Your Drugs May Not Be The Right Prescription
Teeth, gums and bone structure affect and are affected by one’s overall health. So it was fitting to study pharmacology in my dental training, since medications affect the system. In interviews with patients I am increasingly asked my opinion about their prescription drugs.
Such was the case with a new patient in St Louis who admitted he was addicted to an anti-depressant, prescribed for the off-label purpose of handling his insomnia. Another patient consulted me about her teenage daughter’s headaches. Her daughter had seen several specialists who, unable to diagnose the cause of the girl’s headaches, prescribed an antidepressant, another off-label use of this med. Having treated TMJ patients for thirty years with headaches, I was able to discover what was causing them and give the girl relief – without drugs. The information I use has been around since the ‘90s, so isn’t new. But, it doesn’t involve surgery or drugs and so isn’t widely promoted.
Promote It and They Will Buy
“Build it and they will come” was made famous by Kevin Costner’s, Field of Dreams. Big Pharma’s version of this involves spending three times as much on marketing as they do on research. And their sales force has grown equally as much. Between 1995 and 2005 the number of drug reps in the US grew from 38,000 to 100,000. The payoff? In the 14 years from 1990 to 2004, spending on prescription drugs has quadrupled and the number of prescriptions written has increased by 68%.
Doctors and Dentists Are Encouraged to Prescribe
The St. Pete Times recently covered the story of thousands of lawsuits filed against AstroZeneca, makers of the anti-psychotic drug, Seroquel. Records made public by the company in response to the lawsuits revealed the tactics used to make Seroquel the company’s second-highest selling drug, generating $4.5 billion in sales in 2008 alone.
High prescribers of the drug were rewarded with goodies such as overseas trips and $1500 speaking fees. The Times noted that these tactics were not limited to this manufacturer, but are typical of the industry. This explains the move lately by the Massachusetts State Legislature to ban all gifts and incentives to doctors from drug reps.
The Drug Merry-Go-Round
I strongly believe there’s a place for prescription drugs, as many are a necessity to the preservation of life. Even in dentistry, pain killers and antibiotics are essential. But promoting drugs for every ill or chill or worse, promoting a med for every mood only serves to bloat pharmaceutical coffers. It doesn’t enhance overall health!
Following is my description of the stages one goes through only to wind up on the “drug merry-go-round,” a ride that’s nearly impossible to get off.
Stage 1. A Med for Every Mood. A Pill for Every Chill. Consumers see ads and commercials claiming the answer to their unwanted symptoms is only a prescription away.
Stage 2. The First Side Effects Kick In. Every medication has them. Read the labels and you’ll see. They’re described as “side effects,” but in actual fact, your body doesn’t know the difference between the “side” effect and the main effect.
Stage 3. A Med for Every Side Effect. Now that the first med may have masked the original symptoms, you can move onto medicating the effects caused by it.
Stage 4. The combination of medications endanger your health. In many cases, the side effects of the medication are worse than the original condition you started out with. But, by the time you’re on a cocktail of medications, each chasing the tail of the others’ symptoms, it’s hard to tell what caused what.
In the end, my advice is to become proactive in your own health. Information regarding any drug prescribed to you is available online. Know the benefits vs. the risks involved in what is prescribed. If you’re interested in reducing your dependence on prescription drugs, handling the CAUSE of your condition and not merely masking symptoms , there are practitioners who can help you achieve this end. Call our St Louis dentist office and we will be happy to refer you to a doctor in your area.
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