Morning rant

Soapbox rant………..Pharmaceutical companies

If you suffer the ravages of Fibromyalgia, maybe you have recently seen all the press regarding some “new” medications that have been approved by our lovely FDA for the so called “treatment” of Fibro/CFS?ME.

Now that I am done choking on my tea, I’ll share my feelings about these drugs. They are no more than a marketing ploy by Big Brother Drugs to line their pockets with false promises of yet another miracle drug that in the majority of cases, do more harm than good. These drugs are antidepressants, no more, no less.
The drug companies think that spending money researching and marketing new forms of the drugs we’ve already tried and have proved detrimental to these conditions. Why not spend those dollars on more research so we can once and for all find a marker to diagnosis and then finally treat, these conditions?

Yes ,medications to treat these conditions ARE needed. But, please, don’t waste our time, our physicians time, and our money on band aids that just dope us up and make your bank accounts larger.


Here is an article from Time Magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1876532,00.html


About one-third of U.S. children take vitamins or supplements, according to the study, which was part of the government's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted between 1999 and 2004. Vitamin takers were more likely to be white; eat a low-cholesterol, high-fiber diet; come from a higher-income family; get plenty of exercise; and have better access to health care and health insurance. Which means that the bulk of these youngsters really didn't need supplements at all.

While some children got unnecessary supplementation, the study found, those who might have reaped true benefit from vitamins didn't get them at all: kids from lower-income families who had less reliable, if any, access to health care, who relied on food stamps and were often forced to skip meals were less likely to take vitamins and minerals. "Children who face poverty, food insecurity and lack regular balanced meals have a high likelihood of benefiting from supplements," says Shaikh, but they typically don't have access to them because of cost.


WTF??

How much did this survey cost?? Slapping myself in the forehead. What part of this so called study surprises anyone. Low income children do not get proper nutrition because they CANT AFFORD TO!
C’mon Washington, wake up and smell your designer coffee!!!

This is one of those rare occasions that I am simply going to let this article speak for itself.