Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Overmedicinization?

Is it just me, or is the pharmaceutical industry going insane?? I am (supposed to be) studying for a midterm for a clinical pharmacology class. I just checked my email and, no surprise here, had 3 spam emails for penis-related drugs. Forget about the fact that my penis works just fine, these emails are really getting desperate. They used to just come right out and say "make your penis larger" or "cheap viagra." Then (and I'm guessing they were getting clever to avoid spam targeted at key words), these companies started sending emails with words like "V1@Gr@" or "Pen1$." Well, let me tell you, my computer may be fooled, but I am not! Today, the spam I got inspired me to write this. While there used to be attempts at getting sneakier to circumnavigate (I'm aware of the unfortunate coincidence of this prefix) spam filters, they seemed to have abandoned ship and pride. "Cheap Boner Pills." Wow, really? Is this what we've become?
A second side effect (again, forgive the unintentional pun) of taking this pharmacology class is that it makes me pay attention to all the commercials flooding primetime with promises of anti-anxiety and getting rid of restless leg syndrome forever. If I understand it properly, these commercials must disclose side-effects if they wish to say what the product treats.
"Have anxiety? Don't like making friends or going outside? Look like a wind-up doll or the rolling cartoon ball from a Shell Silverstein book? Ask your doctor about flutrosamantasinopril (or some other word you'd expect out of the mouths of prawns from District 9). All your prayers will be answered, assuming those prayers include: dry-mouth, increased risk for breast, prostate, liver, and colon cancer, stroke, and anal leakage." Thanks, now that my ass is leaking, maybe I'll have the confidence to go out of the house and make those friends I never had! And while I'm at it, give me a dose of those cheap boner pills, so when people make fun of me for butt-leaks, I can smack them with my enhanced pen1$.
Really, there seems to be an expensive treatment for nearly everything. Have we digressed so much that we can't tough it out anymore? I heard a commercial on the radio awhile ago addressed at women, saying that if you are not interested in sex at the end of the day, you may have HDD: Hyposexual Desire Disorder. Seriously? Are they going to make women who have worked or parented all day feel bad for not wanting to have sex? Is everything a disorder now? What happened to self-medicating? There should be a commercial making fun of this over-medicalization phenomenon: "Tired after a long day? Wish you were better in bed or had more friends? Suck it up and get out of the house. Go drink a couple of beers at a bar: you'll be instantly more personable and friendly. Side-effects may include a good time. Freaking A.

3 comments:

  1. I find it painful to poop, is there any drug that will limit my movements to once a month?

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  2. She's back to the blog...I love it! :) ha ha

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  3. Lol!! Mindy, please don't ever stop blogging!

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