Are the pharmaceutical companies just making stuff up now?

Question

Really, restless leg syndrome? Come on.

As if they weren't irresponsible enough before, it seems that they've gone completely out of control, especially with regard to their advertising.

Why advertise prescription drugs to people with no medical training? Why do they not suggest a healty diet and lifestyle, which I believe to be the answer to many of these seemingly made-up illness anyway.

And why do all of these drugs make you practice Tai-Chi in a field? It's never listed among the side effects?

I think there are serious differences in advertising a hambuerger (which many people eat on a regular basis) and medicine which most consumers do not have any basis for understanding.

What I find most objectionable is that advertisements seem to be oriented more toward convincing people that they have these afflictions, rather than providing people who have been properly diagnosed with treatment options.

As for the patient-doctor relationship, drug companies know very well how little attention most patients get from their doctors, and they also know that doctors will recognize the potential placebo effect of a drug that a patient beleives they need.

I find the whole thing sickeningly irresponsible.

Don't preach to me about restless leg syndrome. I made ONE passing reference to it and it obviously has little to do with the question.

Answer 1

'Restless legs' is real. It can be a symptom of other illnesses such as muscle disorders and probs.
I cant remember exactly how but it can be dealt with with supplements and diet etc and theres often no need for drugs. However the pharmaceutical chaps would make no profit from that so they invent a drug that isnt as needed as they say.Btw I am now of an age where I should take those menopausal tabs that give you a nice perm, a classically handsome husband and an ability to laugh in the face of the washing up. They dont work!

Answer 2

I'm sorry, I used to work for a pharmaceuical company but not in the last 2 years. This question seems naive. Sorry if it sounds offensive but it does.

The Pharma Industry works under the tightest rules of any industry outside of the nuclear power industry. They cannot claim anything which cannot be substantiated without clear clinical trial data. In the UK, non-prescription drugs cannot be advertised. This is not the case in the US. Long may the UK system continue, where trained professionals decide your treatement rather than TV.

If we all followed a proper diet and lifestyle, the majority wouldn't need drug to put them right. We all know what a proper lifestyle should be but how many of us actually follow it?

We ask medicine to make up the difference between what we know we should be doing and what we actually have been doing for the last 20 years. If that sounds like a big ask, don't expect miracles from that tablet the doctor prescribes.

Restelss leg syndrome may sound trivial to some but we've all been jolted awake by that twitching leg just as we were dropping off. Imagine you life were dominated by that twitch.. Is it so trivial now.

Just because Cystic Fibrosis affects less than 0.1% the population, do we not treat it? Is not, exclusivity of requirement not a definitor of cost? I don't know the answers..

I suspect the pharma companies could ultimately cure diseases like asthma, diabetes. It's far more profitable to treat the symptoms for life than to. That may be unkind but I am not so sure.

As for alternative medicine. There is no clinical evidence either way [esp re: thai chi]. The medical profession has the position that happy people, for some unknown reason, tend to live longer than miserable people in similar circumstances. If Thai chi makes you happy then it's clearly goof for your health...a bit.My wife uses the same argument for chocolate.

The exercise it gives you is probhably better.

Answer 3

Those commercials are like any other commercials - they are marketing ploys. They don't make you do Tai Chi any more than Coca Cola makes old men ride motorcycles, or Burger King drops flame broiled patties on midgets.

The advertisements are designed to get people to talk to their doctors about it. Unless the doctor is a quack (decent chance there) there is no reason for a doctor to prescribe something for someone who just walks in asking for it.

Restless leg is very real and has been a problem for many many years. Early studies were done by Thomas Willis (1622-1675) and by Theodor Wittmaack. Another early description of the disease and its symptoms were made by George Miller Beard (1839-1883).

Pharma companies (yes I worked in them, I am a PhD chemist) are out to make a buck meeting needs, like anyone else.

I agree many drugs (especially Ritalin) are grossly overperscribed, but this problem resides with doctor-patient relatioships, not the companies who make the drugs.

The reason many of these conditions are getting attention now is that we are SO healthy, relatively speaking, that we now notice these little annoyances. 100 years ago your principle health concerns were avoiding black lung, dying in a construction accident, getting shot in a war, cutting yourself and dying of an infection, horrendous flu strains, a heart attack by age 40, death in childbirth, measles etc. You were too busy dodging very serious threats to your health to notice the smaller ones. Now that most people live most of their lives (until near the end anyways) without any of these serious problems, we notice these funny things.

Kind of like a dripping faucet. If your roof is leaking water everywhere, or your kitchen is on fire, you don't notice it. But if everything is perfect and quiet, it will drive you crazy.

If you want to know about how this kind of research is actually done, feel free to ask.

Answer 4

Wow. You hit the nail on the head. I once heard two Doctors (cardiologists) discussing patient protocall and revenues. If a patient didn't have heart disease when they came into their office, they did by the time they left. Currently the biggest affliction that america suffers is everyone is trying to screw everyone out of a buck. Drug companies, oil companies, Doctors, lawyers, you are correct it is sickening. It is an issue that our society must deal with somehow.
Is restless leg syndrome when your leg bounces under the desk when you are too focused on what you are doing??? :-)

Answer 5

I find that your willingness to lay blame based on ignorance is sickeningly irresponsible. If you would bother to do even a cursory search of the peer reviewed literature, you would realize that *thousands* of scientific and clinical papers have been published on restless leg syndrome.

Further, the term restless legs syndrome (RLS) was used initially in the 1940s by Swedish neurologist Karl A. Ekbom to describe a disorder characterized by sensory-motor symptoms of the limbs, mainly during rest. However, early descriptions date back to the 1600s.

Please get your facts in line before you libel an industry.

Answer 6

Yes in fact they are. The US Code of Federal Regulations, volume 21 (21CFR) states that only a drug can cure a disease (really, I'm not making this up, that's what it says). So pharmaceutical companies make millions by having everyday problems like common heartburn re-classified as a disease. Once classified as a disease, big surprise, only the pharmaceutical company's product can "diagnose, treat, cure or prevent" that disease.
"Ask your doctor"

Answer 7

I am sure you will get all kinds of doctors and medical professionals shout you down over this question, but I agree. I think people in the medical field are trained crooks. Either that or they are just too stupid and up themselves to know any better.

Answer 8

Are these genuine facts you have stated or just your opinions, I think you are in danger of confusing personal opinions with true facts and I would suggest you do a lot more research before making wild allegations.

P.S I have nothing to do with the pharmaceutical industry

Answer 9

I think I've just fallen in love *sighhhhhh* lol