Prescription drug ads

[Rhea]

Hey now. I have some pretty gnarly RLS. My legs twitch like mad whenever I lay down and the ridiculous urge to move keeps me up at all hours of the night. I was pretty stoked when they had commercials about it up because I know it's pretty common and is keeping many people from getting the sleep they need.
*rant over*


Yeah. ED commercials and the like are pretty embarassing to watch with the family.

[hunterjenn]

I figure the ED commercials are no more irritating for us than the yeast infection commercials are for my husband.

From a marketing standpoint, Rx companies are commercial companies, just like everything else. Most conditions have more than one drug treatment option, so companies are just fighting to get the name of their product some exposure. I would imagine they figure that if you have that condition, you might go to your doctor and ask to try their product. I know I've considered it for my migraines. We're a capitalist country! What can ya do?

[flea]

Just as a comment about the fact that some people take far, far, far too many pills every day... One of the biggest problems in the growing population of older adults is polypharmacy.

They don't know why they take what they take. The doctor prescribed it, never bothered to find out what some other specialist might have prescribed as well, and the client gets the 'scrip filled and starts popping the pills. They never think to doubt the doctor because they were all conditioned to think of doctors as infallible and buy into that whole paternal structure of old medicine.

As a brand spankin' new nurse I've been struggling to make extra time with my patients to educate them on their medicines. It's my job to watch out for double/triple coverage of certain symptoms and make sure it doesn't continue. It's hard, very hard. There's not a whole ton of time to spend with med education, but you just have to make it. I consider it one of the most important aspects of nursing.

[kellyh57]

Just as a comment about the fact that some people take far, far, far too many pills every day... One of the biggest problems in the growing population of older adults is polypharmacy.

They don't know why they take what they take. The doctor prescribed it, never bothered to find out what some other specialist might have prescribed as well, and the client gets the 'scrip filled and starts popping the pills. They never think to doubt the doctor because they were all conditioned to think of doctors as infallible and buy into that whole paternal structure of old medicine.

AMEN! The medical staff does their best, but the patients don't mention ALL the drugs they have. I've heard so many horror stories about people taking contridicting medications and whatnot. They think since a drug isn't being used for the condition they are talking about, they don't need to mention it. We've tried to get my grandma to keep a list of all of her medications/doses, etc, but she could care less. Then she gets meds from Mexico and her pharmacist has no clue what all she's on. I think our country is WAY to medicated and we need some sort of regulation on it!

Kelly

[Vendie]

[soapbox]
The effectiveness of DTC (direct to consumer) ads are constantly a topic of debate among those watching the industry. But like Jen said, the pharmaceutical industry is a for profit industry, so marketing is part of the game.

The reason you see ads that don't tell you what the drug does is b/c of rules that the FDA has established. If you say what the drug does, you have to list all the adverse side effects too.

Drug companies don't invent conditions for their drugs. Just b/c it's not a well known condition (like RLS) doesn't mean that it's not a valid one.

[/soapbox]

[orcoastknitter]

I have learned about herpes and ED more than I ever wanted to know.

I wonder how many men have gone into the ER with an erection lasting longer than 4 hours?

[hunterjenn]

It happens! My husband used to work in the ER--he saw a few cases.

Re: the overmedication, Kelly makes a good point. Doctors & nurses can only do their best with the information they've been given.

To some extent, I think it's a generational problem. Many seniors come from an era when doctors were NOT questioned. These days we go in with our own ideas of what we might have, and the knowledge that if we don't like what we're told, we can seek another opinion.

Which, to bring things full-circle (), is why drug companies advertise. They know that if you're not completely happy with the drug you're on, you'll be looking for other options.

[Wench]

Which, to bring things full-circle (), is why drug companies advertise. They know that if you're not completely happy with the drug you're on, you'll be looking for other options.

Well, and having all of those options isn't necessarily bad. Different drugs will affect different people in different ways. To illustrate, the first BC pill I was on gave me cramps so horrible that for two weeks out of the month, I was getting out of bed doubled over, and couldn't straighten out until I'd been in the shower for a good five minutes.

So, I went to my doctor and asked for something else. The pill I'm on now is awesome.

It's the same deal for many other conditions or purposes. There's a variety of drugs that may or may not help you. I don't think that asking for something else if what you have isn't working is bad, it's just taking good care of yourself. I think everyone deserves to have as good a quality of life as possible. Do the drug companies and your doctor make money? Yup, but... so do you. Everyone has to make a living somehow, and honestly, there are less ethical ways to do it!

That being said, I do agree that there are a lot of people who are WAY overmedicated.

[kbagel]

I'm actually working in pharmaceutical advertising right now. I was recently laid off at my old ad agency and I'm doing freelance currently. The amount of money the pharma companies spend is off the hook. I'm young, I haven't been in the industry that long, and my hourly rate is not that high compared to other people I'm working with. I'm just going to say that I make my monthly rent in one day of work. I really hate working in pharma and am looking really hard for a new job at a consumer agency.

[Kaydee]

I'm just going to say that I make my monthly rent in one day of work.

Whoa, baby! I work in healthcare but maybe I need to change over to the pharma industry. J/K. But seriously its crazy the amount of money the pharm companies spend not only on advertising but other things as well. We have drug reps bringing in lunch for our office everyday (not that I'm complaining). They also sponser speakers from around the country and many times around the world so they can come present cases to our docs, and their paying for hotels, airfare, etc for the speaker. And we wonder why the cost of prescription drugs is so high.