Anyone looking for some new epithets to throw around, will find plenty
that the drug salespeople use...at that site. It can be a real eye opener. Sheesh!

I remember the old days, when drug salespeople were either pharmacists or doctors. The bar is now so low, they won't even hire pharmacists. I know a great guy who they would not even interview because he was a professional.
I think those days are gone, because pharmacists and doctors resisted lying to their colleagues!

Well, I have noticed that you do have to have certain qualifications to be a drug rep these days, but they aren't educational or intellectual....

thank you for posting it. The stuff on Gardasil was especially worrisome.

all of them have trade offs!

Rules for governing agencies change, by law, dollars to actually implement things doesn't necessarily. Having been a long time gummint employee working at the middle/lower end of the food chain I can assure you that YOUR frustrations as 'beneficiaries' or not of gummint mandates is one of being between a rock and hard place. And any and all efforts to EXECUTE a good gummint agencies' missions is hard as there is so much to do and the bucks go so far. That is like any business, made worse by the fact that is a SERVICE, one for which lots of efforts can show little result in the ends.

I myself read all my medications' prescribing information sheets every six months...I find that the 'updates' and changes for side effects are in/on the the paper before the docs would ever know about it [probably from very BROAD news coverage or lawsuits] I have found SEVEN changes regarding my 5 main meds s/e's updates in the last year--some of them major.

I get very IRKED when folks say WHY DIDN"T my DOC TELL ME? Umm, you sure he didn't or at least try to? OR maybe he assumed you would plain old KNOW...Or is lazy, or is just too busy. Some docs are very, VERY good about this, others well substantially slack. BUT, IN MY CASE? My docs KNOW I want that sample pak and unless it's a desparately needed anti-biotic I am NOT gonna start it on a Thursday or Friday...and I will be on their doorstep IF I have any reactions....I am not gonna waste a 90 day supply of something that could kill me or makes other things worse than they are.

Sorry, but I grew up Loving Dr Kildare and Marcus Welby [my docs as a kid were like that]. Docs aren't like that now, nor can or should they be. But, I'm no doormat either...What was the line from the '70's? QUESTION ALL AUTHORITY....? Well docs can't have it absolutely their way anymore, they run businesses and we are CUSTOMERS. Keep an honest business relationship and you mite get somewhere? - j

PS I think I've incorporated a lot of thoughts from lots of threads in these comments...thanks for all of your patiences.

PPS I noticed that the agressive mis-marketing of Neurontin in 2002-04 wasn't included[as a true PN med was false at that time-it was discovered to work accidentally]..that's since [sort of] been addressed but that was one true DIRECT MIS-REPRESENTATION OF a product if ever...No wonder lawyers sponsor so many ads for lawsuits? Jumping the gun for 'market edge', over safety seems to be the primary driver of drug mfrs and research...Cut out the advertising, do the testing and let the results speak for themselves! Beauty is, as it does. Wishful thinking unless lots of things are changed for sure?

MrsD: Tradeoffs?

Cathie

To: Dakota (Susan).

Is this why, every time I am at the doctor's office, the pharmaceutical rep who walks in the door, is built like Pamela Anderson Lee, with legs like Rachel Welch? I have never, never seen an over 30, overweight, not beautiful, pharmaceuticl rep.

Is this just my imagination?? And don't forget, I go to lots of doctor's offices, Cornell Medical Center, in NYC. LOADS of Dr's office.

Every single pharma rep could be a movie star!!!

Wow, I should have gone into the business when I was 25. I used to look like Elizabeth Taylor!!! lol

Forteo (teriparatide) is made by Lilly.

My neuropathy has advanced more in the past 2 months than in the past 5 years. Actually, it was stable for 5 years.

The only thing new is the Forteo. And the high Calcium that goes with it.
I've googled and searched and found nothing linking the two.

I just went to medwatch and filed a report. I figure if no one tells the FDA what symptoms they've developed after new meds, no one will ever know. I really doubt my bone doc is going to. He's got a factory; I can't even get a reply from the nurse.I've taken to faxing her notes with my blood tests and symptoms, and even that gets nothing.

Tomorrow I see my neuro because of the worsening of the neuropathy. But the thing I really want him to do is call the bone guy. He's treating hundreds of women; he SHOULD know.

Thanks for posting that Alkemyst...I know I spelled your screen name wrong....but my hands kill today and I just cant go back and look it up to spell it right.....

I just got my copay totals...and one doc insisted that I try Cymbalta, not once but twice, after I told him that SSRI type drugs end me up in the ER...anyway, for one daily dose, of 20mg....$495 for the month!!! Now if I had to pay that myself, I would have told them where to put that bottle of meds.

I took a total of 3 pills and was sicker than a dog...so look at the money wasted!!! Luckily I did not require a trip to the ER, as I had diazepam to offset the problems I had....but think if you added another $2000 to that for ER fees, IV, meds for puking and pain in the ER.

I am really sick of the pharmaceutical industry. Zyrexa is another big problem...they tout these drugs for everything....snake oil sellers.

Taking an SSRI is like putting your brain in a bucket of serotonin.

There is absolutely no good science behind any of this. They invent diseases so they can apply old drugs for 'new diseases'. Elavil or amitriptyline is another good example. It is highly anticholinergic.

Zyprexa is a major dopamine antagonist.

I take a dopamine Agonist...now I see they are selling that on TV too...Restless Leg is not a disease....it is a symptom. Peripeheral Neuropathy is not a disease-it is a symptom. Fibromyalgia is a fancy name for 'you have muscle pain and we are too cheap to do an epidermal nerve biopsy' or 'you really have something wrong with you but, good luck, we have to do what the insurance companies mandate and you are not getting any more tests until you come back here with some concrete evidence that YOU found yourself...oh, and just describe the symptoms---if you tell me you might have the disease, well, then, you are a hypochondriac."

I had a rheumatologist tell me...with NO blood tests and NO history, that I had fibromyalgia. That when I have small fiber neuropathy by biopsy, and a proven history of Lyme with titer and EM rash and he KNEW that!!!! Two weeks later I had an ANA elisa that was thru the roof....but those are 'non-specific'.

You will only be diagnosed with an autoimmune disease if you have blood markers. Now they are finding neurological ones that regular rheumies do not have a clue about...

And, honestly, I am totally unsure if I was diagnosed with any autoimmune stuff, if I would take those meds either. IVIG is risky, but I would sure make an argument for that over the other stuff....(I say that, but I have not gotten any relief from steroids, which probably makes a good case for a non-autoimmune cause. My thought is genetics in my case. I am likey a mutant of some type. I say that with great affection for myself and tongue in cheek, folks.)

I have on several occassions brought up the Cytochrome P450 chart. They update it often....I know it requires a bit of chemistry and all drugs are listed as generics, but, please take a look at what interacts with what...and new isn't always good.

A lot of adverse reactions could be avoided if we were all tested prior to treatment with many of the liver metabolized drugs. We have the technology to do genetic testing to see who tolerates what.

Most people do not report adverse effects either, we just stop taking the drug.

My opinion is Cymbalta is reformulated Prozac, and I for one, get horrible road rage, punch people in the nose reactions to those drugs....plus I get migrainous headaches, muscle aches, hot flashes, throw up sick on them...to think 10 years ago....they gave me zoloft with amitriptyline!!!!! Now that is malpractice.

Well, I am back to my genealogy studies....I am trying to figure out how my great grandfather x 6 can be that on both sides of the chart-that makes him both maternal and paternal for that lineage. Must be where I get my brains from.