Googling your Symptoms:

[samosa4u]

When will I learn to stop googling my symptoms?

If I have a tightness in my chest, and I type that in, it will tell me this:

You are having a HEART ATTACK! Go to your nearest ER now!

I am having constipation and stomach ache:

Any changes in bowel habits could mean COLON CANCER!

I get a headache 3 days in a row:

Could be a TUMOR or a STROKE might be coming!

Seriously, F OFF Google!

[njdunkin1]

Never trust WebMD, they'll tell you you're basically dying.

[Peter_Spaeth]

The internet is for the most part incredibly helpful in terms of making medical information available. The wealth of information out there is staggering. and if one is judicious one learns to weed out the BS. I cannot imagine having to rely entirely on a doctor.

[ALR-bishop]

You could just ask Siri or Alexa how you are doing

[Stonepony]

I'm a physician and a couple years ago my pregnant, paranoid daughter text me at 2 am. She'd been itching terrible since 32 weeks gestation. She text " I have
Cholestasis of pregnancy!!!". She'd been on the internet and was convinced. I text her a smart remark about being a nut and told her to stay off the internet about medical issues. I'd never heard of it but there is a high incidence of sudden late term death and the recommendation is preterm delivery. She saw her OB who hadn't really heard of it. She demanded blood test even though he thought she was a nut. 2 weeks later she was induced preterm with a diagnosis of Cholestasis of pregnancy. My granddaughter is beautiful!!
With that being said, the art of medicine goes a little beyond an Internet read, but always discuss with your Dr

[barrysloate]

Do you ever watch the endless commercials on TV for various pharmaceuticals, and then listen to the side effects: "this medication could cause blindness, deafness, heart attack, stroke, fallen arches, hysterical pregnancies, scurvy, madness, dry mouth, and may even lead to death."

It's usually along those lines. And yet the ads are apparently effective, and people who feel ill will go to their physicians and request those very same medicines.

[ALR-bishop]

....and always follow the directions

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Do you ever watch the endless commercials on TV for various pharmaceuticals, and then listen to the side effects: "this medication could cause blindness, deafness, heart attack, stroke, fallen arches, hysterical pregnancies, scurvy, madness, dry mouth, and may even lead to death."

It's usually along those lines. And yet the ads are apparently effective, and people who feel ill will go to their physicians and request those very same medicines.

People just tune that noise at the end out and focus on the happy people in the ads who are all better. As you point out, it's almost comical when the announcers read them.

[frankbmd]

John Moschitta could make a fortune doing pharmaceutical ads. He’d knock off the side effects in 10 seconds giving viewers more time to ogle the actors.

But the actors in the advertising should actually have the disease that the drug they are promoting is intended for. Before and after pictures of patients taking some of drugs advertised could adversely affect sales though.

Live longer ads for fatal diseases are deceptive because the increased longevity is sometimes measured in months (or even weeks) and often not many. Live longer ads imply that the medication has essentially no curative potential.

[Stonepony]

My favorites are crazy supplements with " years of studies and trials" that will treat your baldness, prostate etc but " are not intended to treat, diagnose, prevent or cure any diseases ".... wtf!

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

People just tune that noise at the end out and focus on the happy people in the ads who are all better. As you point out, it's almost comical when the announcers read them.

It is indeed funny to see just how happy those people appear to be. They are running and jumping and dancing and laughing and having the time of their lives. It astonishes me that consumers buy into this, but apparently they do.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Stonepony

My favorites are crazy supplements with " years of studies and trials" that will treat your baldness, prostate etc but " are not intended to treat, diagnose, prevent or cure any diseases ".... wtf!

That's the state of the regulatory regime -- you can make these claims if you follow it up with a boilerplate disclaimer.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

It is indeed funny to see just how happy those people appear to be. They are running and jumping and dancing and laughing and having the time of their lives. It astonishes me that consumers buy into this, but apparently they do.

And there's always ten seconds or so showing the patient meeting with his or her sincere and concerned doctor, and nodding thoughtfully.

