Research is something that many people find suspicious. The mass public doesn’t know what makes “good” research and what is just plain manipulation.
Most people know that studying a lot of cases gives a more accurate picture than studying a single case – or just a few cases. But speaking as a formally trained and professional researcher, let me tell you that – contrary to conventional wisdom — it is really hard to make any sense of any kind of statistics that study a big-lot-much-HUGE number of human people.
Filed under politics, Research by on Jan 19th, 2011. Comment. 
The idea of science attempting to study or explain the interaction between doctors and drug reps seems strange.
Doctors seem receptive to beautiful sales reps
So I checked out the original article that had been reviewed as objective science. I put it all together. I decided that none of the studies that were slopped together to make this meta-study were going to impress me. I can’t remember seeing anything that looked scientific as I poked around. We are talking about “naturalistic” studies here. Doctors really don’t seem to want to believe that anyone can control their thinking. Some might get contrarian and avoid prescribing things that are too aggressively presented. Maybe others do succumb. The idea that the drug reps bring a lecturer and somehow useful information might be exchanged is idealistic at best. Let us switch from science to reality. I remember the muscled male French drug reps they sent to me in the hospital. I remember when the dean of the medical school married a gorgeous female drug rep — a sort of midlife-change direction marriage — leaving behind someone who had once been described to me as a barracuda like entity. Read more on Influence Of Drug Reps On Physician’s Prescribing Habits…
Filed under big pharma by on Jan 12th, 2011. Comment.
She was a 33 year old raven-haired exhausted woman who had probably been a beauty before she bore children, now aged 9, 6, and 4. She wanted a renewal on her sleeping pills. She did not want the antidepressant or anything else, just sleeping pills. She said that since the children all slept through the night, now she could, too. She had not only a tubal ligation at her final pregnancy, but an ex-boyfriend who was no more than a distant memory.
Her last doctor, apparently a rarity, had actually started by prescribing the sleeping pills every third night. That had not lasted more than four weeks or so. She wanted, and felt she “deserved,” sleep every night. She was convinced that was what the insurance doctors gave the rich people, so she was not going to let anybody skimp on her. Sleeping pills every night. She would not have to think about anything other than keeping a bottle by her bed and getting it into her mouth. Sleep would be automatic and life would be sweet.
The last doctor had been, to his credit, assertive enough to tell her that if this was what she wanted, she would be coming in every three months for the rest of her natural life on planet earth, to get sleeping pills. She thought that was just fine; that it was what everyone did and should do, since we had something as wonderful as sleeping pills in the world. Read more on Pharmaceutical Companies Are Stealing Our Dreams…
Filed under prescription drugs, Sleep, Substance Abuse by on Jul 1st, 2010. Comment.
Before you read this, I want to warn you – at any moment, I can veer off into an emotional rant. And after you read this, you should be outraged, also.
There is a prescription form of Omega-3 fish oil being marketed by a major pharmaceutical company. It costs about seven times more than the same amount of Omega-3 fish oil you can buy as a dietary supplement.
If I had no other reason to dislike “Big Pharma” this would suffice. Everything I learn about pharmaceutical companies makes me think less of them. They are stealing our effective and useful natural substances without adequate science, creating patentable molecules, and making more money than any of us can imagine off human suffering and death. Read more on Fish Oil For $100 A Pill…
Filed under big pharma by on Jun 11th, 2010. 2 Comments.
I am now far less involved with these folks. Not that I do not venerate them and respect their struggle. Rather, the condition of being a person requiring transgendering is so mainstream, that plenty of types of medical insurance pay for this.
Read more on Sex Changes Are Confusing Enough When You Have Accurate Information…
Filed under big pharma by on Apr 20th, 2010. Comment.
At a study done in Austria they looked at a University hospital, a general hospital, and a psychiatric clinic. They found a BIG problem – and not just in Austria: People are taking too many psychotropic drugs, even though there are no systematized justifications for prescribing patterns. This seems to happen the most in folks who have a diagnosis or either depression or schizophrenia.
Although some people take only one psychotropic drug, most are on many. A study by our own government agency (a noble attempt to trace psychotropic prescriptions in a general hospital in the United States) decided this was a general pattern. All right, this is what happens. Read more on So Many Pills And So Little Progress…
Filed under prescription drugs by on Feb 25th, 2010. Comment.
Life is fragile at best. At worst it is undervalued. Prolonging it and maintaining its quality is something most doctors have at least thought about.
Me — I was brought up by family values as well as institutional values to venerate the academic system as a seeker of truth, guardian of highest ethics.
