Why you should always ignore drugs advertised on tv
 

Remember the commercials where theres a catchy tune playing, and a bunch of attractive women lift up their shirts exposing their midriffs? Words printed on the stomachs and they're all smiley and happy because they took this wonder drug?

Well that drug, Zelnorm, will cease being sold today because of increased heart attack rates among it's users. The manufacturer is pulling it.

Back to normal gfy goodness.

the side effects on any of those commercials are worse than any stds

I just love how half those ads are 10% promotion of the product, w/ out even telling you what it does, and the other 90% of the commercial has to be used to list off all the nasty side effects.

Ask your doctor today!

They advertise birth control pills on the TV - I'm still gonna take them, OK? :)

Sure, just dont be swayed by the advertising. DONT ask your doctor. Require your doctor to administer proper care, that includes any drug perscriptions.

Sometimes advertisements form tv. catches our attention very much.. but still, I see to consult a doctor first for the right drug to take..

I've known my doctor for about 20 years (in a social environment). I'm pretty sure I can trust him not to be swayed by TV commercials when he prescribes me medication :thumbsup Plus my Mom is a midwife so if I have any questions about "that part of me", she usually knows more than my doctor does, lol.

Commericals are just that - commercials. You really shouldn't buy ANYTHING based purely on a commerical. But people will. You can't prevent stupidity. Or is there a drug for that?

Not exactly a drug, but

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...2015418&q=ayds

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...6993925&q=ayds

If you have a medical condition, you should research it and find what you can find. That doesn't mean jumping on hype from shiny commercials. And if you feel your doc is just prescribing trendy drugs, then change docs!

Try watching the US broadcast news, lets say CBS. Count the drug commercials. It's insane ,lol. Personally, I'd ban them from advertising except their test results in JAMA.

Pretty sure it's one or the other.

Meaning, if they don't tell you what the drug is supposed to do, they don't have to tell you about its negative side effects.

Whereas if they address the purpose of the medication, they've also gotta tell you the risks.

My favorites are the "side effects" listed for sleeping medication - drowsiness is always included. Well, duh :)

Yea, that could be... I'm sure theres all kinds of regulation on what and how the drug companies can advertise

yeah, but the treatment from the medication out weights the side effects in most cases.

im on the side of modern medicine and pharmaceutical treament therapy, so as long as results from taking the drugs is less than the current state you are in, its an improvement.

i do agree tho that some meds have some seriously harmful side effects; sad that most people dont even research the drugs, they just trust the doctor.

Ive heard a few people that complain alot about pharmaceutical drugs, and I worked with some chick that thought it was killing society. people are entitled to their own opinions, just dont share them with me :winkwink:

there is always a risk involved in taking anything, even OTC meds but to what extent are you willing to go to get "better?" If you have a disease that is eating your flesh and your body is covered in scabs and there is a drug that will stop the disease from spreading, BUT will make you go blind in one eye would you take it?

We are being programmed by the pharma companies...

I think they are critical for health care, I just object to advertising as if they were breakfast cereal.

kill your television

i havent watched tv in over 7 months. Last thing I watched was a c-span senate thing, before that it was 6 months without.

Im aiming for full year this time.

commercials only matter to those who watch, remember...

"its not whats been selling, its what you're buying." - ian mackaye

do you actually take any meds yourself?

I also dont think I'm going to be covered in disease and desperately watching TV until my cure is advertised during a break in the Simpsons :)

Get TiVo for actual watching - the only time I hear commercials is when I have the TV on in the background during the day :) (the pugs like to watch it)

I used to take Lamisil for this fingernail shit I have. it started to do more harm then the acutal fingernail fungus was, so i stopped taking it. it was starting to destroy my liver and kill my red or white blood cell count, cant remember which one. regardless, im not going to risk my liver for pretty fingernails, ill find an alternative solution

however now im taking Wellbutrin for about 2 months. i was EXTREMELY tired and unmotivated to do anything. i went to the doctor got blood work done, etc nothing came back abnormal. i told him how i was so tired and unmotivated and he said it could be physical depression (not mental) and to try Wellbutrin. However, before i even poped 1 pill, i read up on the side effects and the drug. i weighed each and took the meds.

now i have some side effects, but i will deal with them than rather being tired and lazy all the time. so now, im motiviated, have energy and dont fall asleep during the day, BUT my hands and lips are really dry, and sometimes i get a little blurry vision.

damn thats fucked, you should go to your doctor to see what drugs you can take...

i wonder if they will ever advertise vicodin on tv?

