Big Pharma advertising (depression, doctor, prescriptions, insurance)
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I can`t help wondering if being bombarded with pharmaceutical advertising has created a whole class of hypochondriacs. People that have dealt successfully all of their lives with some minor annoyance may be seeing pills that they think will help them. The drug that could easily retail for $300 a month can be had for $20 because insurance and/or Medicare/Medicaid pays the rest. I`ve always thought that my doctors know what medicine I should be taking but now that medicine will cost more because we pay for the advertising. New Zealand is the only other country that tolerates this madness. What`s wrong with NZ, I have no idea.
Rx advertising is nothing new, it's been around since 1981 when Merck started advertising their pneumonia vaccine. People didn't suddenly get pneumonia. People didn't suddenly need a shot, when they didn't need one previously. What happened, was a new drug that didn't previously exist, became available to help prevent people from getting sick in the first place.
What's new, is that some cable stations, streaming "with ads" companies, and late-night shows are showing the same ads over and over again, drilling it into your brain that the drugs exist and might be helpful to problems you have had, but haven't discussed yet with your doctor.
If you've had rashes you didn't want to mention, or didn't have the last time you saw a doctor, well now you know there's a cream that MIGHT be useful. And maybe it'll convince you to make a doctor's appointment to discuss the rash. The doctor might say "nope that won't help, wrong kind of rash" or he might say "yeah we'll give you the low-dose prescription in a small tube, if it helps we'll prescribe the higher dose." or he might do something else.
But until that ad showed up on your screen, you probably had no idea that it might be worth talking to your doctor about at all. Now you know it's worth at least a discussion, because there might be something you can DO about it.
Advertising is all about creating a demand for a product.
I mean, why else have Lady Gaga do an ad for a pharmaceutical company?
More frightening, pill companies offer incentives to doctors to prescribe expensive meds, when they are not necessarily needed, or a cheaper yet equally effective drug is available.
My husband's doc gave him a month's supply of a drug "free", but research revealed that
1) it wasn't considered that effective,
2) once you started, you shouldn't stop taking it, and
3) it was crazy expensive.
found a new doc that agreed that pill wasn't a good choice.
Rx advertising is nothing new, it's been around since 1981 when Merck started advertising their pneumonia vaccine. People didn't suddenly get pneumonia. People didn't suddenly need a shot, when they didn't need one previously. What happened, was a new drug that didn't previously exist, became available to help prevent people from getting sick in the first place.
What's new, is that some cable stations, streaming "with ads" companies, and late-night shows are showing the same ads over and over again, drilling it into your brain that the drugs exist and might be helpful to problems you have had, but haven't discussed yet with your doctor.
If you've had rashes you didn't want to mention, or didn't have the last time you saw a doctor, well now you know there's a cream that MIGHT be useful. And maybe it'll convince you to make a doctor's appointment to discuss the rash. The doctor might say "nope that won't help, wrong kind of rash" or he might say "yeah we'll give you the low-dose prescription in a small tube, if it helps we'll prescribe the higher dose." or he might do something else.
But until that ad showed up on your screen, you probably had no idea that it might be worth talking to your doctor about at all. Now you know it's worth at least a discussion, because there might be something you can DO about it.
I think that most people would have the sense to consult their doctor without one of these obnoxious ads. They always have.
I'd think, though I don't know, that the side effects the drug companies are required by the FDA to disclose in those ads would be off-putting to some viewers who might otherwise be piqued by the mention of a "new miracle drug" that if you believe those ads, at least imply that not just your medical health, but all aspects, including your social life, will be greatly improved, thanks to the drug.
I have been told by a few docs over the years that they've had patients who demand drugs they've seen advertised, indicated or not, and some of them have gotten aggressive in their demands if the doc refuses to write the prescriptions they want. This despite the docs explaining to each patient why they don't need it.
As a pharmacist, it was a nightmare when drug companies started advertising (I am not talk about vaccines)
1) Everybody wants em
2) Everybody wants them without realizing the cost (If it's advertised on TV and magazines, you know damn well that it's expensive O O O Ozempic is well over 1000.00 a month) When I told patients the cost or their very high co-pay, they got mad at me and not their doctor or drug company
3) Doctors have no idea what a drug costs the patient. Or even what a Medicare Part D donut hole (coverage gap) is and what that does to patients payments.
4) Doctors prescribe what the last good looking sales person suggested without really looking at adverse effects and contraindications (I should say most doctors)
Welllll, as someone who certainly gets bombarded with the same big pharma ads as other people I haven't noticed myself becoming a hypochondriac. While I'd say I have been made forcibly aware of more health conditions I could end up with and all the products available to treat them, that doesn't translate into me worrying about them. Its more what a person does because of all that information: worry, demand, assume. etc.
I grew up with a pretty accomplished hypochondriac so sense I understand the difference between being health conscious and hypochondria. That isn't just about healthper se but it is one manifestation of another problem: anxiety, insecurity, control, and depression.
Last edited by Parnassia; 01-23-2024 at 05:59 PM..
Welllll, as someone who certainly gets bombarded with the same big pharma ads as other people I haven't noticed myself becoming a hypochondriac. While I'd say I have been made forcibly aware of more health conditions I could end up with and all the products available to treat them, that doesn't translate into me worrying about them. Its more what a person does because of all that information: worry, demand, assume. etc.
I grew up with a pretty accomplished hypochondriac so sense I understand the difference between being health conscious and hypochondria. That isn't just about healthper se but it is one manifestation of another problem: anxiety, insecurity, control, and depression.
I think that most people would have the sense to consult their doctor without one of these obnoxious ads. They always have.
I've had insomnia all my adult life. I always said if they ever come up with a pill that would make me sleep soundly every night, I'd ask my doctor for it. I'd never discussed my insomnia with my doctor, because there were no sleep centers, or sleep medicine, other than Sominex which didn't really help me. I'd tried meditation, I cut out red meats, I tried focused breathing and exercise and all kinds of other things, and eventually just gave up trying anything new. I accepted that I'd be stuck being an insomniac.
And then - I saw an ad on TV for a new sleep medicine called Lunesta. It described the kind of sleep problems I had. And so I went to my doctor and asked him about it. I never would have done that if my attention hadn't been directed to an advertisement. Turned out I wasn't a candidate for Lunesta, but my doctor did put me on Ambien - something that was also very new, and that my insurance covered.
Advertisements can get people to discuss things with their doctors that they might not have considered discussing previously. Just like me. I'm not a snowflake, I'm not unique. There are lots of people who have lots of odd little things going on with their health that they never even think about bringing up with their doctors. Advertisements can nudge them in the direction of a productive discussion.
MrsM worked for a wonderful young MD for years. He was top of his specialty. Pepple from all over the world and the US came to him
About 10 years, or so, he suddenly retired. We went out to dinner with Doc and his wife before he left town. I asked him why he quit while young and on top.
He said 3 things:
1) He could afford to
2) He was sick and tired of people coming to him telling him what meds they wanted before he even examined them
3) He hated it when many patients brought him reams of Google pages telling him what was wrong with them before examining them. (He told me that he would shred the Google pages in front of them without even looking. He told the that he was their doctor and he would decide----He kept a shredder in each exam room) He was not arrogant, he was compassionate and excellent
Doc and MrsDoc are now happily gentlemen farmers and loving life
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