Symptoms, Drugs and Side effects

For nearly a century now health care in the United States has focused on symptoms and removing symptoms. This has been an easy sell for the pharmaceutical industry since we make 99.9% of our health care decisions on how we feel.  If we have a headache we take one of the many pain relievers available OTC (over the counter). It might interest you to know that your sensory perception is provided by only 10% of your nervous system.  So how you feel is only a small part of how your body is functioning. 

 You simply have to mention a symptom and there is a medication out there to treat it;  fevers, cramps, erectile dysfunction, personality disorders, ADHD, heart burn, constipation, diarrhea, there is even a drug that will give you better orgasms!!! I'm curious to know what the side effects of that drug are.

 It seems that whenever we turn on the television there is a commercial telling us of yet another 'new' drug to treat another new malady that nobody has ever heard of before. Then after the butterfly's land and the soft, sweet, in harmony with nature music is finished there is a blurb that goes something like this "If you experience difficulty breathing or have difficulty urinating or your blood pressure spikes or if you encounter dizzy spells or feinting stop taking this medication and call your doctor immediately because you could be having a 'RARE' but serious side effect that may be fatal." 

 My favorite side effect was for a contraceptive that has since been removed from the market.  "Instant death" was set in the middle of the closing blurb as they named the 'many' side effects of this drug the FDA had approved for sale in the United States.  Do you think GM could sell you a car that might kill you if you drove it?  "Purchase of this new and improved automobile may be hazardous to your health.  If your new GM Motorcar begins to smoke or make a sickening whistling noise, pull over, get out of the car and run because your car is about to explode which might be hazardous to your health".  I do not believe that GM would have survived much less thrived in the past century if 'any' of their products had that as a 'warning' on any of their truck or car ads. 

Listen carefully to the next pharmaceutical ads on television, what you hear may cause you to think twice before taking any medication..and could just save your life.

 Dr. B