Comments on: Perky? Me? Pass the pills.

By: hysperia

hysperia — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 05:38:44 +0000

I know it’s a tough call but I think Big Pharma’s biggest sin will turn out to be psychotropic drugs. There’s a guy named Bruce E. Levine who writes on this topic, sometimes at Huffington, and what he writes, makes me, want a Despondex.

By: The Poet Laura-eate

The Poet Laura-eate — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:49:31 +0000

yeah, one boss I had seemed to think ‘FREE’ yearly flu jabs were the equivalent of a pay rise, the favour he thought he was doing us, Then the Head of Security promptly came down with the full blown version and was off work for a month shortly afterwards! I always refrained from claiming mine as I’m kind of fond of my immune system.

The Onion is indeed hysterically funny – there is just nothing to add to that clip – it encapsulates its subject so nail-on-head.

Being blessed with a strong immune system, I don’t like tampering with it either! Seems like you’ve worked for a few jerks over the years, Laura!

By: Duchess

Duchess — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:33:56 +0000

sorry, dodgy grammar. But I hope it is clear that I meant to say that at least twice as many people died of the flu in 1918 than were killed in the Great War.

I got your drift, Duchess!

By: Duchess

Duchess — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:32:08 +0000

Can’t agree with you there, Tessa, and neither does some good science. In a flu pandemic the number who die is not miniscule, nor is it necessarily the infirm and the old. The flu pandemic of 1918 killed at least twice as many people who died in that great carnage the First World War. The death rate was highest amongst teenagers and young adults (I think I am right in remembering that bird flu has a similar pattern). The cost benefits of max vaccination can be carefully worked out. In the UK, where we also have universal health care the vaccine is available free to the elderly and people in certain high risk groups. I think it is a good policy.

Don’t get me wrong, Duchess. I’m not saying that the death toll of a pandemic would be minuscule, I know that the Spanish Flu wiped out as many as 100 million people. And that it was unusual in that, unlike any other influenza outbreaks, it seemed to target mostly younger people. There have been three flu pandemics in the past three centuries, of which the 1918 pandemic was by far the worst. But I also know that every year, localised epidemics of the flu kill a few hundred people worldwide, mostly the elderly and those with compromised immune systems – which is not a lot in the scheme of things.

From what I’ve read, there are two epidemiologists who are predicting that the next pandemic is imminent and bird flu looks like the most likely culprit, because a high percentage of those who contract it die. But so far, there has been no human to human transmission and the yearly flu dose concoctions are not related to bird flu at all. From what I’ve read, there is no way to synthesize a vaccination against human to human bird flu until it actually happens.

By: Midlife Slices

Midlife Slices — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:19:27 +0000

I have a sister in law that desperately needs that Despondex. She’s so damn perky I want to punch her. Thanks for my Monday morning laugh. I’ve stopped taking anything but my little bitty thyroid pill and I think I feel much better.

Funny, I have a SIL like that too – and I wouldn’t mind taking a poke at her either!

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:02:17 +0000

Can someone tell me why it’s really bad for your body to on occasion breath from all ends? Do we have to suppress our bodies and our minds? This clip was so funny. Only problem is, how many of us would really need a downer pill? We could just watch the news. My favorite new disease is acid reflux. Does it really exist?

Ah, you mean good old heartburn! Used to be you drank a glass of milk and slept upright. Now you have to take a pill and, if it gets really bad, you get a prescription strength one. I got rid of heartburn by losing weight, but there’s probably a pill for that too.

By: ruth pennebaker

ruth pennebaker — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:09:19 +0000

Amen, Tessa. These sanctimonious pill-pushers give me the creeps.

Me too!

By: JES

JES — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:06:34 +0000

I’ve had mixed experiences with pharms. Other than aspirin or antihistamines in the winter, I never used to take anything at all. Now there’s a mild anti-depressant and a thyroid medication, but both of those are related (I think) to problems I had no clue about until I turned 50. As a rule, I’ll at least consider taking something if (a) the drug’s been around long enough to be cloned via multiple generics and (b) my doctor manages to convince my skeptical self that I really need it and (c) I myself FEEL that I need it.

With both the AD and the thyroid thing, there was an appreciable improvement in Life After Prescription.

I don’t know much about medicine (or drugs, for that matter). But it seems obvious that women — just because of the complex natural cocktail coursing through their veins — would be a very difficult “fit” for drug designers. Yet most of the crazy drugs hawked on TV now, for most of the ever crazier disorders, seem pitched to women. Something wrong with this picture.

(Btw, off-topic: hard not to admire a writer who effortlessly drops a word like “virago” into a post on a subject like Big Pharma.)

I’m with you, John. Fortunately, I trust my doctor, who is no pill pusher. If she decided I really needed something, I would at least try it, but I would need to be persuaded. And “virago” is being kind to my ghastly maternal grandmother!

By: Kate Lord Brown

Kate Lord Brown — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:11:55 +0000

I’m with you Tessa – having resisted all drugs for years my doc prescribed sleeping pills last month. Got me through a couple of nights but OMG the nightmares (having looked the drug up it turns out to be v popular on the street as a hallucinogen …). Would rather deal with insomnia the old fashioned way – red wine with dinner and read until you fall asleep

Many years ago, when I was living in London, I got hepatitis (non-infective, back in the days before they started alphabetizing it!) and I was prescribed a sleeping drug just to keep me in bed, because I refused to go into hospital. I was sick for nine/ten weeks and took the pill faithfully every day until I got better, when I stopped. I was very surprised, some years later, to find I had been innocently taking Halcion, which has since been withdrawn, I believe, because it was highly addictive and caused all kinds of side effects, including short-term memory loss. I didn’t get addicted … but I do sometimes wonder about my memory lapses.

By: Jan

Jan — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:08:30 +0000

It takes an act of congress to get me to take any sort of drug, too, and the pharmaceutical companies and their “designer illnesses” are the main reasons why. Honestly, listen to some of the disclaimers the next time a commercial comes on television for the newest Wonder Drug: “May cause vomiting, diarrhea, a sudden drop in blood pressure, erosion of your digestive system, bleeding from the eyes and ears, massive liver failure and ingrown toenails.” Oh, yeah – I want my husband to have an erection that badly. Uh-huh.

You’re too funny, Jan. Maybe he wants an erection that badly? Especially if you clean up after him. LOL.