Yeah, there ain’t no business like the business I got. A business I want no part of. A business I was thrust into.
What business? The pharmaceutical business. The profit driven, multi-billion dollar industry that churns out new miracle drugs that turn out to be no miracle. That sometime turn out to be a minor alteration, useless or harmful.
Listen to American advertisement for new anti-depressant medication. The list of potential side effects are rapidly rambled through in the last 5 seconds. The side effects seem endless and contradictory, such as may cause drowsiness or insomnia. What the hell is that? The entire thrust of these ads is to prompt patients or, I presume, people who have diagnosed themselves to demand these drugs from their doctors.
In Canada, advertising medication is illegal but I am Canadian and as you can see I know as much about advertising of medication from U.S. television and print. The difference I can’t go to my doctor and prescribe these drugs for myself.
Most other countries also prohibit for a couple of sound reasons. Medicines are different from consumer products because of the harm they can cause if they are used when they are not needed or not used the right way. As well, a seriously ill person has much more to lose from an advertiser’s false promises than someone buying a new car or other product.
Still, I found myself in the middle of the pharmaceutical industry. At the beginning of this year I looked in my medicine cabinet, counted the amount of drugs I was taking and did some research into them.
The results were ugly. It was uglier that I was just taking them.
I had become a consumer. I felt like a mark at a carnival game. I was customer and the best kind. I was buying products without asking any questions. What was I doing or swallowing? I didn’t know.
Doctor’s prescribed. I ingested. Doctors knew more about medications than I did. I just went along with them blindly. I accepted their wisdom, their expertise and judgement without thought. At that point I didn’t really have any thoughts to bring to any conversation we had.
The truth is that I was willingly ignorant. I didn’t want to know. I wanted to leave my health to someone else, someone smarter than me, someone who knew me better than I know me.
The truth is I had no idea what medications I was taking.
Now I have become more involved. I’m making the effort to be a partner in my treatment.
And now the story trails off…because I’m not sure of the outcome.
bipolar circus 