Dr Oz shows how drug reps push MDs to push their drugs
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RteUgNvHmmg

Its a good clip. Makes ya think.

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jody-yysiVE

You know, they never told what the "invented diseases" were.

Oz never revealed any secrets to speak of.

It was all advertising bait.

I thought that the argument about broadening drug use, such as overactive bladder, daytime sleepiness and osteopenia, was kind of addressing the "invented disease" idea...
some docs will prescribe provigil for sleepiness without doing a sleep study to see if the patient is experiencing sleep apnea, for instance.
But there was a hole in the program concerning "invented diseases" for sure.

We have a similar thread on Medications about the same program. Only the links there swarm you with Allegra commercials!

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread150147.html

Basically Dr. Oz starts off with this intense baiting statements, and his show then fizzles out and never delivers...or delivers a lame weak answer, or even an incorrect answer. When I watch and that is not regularly but I do watch maybe one show a week, I find major errors. Sometimes simple ones...like the insomnia show where everyone wore PJs on the set. They were discussing B6 and vivid dreaming, and had a clip of Dr. Oz... who said he took his B6 every night at bedtime. Showed him doing it and getting his dream log ready and setting his clock--- only the bottle said in BIG letters B12 on it.

His D show was a total fizzle...with him saying in the beginning, you can't get it from food. So then he tells a diabetic with a blood reading of 35 to eat mushrooms! (some mushrooms have D2 in them if they are exposed to light---but D2 is not the active form in human bodies). He focused on 3 people with low blood work, and told them each lame advice. A women at 7, to take 2000 IU D3 a day (not enough), and a woman at 25 to take Cod Liver Oil... which has 1000IU and is not enough, as well. High dose cod liver oil has retinol in it, known to interfere with D absorption and utilization in the body!

This show about drug companies did not reveal much. The sales rep even was given about 1 minute air time! The show 60minutes revealed far more about Merck's secrets when the Vioxx problem hit the fan.

When the guy from Pfizer asked Dr. Oz if he prescribed statins in his practice....Dr. Oz hesitated quite noticably, and said no.
I've seen him on other shows where he says he gives statins to his patients!

His show is like a carnival. "Step right up and see the cure for what ails you!" Loud, distracting side show antics, and in the end....not much substance at all. He cannot deliver, you see, and keep his sponsors. Walgreen's where you buy your Big Pharma drugs, and the Big Pharma ads, like Allegra.

The shows are loud and irritating...worse than any game show.
Women worshiping him, screaming, kissing him, sometimes more than once, etc. Remove all that, and there is very little substance. Just my opinion!

mrsD, I agree. In fact, I voiced the same opinion in another thread here somewhere....can't remember where. :o I've stopped watching mainly because of all the theatrics and screaming women. I'm an adult.....I don't need a big snot-filled nose to show me that allergies are rampant right now. :rolleyes: He's become way too commercial and his show is Jerry Springerish at times. He seems to want to agree with whomever he's got as a guest any particular day. And he contradicts himself all the time. Some of the things the one guy was saying were interesting (the man sitting closest to Dr. Oz), though. But I got enough useful information to fill about 2 minutes of time and Dr. Oz used about 20! :rolleyes: I don't trust the FDA and very little of what my doctor tells me. Look at Vitamin D2.....doctors are still prescribing it! :eek: Unbeliveable! I research for myself and make my own decisions as best I can.

My two biggest candidates for "invented disease"...and the 3rd is a borderline one.

are :

1)GERD... major overuse of drugs for this baby!

2) elevated cholesterol.... this is highly inflated and the data massaged to look better than it really is. Big Pharma makes major $$ on these drugs.

Back when I was first licensed in very early 70's, the fad "disease" was hypoglycemia. Big Pharma, then Schering, even made a drug for this called ProGlycem. Whatever happened to "hypoglycemia"? Everyone had this on the tip of their tongue back then.

3) then there is Fibromyalgia, which IS real, but way over diagnosed in people who may have other issues IMO. But doctors jump on it now. I went to a big pain seminar on HA and other chronic pain conditions, and the Fibro expert said, that Big Pharma is focusing on this for now, hoping to reap major profits. Since that seminar Lyrica has been approved for Fibro and Savella has hit the shelves. So we will see more commericals for Fibro agents.

mrsD and kitty you have said what many have thought about the show and the elementary school theatrics. Thank You.

I think the one show that offended me the most was a "science guy" who was on to debunk common remedies... one was tooth whitening! They literally had a flame thrower (methane in balloons) that were exploded with a spark! The other demonstrations were equally juvenile! Total waste of time and resources IMO.

To be fair I watched the show this afternoon...the first part ...
carbs = cocaine! Not one mention of SUGAR, as a carb.
And the guest kept saying "serotonin" and Dr. Oz kept saying dopamine! Totally confusing to the audience. The fancy graphic only showed dopamine.(not serotonin). And no mention about how many dopamine receptors there are in fact! Now one can check dopamine reward research in PubMed by clicking on the link in the upper right corner of our pages...and see tons of papers on dopamine. The truth is that all food, releases dopamine to some extent, giving pleasure, reward, for us to eat, to keep us alive. Dopamine is the reward from sex too. It is in our lives in many ways to keep us doing things to keep us alive.

But sugar...will do it too! Not one mention of sugar on this show. Now that the medical portion is over, the theatrics have started, and I have left the room, but I can hear them in the background so they are still there. Why not do a 1/2 hr show, and do it well? Save time/money and do a better job?

... Fibro frequently is actually Lyme Disease!

David