This is Your TV On Drugs

Doc:  Does anyone ever ask for one of those advertised drugs after hearing all of the possible side effects the drugs can cause? 

A:  Yes.  And if they go to the pharmacy to get the medication, they call back asking why the drug cost so much or their insurance won't cover it.  

The pharmaceutical industry spent $27 billion in America in 2012 on marketing medications to doctors and “direct to consumer” advertising.  “Direct to consumer” advertising is best known for the television commercials that interrupt dinner or a football game with words that are rarely used around the dinner table or in mixed company.  It also includes print media such as newspaper and magazines. 

According to a Pew Charitable Trust report, $3 billion of the $27 billion was spent on advertising to consumers in 2012.  It is a tightly regulated process with the FDA serving as the overseer.  

The television commercials for directly marketing to consumers began in 1997 when the FDA eased regulations on the industry.  Only two countries allow this type of advertising: the United States and New Zealand. The words used are carefully chosen and each ad must included potential reactions and side effects.  

It works, too.  Research has shown that consumers believe only “safe” drugs are advertised and that one in three will actually ask their physician about an ad.  Physicians find themselves either defending why it isn’t appropriate, or when it would be, or that there is a suitable generic alternative that is reasonably acceptable for the same condition. 

The description of the side effects and reactions that we have all learned to tune out after the nausea from the ad sets in, are common ones seen in research and required by the FDA to dispel the myth that any drug is completely safe.  

Think about it, though.  What if bottled water was advertised in the same way? 

“Big Pharma’s new drink, Aichtoome, the generic name ‘waterterizam’, has been shown to cause frequent urination, abdominal bloating, a sense of coldness, frequent diarrhea, and strange taste in the mouth.  Some reports of coughing or even choking have occurred with Aichtoome.  Others have experienced Aichtoome reflux with a cold sensation in the chest area.  A rare occurance of Aichtoome flying out of the nose has occurred if laughing while consuming Aichtoome….” 

The point is that any product can have side effects and drugs clearly can have some life-threatening complications from being used simply as they are intended.  That is why a conversation about the risks and benefits of using a drug should occur and the information printed for patients should be read.  Some patients choose to proceed, others decide to wait it out.  

An informed patient is a good thing.  A paranoid patient who is afraid of every side effect they hear or read should have a long conversation with their physician before ever taking the medication in question. 

As a physician, I believe the advertisements are good for discussion, with one glaring, unexcusable, unnecessary, and uncalled-for exception.  

It is the ED ads.  And I don’t mean the “emergency department,” either. 

I would defy anyone to find any man over the age of twenty-one who is not aware of the three prescription products available to turn back time in the privacy of their bedroom most likely with a spouse who would just as soon spend the $25 dollars each pill costs on a nice dinner. 

Nevertheless, the ads continue with bluer colors, catchy little jingles, catchier phrases (poor choice of words, I know) and strange scenes with two bathtubs.  I always wondered why two bathtubs and not one.  

The problem, and I must emphasize, MAJOR problem I have with these ads is the precautionary verbage at the end of the ad.  You might recall them as the ones when most men giggle and joke about calling their friends.  

What would happen if a man sat next to a child in a city park and said the very same phrases?  And yet, it is perfectly okay for the very same words to blare from the television in the middle of a Saturday afternoon SEC football game?  While the kids are watching with the family?  

And then the child says, “Mommy what does……..mean?”

It is time for the pharmaceutical industry and television broadcasters to reconsider this specific area of advertising.  The children don’t need to hear it, and the spouse wants to save some money for that nice dinner. 

Eric J. Littleton, M.D. is a Family Physician in Sevierville, TN.  His new office is located at 958 Dolly Parton Parkway. Topics covered are general in nature and should not be used to change medical treatments and/or plans without first discussing with your physician.  Send questions to askdrlittleton@gmail.com. 

Resolve to Resolve

Q:  Doc, my New Year’s resolution is to lose thirty pounds this year.  You have any advice on how to do that? 

A:  Yes.  Start with losing one pound.  Then lose another.

I hear this a lot this time of year.  People use the New Year to take a look at their life in the mirror and honestly face the thing, or things, that they believe need to be changed in order to live a better life.  The perennial desire to begin anew is a fascinating study on human psychology and will. 

Sometimes not.  It all depends on a person’s discipline and will. 

According to University of Scranton research in the Journal of Clinical Psychology forty-five percent of Americans make New Year’s resolutions.  That means another ten percent weren’t willing to admit to making a resolution because they had already broken it. 

Thirty-eight percent of those studied said they absolutely never made resolutions at all.  

The top ten reasons for resolutions is interesting.  Losing weight is the most common, followed by getting organized, spending less (saving more), enjoying life, and getting fit round out the top five. 

Learning something exciting, quitting smoking, helping others with their dreams, falling in love (you can decide that?), and spending more time with family conclude the top ten list.  

According to the data, one in four won’t make it the first week.  

Only forty-six percent make it successfully to six months. 

A mere eight percent of those studied successfully met their goal at one year.  

The question then becomes, is it worth it? I believe the answer is yes. 

Even for the most health challenged patients I see, the ones with the most enjoyment of life are the ones who are looking for a better way to live, better way to serve others, or simply a better way to think about life. 

Some are so physically challenged by their body’s age or condition that they only want to spend more time with family.  The relationships, the love, the desire to encourage others becomes their life focus.

Others see their role as to pray for those they love as they physically cannot accomplish as much as they used to.  

It is the attitude of not giving into the natural decline in physical health and the aging process that is inspiring.  That is why New Year’s resolutions, or birthday resolutions, or laying-in-your-hospital-bed-staring-at-the-ceiling resolutions are important.

It is the desire to use the most powerful thing we have to improve our lives: our will to live and the way we think.  

Many patients ask for the prescription products to help stop smoking and a few are successful.  But the successful patients are the ones who simply make up their minds to stop smoking.  They look at the expense in money and health that the cigarettes cost and determine intellectually, then in their will, that it is time to stop.  The only ones who succeed are the ones who turn their thinking into a burning desire and fight through the routine of habit, the routine of reaching for that adult comfort blanket whether it is food or cigarettes, and keep moving toward a better goal.  

It is very possible for people to lose weight, stop smoking, and live a fuller life after making a conscious decision to do so.  But it begins with small steps. It grows into a new habit.

Losing thirty pounds begins with losing one pound.  Breaking up with Little Debbie.  Ordering that meal without the fries.  Accepting that tea can be consumed without sugar.  It is a deliberate decision in small incremental ways. 

One of my patients has successfully stopped smoking for seven years now.  Total savings simply from a financial standpoint of nearly $1,500 per year.  That would be over $10,000 saved in just seven years.  His health is immeasurably improved and his personal satisfaction of accomplishing something challenging is admirable.  

And that is the point.  The desire to live a better way by taking a sober, honest look at ourselves and then deciding to change it, is the most powerful medicine I have witnessed.  I have seen years of weight loss maintained, marriages reconciled, and life enjoyed to the fullest by a person simply making the decision. Then they made the habit.

The desire to live and love, every day, begins one small step at a time with a firm decision - repeated every day.

Eric J. Littleton, M.D. is a Family Physician in Sevierville, TN.  His new office is located at 958 Dolly Parton Parkway. Topics covered are general in nature and should not be used to change medical treatments and/or plans without first discussing with your physician.  Send questions toaskdrlittleton@gmail.com.