With the migraine stuff, one of the main ones, Imitrex, wasn't even advertised until about 12 years after it came out. Ditto with Topomax (which I tried, but it didn't work). They are just now advertising it but I tried it about 6 years ago.

I get a lot more "ads" for medication from fellow migraine sufferers on message boards than on the TV. I'm ALWAYS begging my doctor to use me as a guinea pig for migraine stuff. So far, he still won't write me a prescrip for Viagra even though several migraine sufferers say it works, lol. But he told me a long time ago I know more than he does about migraine crap ;)

too funny.

i am medical marijuana user for Migraine.

http://www.accsocal.com

Migraine neurological drugs dont work. Which is why you have not found a cure for yours. I fear that type of medication. And I found a cure that actually WORKS, 100% of the time.

And the doctors can only "recommend" marijuana.

Have you asked your doctor about medical marijuana regarding Migraines?

celebrex was pulled too because it causes heart attacks and I can still buy it in my email.

As the song by Lazyboy, 'Underwear goes inside the pants' goes:

"You know we have more prescription drugs now.
Every commercial that comes on TV is a prescription drug ad.
I can?t watch TV for four minutes without thinking I have five serious diseases.
Like: ?Do you ever wake up tired in the morning??
Oh my god I have this, write this down. Whatever it is, I have it.
Half the time I don?t even know what the commercial is?
There's people running in fields or flying kites or swimming in the ocean.
I?m like that is the greatest disease ever. How do you get that?
That disease comes with a hot chick and a puppy."

They should start advertising 'E' on tv...

Drug companies are worse than the drug cartels.. I mean, these people deal powerful addictive chemicals out to people in a mass media market. The drugs these companies do deal are worse than most of the illicit drugs on the market...

Like people in this thread were saying... the side effects for some of these drugs are so insane that it is unbelievable the drug is legal. Most of the illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, cannabis, and others have MILD side effects compared to legal prescription drugs.

Btw, I believe the United States the most drug infected civilization the world has ever known. With 5% of the WORLD population, the US consumes 25% of all ILLEGAL drugs on the planet, and that is just illegal drugs. With all of the zombies walking around on clonazepam and alprazolam, etc... whew, who knows what % of the population is on some form of a psychoactive substance... including nicotine/caffeine, drug infested America...

Drug companies are why pot will never be legal.

No but I tried it myself - made them worse. He knows I tried too.

The Imitrex works better than anything including all the other triptans. Different things work for different people.

buddy take some MSM for your nails.. google. it.. natural and safe..

eh im into natural health and so is my aunt.. i helped my brother in law cure his migranes..

listen to me..whenever u have a condition, be it migranes, fungus, IBS, Constipation, constant headaches,acne, its your body telling you something is wrong... ALL those pharma products treat the symptom but do not cure you.. Why dont you try and find out why you have migranes and try to fix that.. People get Constipation, then they start taking meds which liquify everything and ur slowing killing urself..

however, if the constipated people took a lot of flaxseed and other fiber and ate right they wont need meds.. I guarantee you 90% of the people here that feel kinda sick or an on meds dont eat right..

cant eat all that pizza and drink all that beer and wonder why you are sick... feel me? Cut out everything not natural.. eat more raw and whole foods and eat enough fiber.. drink a lot of water and cut out soda 100%.. thats what cured my brother-in-laws migrane..

I crack up every time they say "common side affects are... dizzyness, diarea, cramping, upset stomach, ect " Why would I want to take that pill? lol

your brother in law has zero to do with a neurological disorder others have okay?

