# Dumbest Medical things on TV/Commercials



## Deltachange (Jun 5, 2011)

If there is a thread, its so old that I don't want to Necro it.

Heard this one today while watching TV, wondered if you all had some.

This is a supplement for _Post Menopausal_ women, it should not be taken if you are pregnant, may become pregnant, or are breast feeding.

I was shocked into silence.


----------



## bigbaldguy (Jun 5, 2011)

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/pregnant-at-70/


----------



## JPINFV (Jun 5, 2011)

Deltachange said:


> This is a supplement for _Post Menopausal_ women, it should not be taken if you are pregnant, may become pregnant, or are breast feeding.



How many women are perimenopausal who think they are post menopausal? What about IVF?

My personal pet peeve for false advertising was the "man gives birth" where the man was a FTM transexual. Sure, you may be transitioning and presenting as a man, but if the plumbing still intact, I'm not going to be shocked if it's still working.


----------



## IAems (Jun 5, 2011)

*"Ask your doctor if . . ."*

It's not specific, but this one always bugged me: "Ask your doctor if blah blah is right for you."  If I have to ask my doctor whether he put me on the right medications, I'm finding a new doctor.  I wouldn't ask my lawyer if he should argue Tinker v. Des Moines, or ask an IT guy if he remembered Ctrl+Alt+Del, but I digress.  I remember some anti-depressant commercial starting off with, "Do you ever feel sad or lonely?"  apparently suggesting that the human condition requires medicating:unsure:


----------



## usalsfyre (Jun 5, 2011)

Prescription drug advertising to the general public pretty well pisses me off all the way around.


----------



## loves2(k)box84 (Jun 5, 2011)

How about all the annoying, "If you took x drug and now have y disease, you may be entitled to a settlement! Call 1800 bottom feeding attorneys today!" Every time I turn on the TV, there seems to be a new one!


----------



## Deltachange (Jun 5, 2011)

Warning taking this antidepressant may cause an increase in suicidal thoughts.


----------



## TransportJockey (Jun 5, 2011)

Deltachange said:


> Warning taking this antidepressant may cause an increase in suicidal thoughts.



Actually that's a very valid, real, and dangerous side effect of a lot of antidepressents, especially in the teens to mid-20's age range. Unfortunately that's one I found out first hand.


----------



## Deltachange (Jun 5, 2011)

TransportJockey said:


> Actually that's a very valid, real, and dangerous side effect of a lot of antidepressents, especially in the teens to mid-20's age range. Unfortunately that's one I found out first hand.



I was going to edit it got called away, I was going to add a caveat that while it is true, you would think the company would figure out a way to stop that. Unfortunately most companies just want the money.

Transport Jockey, IDK your story, and I hope you know that was not making light of the people that statement has affected, just an observation that it is dumb and they should work on fixing it.


----------



## JPINFV (Jun 5, 2011)

If pharm companies could simply do away with all side effects, don't you think they would? This is, of course, not counting the fact that the mechanism of action for most psychiatric pharmaceuticals are unknown past what they do to the receptor. Most psych drugs take a week or two before the benefits kick in, hence part of the problem with understanding exactly what they do do.


----------



## dixie_flatline (Jun 5, 2011)

IAems said:


> It's not specific, but this one always bugged me: "Ask your doctor if blah blah is right for you."  If I have to ask my doctor whether he put me on the right medications, I'm finding a new doctor.  I wouldn't ask my lawyer if he should argue Tinker v. Des Moines, or ask an IT guy if he remembered Ctrl+Alt+Del, but I digress.  I remember some anti-depressant commercial starting off with, "Do you ever feel sad or lonely?"  apparently suggesting that the human condition requires medicating:unsure:



While I agree with you, I think the aim of the commercial is to get the patient to ask for the drug, specifically.  Instead of "Doc, I feel so sad all the time, help," the drug company wants you to say "Hey doc, do you think that Amazocillin would be good for me? I heard somewhere that it might cure my my depression AND my ED".


----------



## 281mustang (Jun 5, 2011)

Deltachange said:


> I was going to edit it got called away, I was going to add a caveat that while it is true, you would think the company would figure out a way to stop that. Unfortunately most companies just want the money.


 Everything within the body is interconnected, creating a substance that does only one intended action is harder than you think. 

