the condition that this product was designed to treat? What are the side effects?
* What natural approaches, like
diet, exercise, or stress-reduction techniques could I try first?
* Has this medication been tested as useful in patients
who share my age range, gender, ethnic background, lifestyle habits, and medical history?
Whether or not your Doctor
can answer these questions clearly and satisfactorily for you, there are always plenty of user-friendly websites that can
help you collect your own research. Three to try are:
Web MD (www.webmd.com)
Consumer Reports (www.crbestbuydrugs.org)
The
Medical Letter (www.medicalletter.org)
As Selling Sickness tells its readers, if you are influenced into taking medications
you don’t truly need, the only ones who will benefit are the companies that market them. Think for yourself. The research
is out there. Your health and quality of life depend on it.
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