I am probably one of the most healthy people on this site.

I do not consume meat, aspartame, soda, high fructose syrup, fried foods, butter, cow milk, dairy, MSG etc... need i continue? I am a vegetarian. Have been for awhile now, and I feel great, but that dont stop Migraines. I dont even use a microwave. I have not eaten anything that was microwaved in a long time.

I consume daily: mushrooms, broccoli, organic produce, fruits, vegetables, those stupid Odwalla things, soy milk, lots of nuts and grains, my wife is big into things like quinoa, flax seeds, etc...

I appreciate your advice, and while it may help some rid their headaches (migraines arent even a headache), Ive had migraines since I was a kid. Im almost 31 now, and ive altered my consumption so much, the only thing I can give up next is working on a computer.

I did that for 7 months recently (7 month vacation from work) and it didnt help. While you may be correct, what we eat has a lot to do with our health, that in itself will not cure migraines, it is NEUROLOGICAL not diet.

relax buddy.. i 4got to add if you have a genetic condition or condition from birth then you cant help it.. but what you are eating is amazing bro good luck with it! but you do agree with me that at least 90% of the people that are sick are sick cuz of their lifestyle?

fletch i think you should research more about soy.... lotta controversy there.. just take goat milk or rice milk.

clearly. yes i agree.

wow, thats hardcore. i could never give up meat. do you have to take suppliments like a lot of vegetarians do? thats one main reason i've never bought into the whole vegetarian thing.

Nope, i slowly migrated to this way of living, and honestly I do not miss the meat. I have never enjoyed eating dead animals, I thought i had to, but as I educated myself I found that whole "where do you get your protein?" argument to be actually a falsehood.

When you eat the way I do, I actually get MORE protein, and MORE energy than before! I used to eat pizza and drink beer everyday like everyone else. But i stopped.

Now the things I eat really are like a fuel, and also help my body remain healthy - things like mushrooms, brocolli, lycopene etc... these are things my body lacked before, now I get them daily.

It took me 2 years to stop eating meat totally, which is average. I gave up red meat first, then slowly got rid of chicken, turkey etc... I dont eat fish either.

I quit smoking cigarettes years ago, if i could do that I can do anything. And so can you.

Well, then apparently my grandmother was taking eating all the wrong stuff, not living right, etc. She was born almost 100 years ago. She had migraines. As does my mother, my mother's sister had them (she's dead now), my female cousin has them and I have them. It's a hormonal thing - they all started when we were around 13 and started our periods. If eating a pizza caused them, then I'd like to know where my grandmother was finding pizza on her parent's large acreage farm in rural Arkansas!!

I’m of the opinion that most of the drugs cover up the pain and symptoms, but they don’t cure anything.

Nobody really cares about feeling so everyone numbs the hell out of bodies so they can destroy themselves.

it was in the WSJ 60% of people who see a drug on TV,will ask their doctor about it.scary isnt it

The real scary thing are the ads for non-drug pills - things like Headon - where they dont tell you once during the commercial what it will do - as a matter of fact the last time I looked at the store the box doesnt say what it will do either - and more importantly - it doesnt do anything - but millions and millions of bottles have been sold to people that think it does something - because they say to apply it to the forehead - it has no medication whatsoever in it - its a placebo :) What a racket

The second biggest trend is the new "sanitize everything in your house" and "dont let germs affect your life" ads - amazingly every one of those cleaning product companies is owned by a pharm group - because they know if we sanitize everything to where there are no germs left - we lose our resistance to disease and even common colds - which in the end lets them sell more drugs :)

Commercials are bad, mmmmkay?

Well the laws stat that IF they tell you what the drug does then they have to list all of the potential side affects and whatnot. This is why many ads just say "ask your doctor if 'name of drug here' is right for you".

Now THAT is the funniest thing I've read all day! :1orglaugh

Health care in America has gone to shit

Just stay away from all legal drugs lol.