Before you google or search for “Glamorous Drugs”, the following is my definition for use here. Glamor Drug: Beautiful drug ads we see online, on TV, and in print. Wow, I wouldn’t mind getting a few of them; most are very attractive, making for good ad copy. I guess the drug companies need to enlist all of us lay doctors to push our doctors for what we look for (or are not informed about)!
I grew up as a healthy child. At least I thought I was healthy and I still feel that way. Our home kit consisted of 1 bottle of aspirin, 1 bottle of iodine (for me, the only child; I burned badly), 1 bottle of mercurochrome (for my three sisters; no burns), 1 bottle of Vicks, and a box of plasters. I ate three meals a day, drank milk and water, and if I was lucky, allowed myself a bottle of soda every two weeks. During the school year my schedule consisted of school, ball practice, dinner, chores, 1 hour of personal time, and then bed.
Before second grade, I was in hospital emergency rooms more often than “Tim the Tool man Taylor,” I’m told. He couldn’t keep me out of things. However, since second grade, he knew how sharp razor blades, glass, and knives were. I learned the dangers of fire, how metal fans worked, and that bike spokes don’t disappear when you pedal when the bike is upside down (that cost me a chunk of a finger). I also learned about depth perception when it came to jumping from a barn into a six inch pool! Hey, I dumped my Beagle first and he didn’t limp the next day. Plus, I’ve learned not to eat the candy bar in the blue and white box that occasionally sits in our fridge or drink too much from the unrefrigerated bottle of grape juice on the top shelf of the kitchen cabinet next to the medicine for dad cough. Oh yeah, starting in second grade, on the rare occasions that I went to the doctor, the professional opinion was usually “growing pains.” That’s it, until seventh and twelfth grades when my legs had to be paid attention to (I roughed them up in sports, actually Jeff B. abused one of them in twelfth grade).
Nowadays, if you have diarrhea, you’ll probably take something to stop it, then after it’s stopped, take something else to “clear the road” that usually ends up in diarrhea again. Glamor drugs are available for ANYTHING today. There are even glamor drugs that take care of the side effects of glamor drugs.
When my grandparents were in their 70s (early 80s), they had one, maybe two prescriptions that they were taking. When my mother-in-law passed away a few years ago, she had a Monday-Sunday pillbox for morning, noon, and night. Fifteen to twenty pills a day and many visits to the doctor’s office to “maintain the correct dose”! She lived 6 years longer than my grandparents and two years longer than her mother.
Stop complaining about drugs and be thankful that you are healthy!
Yes I listen you. However, I am concerned that glamor drugs are replacing proper rest, exercise, and diet. I will reduce the final part of this blog to a pill, Viagra.
For starters, I have never taken Viagra or any of the Viagra wannabes. Lucky me?! However, a deaf and blind man will turn his head and pay attention to an advertised disclaimer that reads: “in the event his erection lasts more than FOUR HOURS…”. What, I want to run to the store and buy some of that! Are you kidding me? It would be “King of the Hill, Number 1, King Kong”! Awoooooo!
Ok, that was close; I almost had to google some. Seriously, my circle of male friends and acquaintances is pretty small; Let’s say 150-200 guys (including everyone I know). During the last two years 6 have died, all between 46 and 53 years old, all those who wanted to be “King of the Hill”. Found dead in bed, bathroom and other as he got up to grab the TV remote. Heart failure.
If the government (FDA) IS NOT IN FAVOR of prolonging life but maintaining it to the extent of the current status quo, then isn’t our health a ping-pong ball in a little wooden box that bounces rapidly off the walls? from pharmaceutical companies? What if we learn 10 to 20 years from now that glamor drugs, which used to be advertised on TV (are you kidding me, grandpa, ad?), actually reduced life expectancy? Maybe that would extend the rights a few more years?