Brought to you by Big Pharma

a reply to: ColeYounger

Of all countries, I believe only the US and New Zealand allow pharma companies to run non-stop ads like they do

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: TarantulaBite

Well I guess if it comes down to a choice between taking my doctors medical advice or the advice of a big pharma marketing team..... 🤔

I much prefer doing my own research and making my own medical decisions...

I wonder if anyone noticed...the guy who wrote the Forbes article defending the pharma industry is a former president of Pfizer Global Research and Development.

a reply to: FamCore

It is noticeable in NZ it's all heart disease and strokes at the moment, some "Expert" says that strokes will increase by forty percent in the lower age groups in the next few years, talk about it in your face. Plenty of programs about nice nurse carers looking after people who have had a stroke. S Ed Dowd's figures look like they are bang on.

On those Pharma commercials, pay attention to the side effects. The side effects on most of them are much worse than the disease people have...seems to me risk outweighs the benefit half the time. They downplay the side effects as just something they have to state, but I have researched many drugs and evaluated those side effect rates and the amount of people getting one or more of them. Even if one in a hundred people get the side effect, often there are many one percents in the group, and also there are two, three, and even five percent rates. I estimate that half the people or more will experience one side effect that will cause a need for another med to control, then that other med causes side effects too.

Everyone is different, most people have metabolic intolerances and some people cannot completely detox the meds. Pay attention to changes related to a new medicine and remember, if a medication causes a depletion of something in the body by altering metabolism and other pathways, the symptoms of the depletion can take a year to develop. Some meds lower B12 metabolism, that can take even five years for symptom to show. Most people and even doctors can't comprehend how altering pathways can lead to problems years later.

The pharma companies now try to convince people to ask their doctors for their expensive meds, that makes doctors feel they are on the spot, they would probably prescribe a med they know about so they can identify side effects they know about. There is no long term data on side effects on new meds, once enough people get problems, the pharma companies just pull the drug and push another new med that has no proof of side effects yet...one they can make more profit from.

That's business in the USA.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: ColeYounger

I think the biggest issue is why are these commercials even on TV?
Anyone dealing with a medical issue should be seeing a doctor and that doctor should be prescribing the proper medication... Why should I need to ask my doctor if "plomox,etc" is right for me?

Hearing all the side effects read is so awesome on those commercials. It reminds of some kind of Monty Python skit . Lol lol

a reply to: psychotrail

originally posted by: ancientlight
a reply to: ColeYounger

Yes, 'conditions' like ADHD, depression etc are money makers , made up conditions.
I feel depressed for sure, but it's due to life circumstances. Change those and the 'condition' magically would vanish.
They make more money with more fishing nets (conditions). They are so criminally corrupt, who knows what the long term effects are of all these drugs (cancer etc ?)

ADHD is not a made up condition. I have it and its brutal, affecting so many areas of life and severe cases can leave a person in the dust. If life circumstances change it does nothing to alleviate the ADHD. Depression may fall into the category of more circumstantial. Ive seen the posts a bunch recently of this kind and its pretty unfair of those who do not have a condition to dish out disrespect on those who do. If you dont have it, you cant possibly understand its impact.

ADHD is both over diagnosed and under diagnosed and that is immensely problematic. Some of the older out of patent medications are dirt cheap and reliable for many. some having been around for decades. The pharmaceuticals pushing new, expensive, patentable drugs is the problem.

Editing to add... ADHD is a dysfunction of the executive system. To function normally, the brain has to coordinate all parts normally. When its out of sync all systems are at odds and the person is at the mercy of this chaos. Initiating anything constructive, such as planning, is disrupted by the lack of dopamine in the brain. Planning for the future is off the table, as are ordered thoughts of future consequence.

Some people outgrow it which may be why its better for some kids to learn coping skills than take meds, but for others with debilitating levels they cannot calm the brain enough to learn how to implement the coping skills and mindfulness that is considered normal by society.

Its easy for people with fairly normal brains to spout just do this, just do that. We wouldnt do this to say a diabetic where, yes, diet change can help but some still need insulin. Sometimes people are trying their hardest and still failing... that is genuine ADHD.

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: ColeYounger

Of all countries, I believe only the US and New Zealand allow pharma companies to run non-stop ads like they do

Canada does too, but only on American networks like CNN.

originally posted by: igloo

ADHD is not a made up condition

Hi mate sorry to say there's no evidence (of any kind) for any of it - that's not to say..

