Last night I spread the word about the House passing the Paul Wellstone Mental Health And Addiction Equality Act (H.R. 1424), reminded you that though we still have much to do the goal is in sight, and promised to keep you updated as new information became available.

Well, less than 24 hours later, I’ve received an advocacy alert from the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) urging me to send a message to President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, my U.S. Senators, and my U.S. House Representative.

I encourage you to do the same!

You can read the DBSA Advocacy Alert online. At the bottom of the alert, the DBSA has conveniently included a form you can complete that will send an email message to Bush, Cheney, your Senators and your Representatives.

It’s too simple not to complete and send!

Remember, we’re currently in the middle of Patient Safety Awareness Week. With the “Grab Drug Advertisements by the Pills” series I’ve been running here at Mental Health Notes, I’ve been trying to help you become patients who are more active in their health care.

What better way to get more active in your health care than by urging the powers that be to develop and agree upon the same version of the Paul Wellstone Mental Health And Addiction Equality Act (H.R. 1424) and by urging the President to pass it?

Send your emails now!

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Post from: Blisstree

Mental Health Parity Update: Contact Congress Now!

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 relevant to this series.

Prescription drug advertisements are required to:

• Explain the benefits of the medication, but they can’t make promises – especially when it comes to benefits that don’t have the evidence from testing to be backed up.
• Explain who should not take the medication. A good example of this is when you watch a commercial for an SSRI antidepressant and you’re told – during the commercial – that “people taking MAOIs shouldn’t take” whatever the SSRI antidepressant is.
• Give a statement about the side effects (if it’s a broadcast – radio or television – advertisement) and give a complete list of side effects, a Web site address, and a contact number (if it’s a print – magazine or newspaper – advertisement).

Prescription drug advertisements are not required to:

• Let you know about trials that didn’t go so well. They only have to make sure that the information they provide is an accurate representation of the “average” success rate.
• Tell you how well the medication works; only that it may work. This is tricky because while a particular drug may improve your symptoms, it may improve them only slightly. Drug advertisements don’t have to tell you that you may be looking at only a slight improvement.
• Point out alternative treatment or management options, nor do they have to remind you that there are less expensive and more beneficial treatments out there.

If a drug advertisement doesn’t comply to these requirements, the FDA will usually send an untitled letter or warning letter (two different things and sent based on the level of noncompliance) to the drug company. You can see archived copies of such letters online. (Just glancing at the examples, I saw letters to the makers of Cymbalta, Effexor XR, Rozerem, Seroquel, Zoloft, and Topamax.) Of course, other more serious enforcement actions exist, too.

The short of it is that the FDA is working hard to help protect us – the patients. Of course, that’s no reason to get lazy. Remember, the goal of this Mental Health Notes series during Patient Safety Awareness Week is to help you get more involved in your own health care by better understanding prescription drug advertisements. Let the FDA help you do just that. Become familiar with the Web site, and don’t be afraid to contact them if you need some help.

Other helpful Web pages to check out (and those that helped me with this part of the series) include:

• Direct to You: TV Drug Ads That Make Sense
• Prescription Drug Advertising and Promotional Labeling
• Promotional Material Review Process
• DDMAC’s Laws, Regulations, Guidances, and Enforcement Actions

The above image is a creation from Aaron Escobar of Escobar Studios.

Post from: Blisstree

Grab Drug Advertisements By The Pills: Let The FDA Help You

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 care takes; however, that doesn’t mean you can’t slow down, educate yourself, explore your options, and allow your doctor to do his/her job.

Because this is Mental Health Notes, let’s use depression as an example. And, let’s revive “Kay” from the first installment of I Must Shave My Legs: The OCD Miniseries.

Poor Kay. Not only does she have obsessive-compulsive disorder, but now she’s been diagnosed with depression, too.

Kay is sad and cries a lot, both for no apparent reason. She’s losing weight and can’t seem to get – or stay – out of bed for very long. She doesn’t go to Bingo anymore (yes, Kay likes to play Bingo, and lots of it) and she avoids phone calls and visits from her friends. Kay’s husband Leroy (haha, Kay and Leroy – get it?) has had to take over her share of household chores, but no matter how spotless he gets the kitchen, he can’t seem to convince Kay to start showering regularly again. And Kay’s poor children, Friedman and Tiffany (honestly, I don’t know why I’m on this jewelry kick), wonder why Mommy doesn’t see them off to school anymore. Have they done something wrong?

No. No one’s done anything wrong. Kay is depressed, but for whatever reason Kay isn’t familiar with depression. Until she sees a commercial for Cymbalta, that is. Encouraged by the miserably sad-looking (and not-so-shower fresh) people who are miraculously much happier-looking (not to mention cleaner and wearing make-up and wrinkle-free clothes) by the end of the commercial, Kay makes an appointment with a doctor to discuss depression.

And Cymbalta.

Over the course of a month or so, Kay is diagnosed with depression, prescribed Cymbalta, and starts to feel like the bed’s worth making, dinner’s worth cooking, her family and friend’s are worth attention, her shower’s worth stepping into, and Bingo is definitely worth playing.

Life is grand.