The body has a natural process that has taken millions of years to get to where is is now. If you want to exploit major components of those processes for your benifit than you're going to have to deal with less-than-ideal performance of all the other jobs that the specific area is responsible for. 

If you want to inhibit the reuptake of seratonin in your brain that's fine, just don't be surprised if that isn't the sole side effect. Nothing in life is free. You have to weigh the pros/cons and make your decision accordingly.

Edit- 

<---- Just took 50 mg's of 5-HTP with breakfast this morning, FWIW.


----------



## firecoins (Jun 6, 2011)

Athlete's foot looks like a foot on fire.


----------



## Martyn (Jun 12, 2011)

ED drug adverts "Please call your doctor if you have an erection lasting more than four hours", I always add "If you have an erection lasting more than six hours, call the Guiness Book of Records!!!"


----------



## Martyn (Jun 12, 2011)

...and while we are on this topic, why, oh why, oh why is it that just as I am about to sit down for dinner etc an advert for vaginal fungus, foot rot, ED drugs ALWAYS seem to be aired?


----------



## usafmedic45 (Jun 12, 2011)

> ED drug adverts "Please call your doctor if you have an erection lasting more than four hours", I always add "If you have an erection lasting more than six hours, call the Guiness Book of Records!!!"



...until you realize the effects that priapism actually can have if left untreated.


----------



## medichopeful (Jun 12, 2011)

Martyn said:


> ED drug adverts "Please call your doctor if you have an erection lasting more than four hours", I always add "If you have an erection lasting more than six hours, call the Guiness Book of Records!!!"



To quote _Walk Hard_, "if you have an erection lasting more than four hours, call more ladies!"


----------



## firetender (Jun 12, 2011)

*Lifting the veil*

When drug companies invest so much momey into advertising so that the regular folks...their true CONSUMERS...are directed to get their doctor to prescribe medications to them it becomes apparent that Physicians are now clearly DISPENSERS of medicaments that are most profitable to the drug companies.

Medicine is about supply and demand controlled by perceived need. So much of it today is DIRECTED by Profit, it is disgusting. The truth is, that is what medicine has been for the most part in these United States from the beginning; it's the American Way!


----------



## Pudge40 (Jun 16, 2011)

I heard a radio commercial for I forget the name of it. It was for shift work disorder. Apparently if you are tired at work you may have this "disorder."


----------



## Sako887 (Jun 17, 2011)

I wonder how many people actually call for the settlement commercials...


----------



## mycrofft (Jun 17, 2011)

*Read John Grisham's "The King Of Torts" and "The Rainmaker".*

Yes, both.


----------



## mycrofft (Jun 17, 2011)

*I "like" the medical examiners/CSI's busting doors and making arrests.*

Like paleontologists putting out forest fires or cloning dinos in their camp.


----------



## DillR (Jul 3, 2011)

I forgot the name but it was for an ED medication:
"some patients reported heart complications after taking (drug), its not certain that (drug) caused these complications.
My buddy said "and we DARE you to prove it."
I was rolling, maybe you had to have been there... :S


----------



## Cup of Joe (Jul 3, 2011)

DillR said:


> I forgot the name but it was for an ED medication:
> "some patients reported heart complications after taking (drug), its not certain that (drug) caused these complications.
> My buddy said "and we DARE you to prove it."
> I was rolling, maybe you had to have been there... :S



"I had no previous heart issues, until I took (drug)."

"Lets say this was a murder trial and you were a member of the jury.  It was the middle of a snow storm when the victim was murdered late one night.  What if, presented to you, were with a set of footprints that were found in the late morning after the snow had stopped and the police were able to make it to the scene.  Maybe the murder's tracks were covered by the storm and the new set of prints were the mailman's?  Would you base your decision, which could easily destroy an innocent man's life, or in the context of your case presented here in court today, a pharmaceutical company that saves millions of lives each year, on only one piece of evidence that could very easily be a coincidence?"

"No, I guess not."

"So what leads the court to believe that (drug) was the cause of your heart issues?"


Had a teacher use that hypothetical against me when I argued for a higher grade on a paper.  I will admit I had a pretty weak argument.  But I got the bump up! lol.  Now I use this to shoot down anyone's argument.  watch out!


----------