.. that people do not experience emotional or behavioral problems, but the fact remains the diagnosis are not a disease and the treatments (drugs) are not without serious, even life threatening risks.  Whatever choice people make, they deserve the facts in order to make an informed decision.

Would be truly interested in your opinion on these quotes.

"'Mental illness’ is terribly misleading because the ‘mental disorders’ we diagnose are no more than descriptions of what clinicians observe people do or say, not at all well established diseases 

Statement of Allen Frances, Psychiatrist and former DSM-IV Task Force Chairman,  2015




“While DSM has been described as a ‘Bible’ for the field, it is, at best, a dictionary…. The weakness is its lack of validity. Unlike our definitions of ischemic heart disease, lymphoma, or AIDS, the DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure. In the rest of medicine, this would be equivalent to creating diagnostic systems based on the nature of chest pain or the quality of fever.”

Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health




“There are no objective tests in psychiatry-no X-ray, laboratory, or exam finding that says definitively that someone does or does not have a mental disorder.” “There is no definition of a mental disorder. It’s bull—. I mean, you just can’t define it.” 

Allen Frances, Psychiatrist and former DSM-IV Task Force Chairman




“Virtually anyone at any given time can meet the criteria for bipolar disorder or ADHD.  Anyone.  And the problem is everyone diagnosed with even one of these ‘illnesses’ triggers the pill dispenser.” 

Dr. Stefan Kruszewski, Psychiatrist




“Despite more than two hundred years of intensive research, no commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorders have proven to be either genetic or biological in origin, including schizophrenia, major depression, manic-depressive disorder, the various anxiety disorders, and childhood disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity. At present there are no known biochemical imbalances in the brain of typical psychiatric patients—until they are given psychiatric drugs.”

Peter Breggin, Psychiatrist




"While there has been “no shortage of alleged biochemical explanations for psychiatric conditions…not one has been proven. Quite the contrary. In every instance where such an imbalance was thought to have been found, it was later proven false.” 

Dr. Joseph Glenmullen, Harvard Medical School psychiatrist




“The theories are held on to not only because there is nothing else to take their place, but also because they are useful in promoting drug treatment.”

Dr. Elliott Valenstein Ph.D., author of Blaming the Brain




“There is no blood or other biological test to ascertain the presence or absence of a mental illness, as there is for most bodily diseases. If such a test were developed … then the condition would cease to be a mental illness and would be classified, instead, as a symptom of a bodily disease.”

Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, New York University Medical School, Syracuse




“We do not have an independent, valid test for ADHD, and there are no data to indicate ADHD is due to a brain malfunction.” 

Final statement of the panel from the National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference on ADHD




"DSM IV is the fabrication upon which psychiatry seeks acceptance by medicine in general. Insiders know it is more a political than scientific document. To its credit it says so — although its brief apologia is rarely noted. DSM IV has become a bible and a money making best seller — its major failings notwithstanding. It confines and defines practice, some take it seriously, others more realistically. It is the way to get paid. Diagnostic reliability is easy to attain for research projects. The issue is what do the categories tell us? Do they in fact accurately represent the person with a problem? They don’t, and can’t, because there are no external validating criteria for psychiatric diagnoses.”   

Psychiatrist Loren Mosher, former Chief of NIMH’s Center for Studies of Schizophrenia, head of Schizophrenia Research, National Institute of Mental health




“The way things get into the DSM is not based on blood test or brain scan or physical findings. It’s based on descriptions of behavior. And that’s what the whole psychiatry system is.” 

Dr Colin Ross, Psychiatrist




“Psychiatry has never been driven by science. They have no biological or genetic basis for these illnesses and the National Institutes of Mental Health are totally committed to the pharmacological line. … There is a great deal of scientific evidence that stimulants cause brain damage with long-term use, yet there is no evidence that these mental illnesses, such as ADHD, exist.” 

Peter Breggin, Psychiatrist 




 “No claim for a gene for a psychiatric condition has stood the test of time, in spite of popular misinformation.” 

Dr. Joseph Glenmullen, Harvard Medical School psychiatrist





“In reality, psychiatric diagnosing is a kind of spiritual profiling that can destroy lives and frequently does.”