[pawpawdiv9]

During the weekdays, at 2:30am the show "the doctors' is on and boy the crazy shat I seen so far. Just Friday was about your butt itching may be from anal worms. EEKS!!!
DUDES!!! WASH YOUR HANDS!!!!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Stonepony

My favorites are crazy supplements with " years of studies and trials" that will treat your baldness, prostate etc but " are not intended to treat, diagnose, prevent or cure any diseases ".... wtf!

The alternative/integrative medicine world is truly a morass IMHO. But for economic reasons, mainstream institutions seem to be adopting it and offering it to their patients. E.g. the Cleveland Clinic and Brigham and Women's Hospital here in Boston.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

And there's always ten seconds or so showing the patient meeting with his or her sincere and concerned doctor, and nodding thoughtfully.

For a lot of America they get told who their doctor is. I think they care but our system sucks bad. (imo)

As for the commercials and the endless side effects of curing the sniffles, they are a cause for laughter almost each time. It's like, ok, I have a headache and if I take this medicine it may cause internal bleeding, diarrhea, swollen glands, scoliosis and a whole litany of side effects up to and including, death. How many do I take?
.

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by Leon

For a lot of America they get told who their doctor is. I think they care but our system sucks bad. (imo)

As for the commercials and the endless side effects of curing the sniffles, they are a cause for laughter almost each time. It's like, ok, I have a headache and if I take this medicine it may cause internal bleeding, diarrhea, swollen glands, scoliosis and a whole litany of side effects up to and including, death. How many do I take?
.

After you hear the litany of side effects, doesn't it cross your mind that maybe this medicine just isn't as safe as it should be?

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

After you hear the litany of side effects, doesn't it cross your mind that maybe this medicine just isn't as safe as it should be?

CYA, Barry. You gotta keep the lawyers quiet.

I like to track the time between the initial release of a new medicine and the first ad regarding a class action lawsuit if you’ve taken that medicine.

[barrysloate]

I'm sure you have some amazing stories to tell Frank. But I'm guessing you won't be telling them on a public chatboard.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

CYA, Barry. You gotta keep the lawyers quiet.

I like to track the time between the initial release of a new medicine and the first ad regarding a class action lawsuit if you’ve taken that medicine.

I recommend "Pharmageddon" by David Healy, M.D.

[ruth-gehrig]

I've always found it peculiar that pharmaceutical companies feel the need to market their prescription meds to us through commercials. If they can't convince the doctors that we need one of their drugs they'll hit up the consumer and hope they go bug their physician about it and convince them that it's needed.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by ruth-gehrig

I've always found it peculiar that pharmaceutical companies feel the need to market their prescription meds to us through commercials. If they can't convince the doctors that we need one of their drugs they'll hit up the consumer and hope they go bug their physician about it and convince them that it's needed.

With all the disclaimers in the last 30 seconds about how the drug could kill or maim you and cause everything else under the sun, I am surprised the ads work -- assuming they do. The people playing those caring doctors and the trusting patients crack me up. A more realistic ad would show a doctor running an hour late and barely listening while typing into his or her laptop. OK, to be fair, not all are like that.

[ruth-gehrig]

Watch any of those commercials with the tv muted and it's impossible to accurately guess what condition the drug is designed to treat.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by ruth-gehrig

Watch any of those commercials with the tv muted and it's impossible to accurately guess what condition the drug is designed to treat.

The depression ones have women with those studied sad looks.

[ruth-gehrig]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The depression ones have women with those studied sad looks.

I would have guessed her husband just got a Viagra script and she wasn't to happy about it

[barrysloate]

I regularly watch the Evening News at 6:30, and that's a show whose audience is clearly 50 and older. I would say that every commercial during the half hour is pharmaceutical. It's rare to find one that isn't. The industry has literally bought that time slot on all the major networks. So the advertising is clearly working.

I think it's because as we get older and sicker, we get more depressed, and the people in the commercials are having more fun than the viewers could ever imagine. Take the meds for a couple of weeks and you'll be dancing, hiking, biking, laughing, and will surely have a more active social life. It may never occur to those watching that these are actors reading a script and not actual patients. They have probably never even taken that medication.