Tuesday, June 26, 2007

I Am Getting Old – Part Nineteen

I am getting old because…I am having a hard time spelling numbers out in words. I may have to change the title of these posts. lol I thought for a while that I did not have anything to write about but once I started writing, I found that I did. Have you noticed lately how many ads there are on television for medications for every ailment you can think of and some you cannot? It makes me wonder how in the world my parents, their parents, etc., survived. It seems that perhaps greed by the pharmaceutical companies may have created a pill for every ache and pain people have and given a name to the aches and pains. To me this is just fodder for hypochondriacs. The ads tell you to ask your doctor. Give me a break, you are lucky if you get to see the doctor for five minutes and if you have anything to ask or say, you better talk really fast. I have resorted to making list of the questions I want answered and still do not find out what I want to know.

If you listen to the side effects that these new drugs have, why would anyone want to take them anyway. I know, you get one of the side effects and there is a pill to take. Some of the “new” ailments are, PAD (Peripheral Arterial Disease), PVD (Peripheral Vascular Disease) RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) ED (Erectile Dysfunction), “going to much”, to name a few.

While writing this post, I did some searches and read some articles on WebMD. You might be surprised to know (maybe not) that smoking is listed as a major cause of diseases. Alcohol is listed as a cause of some of the diseases, far fewer than smoking. I am not being flippant but my previous physician blamed hangnails on my smoking so it was hard to take him seriously. Since it appears that smoking is really bad for you, WHY HAVEN’T THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES CONCENTRATED ON A DRUG TO END THE NICOTINE ADDICTION? Are they owned by the tobacco companies and is there a conspiracy to keep people addicted to nicotine?

Seriously, nicotine and alcohol addictions need to be treated as diseases themselves. The pharmaceutical companies should allocate R&D dollars to develop a drug to end the hold that nicotine and alcohol have on people.

7 comments:

Jeni said...

Sounds like a good plan to me - on the surface anyway. HOwever, a pill to end addictions would probably end up being addictive too I suppose.
Tonight, my daughter, son and I are planning to go to a Quit Smoking Hypnosis thing. I figure, give it a shot! It's also supposed to help with weight loss and several other things - among them I think is "how to acquire world peace and earn $1,000,000 by only working 4 hours a week." But it is free or by donation so I'm not going to be out an arm and a leg if it doesn't work either.

RUTH said...

I struggled with 40 the other day...fourty or forty...is it an age thing? The pharmaceutical companies own the doctors anyway. The best salesman wins the prize of having his particular companies drug supplied.....or the best free pen and calendar! Smoking in any enclosed space is banned here as from this weekend...even in public houses..I can see some businesses going downhill due to this. I remember when cigarette companies told us how GOOD it was to smoke!
Rx

Jeni said...

Well, so much for the hypnosis thing! I did better with it the first time I tried that -last 2 days then before caving. This time, I made it till about 11 p.m. or so last night when my daughter asked if I'd like a smoke? Evil little female she is, right? Tempting her mother like that! But, this morning, I was very relaxed, slept quite well last night so maybe it had some benefit then. And, I didn't TOTALLY freak out this morning either when we apparently had a very short, fast power surge which affected my computer till about 4 p.m. today! Now deprivation from the computer plus trying to stop smoking are two things too many to try at the same time. So, I am back to the drawing board-again!

Anonymous said...

yes they do hold interests in the pharm companies.

Gene Bach said...

A better question would be, "Why are cigarette companies still allowed to put nicotine in their products?"

Shelby said...

it never ends... age.. until it does, of course.

Shelby said...

You, my dear, are the newest "Rockin' Girl Blogger" awardee at my place. . . come see!

take care and here's hugs for just being you:)