I am not one of those people fighting aging. I am aging and I accept that. I exercise moderately. I eat healthy-ish. My hearing is not what is used to be. That is probably from my addiction to loud music and my marriage to a man who loved LOUD music. For my fortieth birthday my vision went to hell. My arms were not long enough to be able to read anymore. These things happen. If they have not happened to you yet these issues are so gradual it takes a while to figure them out. Then suddenly you go, "what?" all the time and, "does that say DETOUR or Detroit?"
I also know that other issues occur as you age. Blood pressure issues, cholesterol problems, type two diabetes. Well, the list goes on and on. I know these things because I have some of these problems and/or I know people who have them. What irritates me, (I know you are shocked), are the commercials that scream at me every time I turn on my TeeVee about every drug I should discuss with my doctor. Yesterday I saw a commercial with a former tennis great suggesting that I ask my doctor about a particular kind of knee replacement apparatus. Apparently we all have urinary problems to look forward to. We women can't stop and you men can't start based on what advertisers find necessary to share. ENOUGH.
If I made an appointment with my doctor to discuss every drug the pharmcos tell me to I would be removed from his list of patients. He already thinks I'm a little emotionally unstable. I don't need to add paranoid to the list of reasons I could be hospitalized.
I had a small nervous breakdown after three years of caring for two parents with dementia. I went to see my doctor after my husband explained to me that the constant crying was going to drive him to strangle me. Of course he meant it with all the concern you can muster for a person crying because someone on television has an aging parent who doesn't have dementia.
I made an appointment with my doctor and waited an hour and forty-five minutes for him to finally get around to the tiny room I was in. I told him about all my issues and how I didn't want to kill myself until I sat in his office FOREVER waiting on him.
Then we discussed anti depressants.
I know a lot about these. Most of my family has been on them at some point. Some of them have been on anti depressants since they were developed. He wanted me on THIS one. I wanted THAT one because of my vast knowledge and the commercials I had seen on TeeVee telling me how much better I was going to feel. He explained to me that he was a doctor. OH, I suggested we bring in one of the dozen or so pharmco sales people I watched come into his office during my marathon wait and ask him/her why the the doc was so adamant on a specific brand. Maybe they were giving him extra special desk calendars or pens to prescribe their products. I am not usually this confrontational, OK sometimes I am, but the almost two hour wait gave me way too much time to stew.
My very kind doctor explained to me that based on our conversation and the extreme stress I was under he wanted to give me to best chemical help he could without making me a zombie or speed like a Studio 54 regular. He also expected me to make myself better by following certain suggestions like quit trying to make the world perfect and to let go instead of taking on. We then had a conversation about the uselessness of the commercials that the Pharmcos saturate the airwaves with.
Most of the drugs advertised are not covered by most insurance because there is no generic available. A similar generic drug with the same capabilities will be substituted in many cases. Doctors don't want patients making a list of drugs to come in and discuss. They really want to practice what they know. People know that if they can't pee or pee constantly they really should see a doctor. If you can't breathe all the time, call a doctor. If you have thoughts of suicide, call a doctor.
Pharmcos are famous for taking the position that their products save lives and are very expensive to bring to market. I am sure that is true. I am also thankful that these companies develop drugs that save lives. Maybe if you didn't have a sales force the size of an army and a commercial on television every single minute of the day you could cut your overhead. Maybe you could just focus on creating miracle drugs, educating the medical community and leaving the consumer out of that process.
During the twenty minutes it has taken me to write this blog I have been watching TV. Three times I have been told how awful depression is and what three different drugs I should take and just how dangerous high cholesterol is. THANK YOU, I would have never guessed.
Pharmcos, work on a drug that cures information overload. Then take two and call me in the morning.
You're Welcome,
Lillybell Blues
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