Peter Breggin, Psychiatrist




“…modern psychiatry has yet to convincingly prove the genetic/biologic cause of any single mental illness…Patients [have] been diagnosed with ‘chemical imbalances’ despite the fact that no test exists to support such a claim, and…there is no real conception of what a correct chemical balance would look like.” 

Dr. David Kaiser, Psychiatrist




“There’s no biological imbalance. When people come to me and they say, ‘I have a biochemical imbalance,’ I say, ‘Show me your lab tests.’ There are no lab tests. So what’s the biochemical imbalance?” 

Dr. Ron Leifer, Psychiatrist




“No behavior or misbehavior is a disease or can be a disease.  That’s not what diseases are. Diseases are malfunctions of the human body, of the heart, the liver, the kidney, the brain. Typhoid fever is a disease. Spring fever is not a disease; it is a figure of speech, a metaphoric disease. All mental diseases are metaphoric diseases, misrepresented as real diseases and mistaken for real diseases.”

Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus




“It has occurred to me with forcible irony that psychiatry has quite literally lost its mind, and along with it the minds of the patients they are presumably supposed to care for.”— David Kaiser, Psychiatrist




“DSM-IV is the fabrication upon which psychiatry seeks acceptance by medicine in general. Insiders know it is more a political than scientific document… DSM-IV has become a bible and a money making bestseller—its major failings notwithstanding.”— Loren Mosher, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry




“All psychiatrists have in common that when they are caught on camera or on microphone, they cower and admit that there are no such things as chemical imbalances/diseases, or examinations or tests for them. What they do in practice, lying in every instance, abrogating [revoking] the informed consent right of every patient and poisoning them in the name of ‘treatment’ is nothing short of criminal.”

Dr. Fred Baughman Jr., Pediatric Neurologist

a reply to: karl 12
No test in the traditional sense, though Ive seen brain scans done but doctors cant be bothered, or the system cant afford them... a problem in itself. Of course its not a disease. Its a disorder, something out of wack, not tuned right.

Agree to disagree. Ive lived it unaware of the diagnosis buts swamped in the chaos until I was 50. I totally failed to thrive, barely survived, despite trying my best. Six months after taking lowest dose meds I no longer forgot to pay bills on time, got to work mostly on time, applied and got into college and could actually apply some of those life skills hacks that people brag about. Dr. quit during the pandemic so was without meds and the chaos came back except I didnt slide quite as far back. Ive lived it and wouldnt wish it on anyone.

Those who brag about it being a bs superpower likely have very mild cases, dont need the meds and cause society to belittle the disorder. To me it is utter hell.

If it isnt ADHD then there is something still mighty wrong with my brain and executive function... doesnt matter what we call it. It sucks. Just because science hasnt found a way to measure it yet doesnt mean people arent suffering from it and that their struggles should be dismissed.

As to claims that everyone has these symptoms or depression at times... yes of course they do, but then just imagine how life would feel if you were permanently locked into them with your brain unable to right itself.

a reply to: igloo

No test in any sense mate but appreciate the sincere reply.

It gets difficult to constantly provide sources as source links are constantly deleted.

a reply to: igloo

We also have to consider the general magnetic field strength is also affecting living systems to what extent we don't really, know although a few experiments seem to suggest that cells are very sensitive to the magnetic field, all the rise in anxiety and arrhythmias along with a general feeling of things going awry, will probably have a big effect until this anomaly stabilizes.

a reply to: ColeYounger

Oh my gosh, the Jardiance is the one that gets me all the time, the littler pill, but the side effects are worse than the treatment, especially the fungus in the perineum, for anybody that does not know what it is, is a nasty and ugly fungus in the skin that separates the genital area and the anus.

Really? who wants a fungus in there, I mean the fungus will eat at the skin leaving holes.

Then the magical pills for bone thinning, it does not make bone, they lie about that, it just keeps the bones from shedding that is actually the way the body get rids of old bones and renew. them.

But the worst of it is that the actually main ingredient of that medication is a chemical use in industrial detergents, that chemical causes necrosis of the jaw and is none reversible, so what do I want old bones to stick longer or lose my jawbone.

Incredible, the commercials are like Broadway shows with lots of happy people singing and dancing to make you feel soo good.