One of my mottoes has always been, “If you want something done, get up and do the damn thing.” Having that mentality is definitely one of the reasons I love grassroots movements and advocacy.
It’s also definitely one of the reasons I love passing along information about said grassroots movements and advocacy to you lovely people.
A couple of weeks after the Grab Drug Advertisements By The Pills series here at Mental Health Notes, I received an email from Consumers Union Grassroots Organizer Daniela Nunez about their recent petition to the FDA for better reporting of drug side effects. The Appropriately labeled …read more

Grab Drug Advertisements by the Pills: Part Six
We’re reached the final installment of Grab Drug Advertisements by the Pills. What have we learned so far? Well, we’ve learned that:

Drug advertisements can both confuse and educate viewers.
The FDA regulates what drug companies do and do not have to reveal in their advertisements.
While the most expensive drugs tend to dominate the advertisement scene, there are ways you can save money on prescription medications.
Many drug advertisements deal with newer, less-familiar drugs, and why it may be best to wait a while before trying any.
There are lifestyle changes that can give results similar to …read more

Grab Drug Advertisements by the Pills: Part Five
We’ve determined that most medications featured in drug advertisements are both the priciest and the newest drugs on the market, which unfortunately means you could end up emptying your pockets just to experience some pretty serious, unknown side effects.
However, there is good news. In addition to asking your doctor about cheaper prescription medications that have been around longer (and have better understood side effects), you could also ask your doctor about any lifestyle changes and alternative remedies that may provide similar management benefits and symptom relief.
For example, did you know that each of …read more

Grab Drug Advertisements by the Pills: Part Four
Now that you know that the most expensive prescription medications tend to dominate the drug advertising scene, it’s probably no surprise that these same prescription medications are also the newest drugs on the market.
However, here’s something to which you may not have given much thought: Because these new drugs are new drugs, they don’t have as much clinical trial time under their belts. The most pressing problem this poses is that there could be serious side effects, risks, and dangers associated with the drug that we (the scientists, drug companies, doctors, and patients) …read more

Grab Drug Advertisements by the Pills: Extra!
CFS Squared and Baldiness blogger Laura clued me in on “Big Bucks, Big Pharma” documentary when I announced the Grab Drug Advertisements by the Pills series.
After googling “Big Bucks, Big Pharma” I found the Media Education Foundation’s (MEF) Big Bucks, Big Pharma: Marketing Disease & Pushing Drugs, which directs readers to this relatively short trailer.
Certain direct quotes from the trailer hit home with this Mental Health Notes series (Grab Drug Advertisements By The Pills), such as:

“Both doctors and the public want to reach for the newest prescription drug.
“You can’t sit down to TV at …read more

Grab Drug Advertisements by the Pills: Part Three
Now that you know how drug advertisements can both educate and confuse you, and the FDA regulations in place to help them do just that, let’s consider the cost of the prescription medications featured in the most recent drug advertisements.

Simply put, it’s pretty dang high. The most expensive drugs tend to dominate the advertisement scene.
Why?
Well, skepticism and criticism common sense tells me it’s because they’re the most expensive. Drug companies want to get the most expensive drugs out there in the public eye in order to make more money. Of course, you shouldn’t …read more

Grab Drug Advertisements by the Pills: Part Two
Carrying on with the Grab Drug Advertisements by the Pills series, let’s talk about drug advertisements and the FDA. Specifically, what drug advertisements are and are not required to tell us.

Since 1962, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (or, the FDA) has regulated prescription drug advertising under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and related regulations. (The FDA considers an “advertisement” to be broadcast promotions such as television and radio, print materials such as magazines and newspapers, and even telephone contacts.)
These references cover a lot of material, so I’ll sum up what’s …read more

Grab Drug Advertisements by the Pills: Part One
We begin the Grab Drug Advertisements by the Pills series by discussing how educational – and how confusing – drug advertisements can be.
Prescription drug advertisements are educational in that they often help people tune into and/or better understand a particular health condition. However, because most of us aren’t doctors, drug advertisements can confuse us. Some of us are out the door and headed to the doctor’s office before the commercial is even finished.
Yes, I want to spend this Patient Safety Awareness Week encouraging you to get more involved with the path your health …read more

Today kicks off Patient Safety Awareness Week, and what better way to help ensure patient safety than by becoming more active in your own health care? After all, you are the patient, right?
Of course you are. We’re all patients at one point or another.
In honor of Patient Safety Awareness Week, I’m going to do a series on one of – if not the – most in-your-face elements of the health care world today: Drugs. Pills. Pharmaceuticals. Medicine. Dope. Prescriptions. Whatever you want to call them.
But more specifically, the advertisements for drugs, pills, pharmaceuticals, medicine…OK, you get the idea.
As a mental …read more