Selling disease, or how big pharma drives up the cost of your healthcare by

[HysteryDiagnosis]

hawking magic in a pill for each and every symptom you may not have.

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/video/230-the_business_of_disease.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Mother's Little Helper for everything

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfGYSHy1jQs

[still_one]

2. I don't agree with the television advertising, however, it still comes down to the doctor who

prescribes it, not the drug company who makes it

[Arkansas Granny]

3. Sometimes it seems that the list of possible side effects is worse

than the condition that the drug being advertised will supposedly cure. But, be sure to ask your doctor about . . . .

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. What they emphatically fail to do is list what the side effects of some very important

minerals in your body may be... or rather the lack of. Never once will they state "Hey, we have this great little chemical to calm your legs, BUT you may only need to have your iron levels checked and take the proper action"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19230757

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a primary disorder of sensation that affects sleep and has been associated with iron deficiency. The purpose of this study was to determine if symptomatic RLS patients with low-normal serum ferritin levels benefit from oral iron replacement.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded study. Eligible patients were randomized to oral iron therapy vs. appearance-matched placebo and followed over a 12 week period.

RESULTS: Baseline International Restless Leg Scale (IRLS) scores for the treatment (24.8+/-5.72) and placebo (23.0+/-5.03) groups were similar. Baseline ferritin levels for the treatment (40.6+/-15.3ng/ml) and placebo (36.7+/-20.8ng/ml) groups were also similar. After 12 weeks, IRLS scores decreased more in the treatment arm (10.3+/-7.40) than in the placebo arm (1.14+/-5.64), (p=0.01). Ferritin levels increased more in the treatment arm (25.1+/-20.3ng/ml) than in the placebo arm (7.5+/-13.7ng/ml), (p=0.04). We observed a nonsignificant trend toward improved quality of life in the treated patients, (p=0.07).

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first double-blinded, placebo-controlled study to demonstrate statistically significant improvement in RLS symptoms using oral iron therapy in patients with low-normal ferritin. The findings from this study suggest that additional larger randomized placebo-controlled trials of iron as treatment for patients with low-normal ferritin are warranted.

[BuddhaGirl]

5. Inventing disease

courtesy of Big Pharma.

Blech :puke:

[SidDithers]

6. It's much more cost effective to buy just one pill that treats everything...

from the Life Extension Foundation.

Sid