However, Kay’s health suddenly takes a turn for the worse. Kay discovers she’s having some serious difficulty urinating. Quite frankly, Kay can’t properly pee. When the symptom persists beyond just taking longer than normal in the restroom, Kay visits her doctor who informs her the Cymbalta has caused urethral resistance. The problem has escalated to the point that Kay needs catheterization. Her doctor takes her off Cymbalta.

Can you see how the Cymbalta drug commercial was both educational and confusing? Read on.

The Cymbalta drug commercial was educational in that it brought a condition called depression to Kay’s attention, which gave Kay the encouragement she needed to see a doctor. However, it was confusing in that the side effects listed were spouted out much faster than the rest of the commercial and mostly in medical jargon Kay didn’t really understand.

Rather than concern herself with those measly couple of seconds of gloomy side effects, Kay focused only on the relief the Cymbalta drug commercial promised.

So, what do you – the patient – need to know in order to make sure your story has a happier ending than Kay’s?

• Kay’s scary story shouldn’t have you turning the channel the next time you see a commercial for a prescription medication. Drug advertisements can be extremely beneficial in helping you recognize – and take further action regarding – your symptoms.
• The drug and the drug company’s official Web sites give much more thorough information about the pros and cons of the drug – and it’s in print, which means you can read it at your own pace. Check them out.
• Neither you nor the drug commercial nor the drug’s Web site is a doctor. If the advertisement truly elicits a response from you – if you genuinely feel the commercial describes your health problems – make an appointment with your doctor. Mention the commercial and tell your doctor how it helped you catalog your symptoms. S/he may decide the drug is worth trying after you’re properly diagnosed.
• If your doctor wants to prescribe the drug, make sure you find out everything you can about the side effects and how the drug may interfere with any other medication you’re taking.
• Regularly stay in touch with your doctor and inform him/her of every side effect you experience. Develop a rash? Tell your doctor. Constantly dizzy? Tell your doctor. Can’t pee? Tell your doctor. Don’t feel like a bother – it’s your doctor’s job to provide health care.

Drug advertisements aren’t designed to help you diagnose yourself. Use the information they provide, do a little research on your own, and then approach your doctor for a proper diagnosis and treatment rather than a prescription for the drug in the commercial.

Stay tuned for information about what drug companies do and do not – by law – have to reveal in their advertisements.

In the meantime, does Kay’s story sound similar to yours? Feel free to share in the comments!

Image source and owner.

Post from: Blisstree

Grab Drug Advertisements By The Pills: Let Them Educate You

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 health care patient, I’ve gone from blindly taking whatever my doctor prescribes (this costs how much?!), to suggesting new prescriptions (thanks for the misery, wretched Cymbalta commercial), to giving up traditional medicine altogether and going au natural (hellooooooooo flaxseed oil).

Based on my experiences and a variety of materials I’ve been reading in preparation for this series, I recognize the importance of patients playing active roles in their health care – especially when it comes to medication. I also recognize how big a role drug advertisements play in the way we think about and develop our own health care plans.

So, stay tuned with me this week while I muse on:

• The ways in which drug advertisements can be both confusing and educational.
• What drug companies do and do not – by law – have to reveal in their advertisements.
• How the most expensive drugs tend to dominate the advertisement scene, and how you can save money on prescription medications.
• How many drug advertisements deal with newer, less-familiar drugs, and why it may be best to wait a while before trying any.
• The lifestyle changes that can give results similar to what the drugs would provide.
• Why it’s always best to talk to a doctor before you start obsessing over your health.

I hope to hear about some of your own experiences along the way!

P.S. Want to get down to the nasty nitty gritty of patient safety, like hand hygiene and MRSA? You might want to check out Arrowsight Medical’s new blog, Patient Safety Focus.

Image source.

Post from: Blisstree

Grab Drug Advertisements By The Pills

Mark your calendars, readers! Mental Health Month may not be until May, but March is busting at the seams with mental health- and brain-related “awareness” events of its own around the globe!

March is:

• Mental Retardation Awareness Month, sponsored by The Arc.
• Professional Social Work Month, sponsored by the National Association of Social Workers.
• National Brain Injury Awareness Month, sponsored by the Brain Injury Association of America.
• National Epilepsy Month, sponsored by Epilepsy Canada.

And within the month of March we have:

• Brain Awareness Week, March 10-16.
• Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 2-8.
• National Sleep Awareness Week, March 3-9.
• Mental Health Action Week, March 23-29.

I use three different sources when it comes to finding information about awareness months and days: Pam Pohly’s Net Guide’s Health Observances and Health Care Recognition Dates; the National Health Information Center’s YEAR 2008 AT A GLANCE; and What Health’s Health Current Events. However, given the number of health-related awareness months, weeks, and days in March alone, I could have very easily missed one or three that are related to mental health and the brain. Know of any? Send ‘em my way and I’ll add ‘em to the list!

The majority of tomorrow’s NAMI meeting is going to be dedicated to a suicide prevention workshop, but here at Mental Health Notes all of you and I are going to take some time out here and there to recognize these awareness dates.

In the meantime, do you have any special activities planned to show awareness? Your family, church, school, club, or organization?

Image source.
Sheba Kitty Productions.

Post from: Blisstree

Keep Your Brains Busy This March!