I thought that the institutions that regulated clinical research, whether they were academic or not, were at least trying to be ethical in the face of mounting economic pressures from those who develop substances to be used for the human body, to prolong and maintain life. Some people still believe in this.
Some people, even some I can call “friend,” consider me a failed academic, someone who could have contributed more to society had she written more papers that somebody thought were good enough to publish in medical journals.
All of the above is unadulterated lies and total BS that has kept many competent minds devoting their lives to ideals that are later sold to the highest bidder.
I don’t think I have any lingering doubts that my running from academics, yelling and screaming, was the best decision I ever made.
The story of Polyheme – developed as a synthetic substitute for human blood — is perhaps the worst example of human rights having been sold down the river for development of something of serious danger (if you believe the publically published academic results) and at best, unproven help (are they really keeping this kind of secrets from us so the company developing this junk can make money?) to either prolonging or maintaining life.
The story is complicated, but basically, here it is.
Read more on Substitute Blood — A Failure Of Clinical Ethics…
Filed under Research by on Feb 24th, 2010. Comment.
As far as I know, every antidepressant has the same “black box” warning on its package insert, as reported by a reputable academic psychiatrist in a reputable journal a while ago.
Incidentally, he has, in this editorial type piece, effectively logged most of the “attacks” recently made upon psychotropics. He advises the readers, presumably other psychiatrists or at least physicians of some sort, to do “nothing.” This is the common way of academics, to wait and gather data. It is not a common way of doctors, at least ethical or idealistic ones, who still scramble at any chance to save people.
For now let’s look at the warnings about antidepressants that have merited the special FDA attention. Except that it is in a “black box” (has a black border like a funeral announcement) and there may be a couple of things added on relative to an individual brand, this is the disclaimer: WARNING: SUICIDALITY AND ANTIDEPRESSANT DRUGS Antidepressants increased the risk compared to placebo of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children, adolescents, and young adults in short-term studies of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders.
Anyone considering the use of (Brand Name) or any other antidepressant in a child, adolescent, or young adult must balance this risk with the clinical need. Short-term studies did not show an increase in the risk of suicidality with antidepressants compared to placebo in adults beyond age 24; there was a reduction in risk with antidepressants compared to placebo in adults aged 65 and older. Depression and certain other psychiatric disorders are themselves associated with increases in the risk of suicide. Patients of all ages who are started on antidepressant therapy should be monitored appropriately and observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, or unusual changes in behavior. Families and caregivers should be advised of the need for close observation and communication with the prescriber. Read more on Black Box Warnings — Read Carefully!…
Filed under prescription drugs by on Feb 4th, 2010. Comment.
Here is a letter signed by prominent Irish psychiatrists saying that there is no evidence whatsoever that antidepressants cause homicide.
The “PLOS” or “Public Library of Science” is supposed to be an easier and gentler place to get science published, although the esteemed (foreign) colleagues who have done research with me on natural substances have informed me it is not so easy a door to enter.
Nevertheless, here is a very scholarly angle. There is evidence that the prescription of antidepressants may engender aggression, violence, or homicide.
There is also an article cited by Dr. Peter Breggin in the Journal of Safety and Risk in medicine, to which I cannot seem to link anyone directly but a download is available through the wonderful people at this Irish foundation. These folks are trying to bring forth the truth and the light.
I am now of the opinion that the academic ideal I once pursued does not exist, and is, if it exists, a pack of lies at best.
There are FDA black box warnings about antidepressants promoting aggression, but I am unaware of such warnings having ever stopped a colleague from prescribing any antidepressant.
Read more on Seeking Truth In Drug Research — And Getting Frustrated!…
Filed under prescription drugs by on Dec 15th, 2009. Comment.
This was the last item I posted on the blog Nov 6 before we took it down a few days later to start the overhaul. In case you didn’t get a chance to read it, I’m reprinting it.
====================================================
She was a saleswoman prone to bipolar mood swings, stable on a brand name prescription mood stabilizer. It had originally been marketed as an anticonvulsant and her medication was doing its job. She recently returned to full-time work after a manic attack had cost her both her marriage and the custody of her child.
“I don’t have the insurance I once did; I now sell home decoration instead of heating fuel like I used to. The money is better, but now all of a sudden the cost of my medication is really ridiculous. The generic is lots cheaper.”
Read more on What Happens When A Pill Gets Inside Your Body?…
Filed under Generic drugs by on Nov 20th, 2009. Comment.