So last night I was watching tv and saw a commercial for the prescription medication Lyrica. As I was watching it I was waiting to hear the side effects (I don't know who else does this but I think it's funny when some of the side effects are actually things that are caused by the problem that the medication is prescribed for.) and heard the narrator for the commercial say that it may cause suicidal thoughts. SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. REALLY?
I did a little reading on Lyrica and what it is prescribed for (Fibromyalgia) and understand that it is given to combat painful aches in joints and tendons and to limit the occurrence of seizures. I understand that risk vs. reward is probably worth it but still the chance of these suicidal thoughts is 1 in 500. That seems like bad odds to me. The side effects part of the commercial should be stated like this "Not only will you have indescribable pain for no reason, but you also have a 1 in 500 chance that you will feel like you want to kill yourself." that seems over the top but I'm sorry it's the truth.
A couple more things before I post this. Why can't prescription drugs cause awesome things to happen to you. I would take Lyrica if one of the side effects was the ability to breath underwater or even just spell better, but no it causes you to think about ending your life. NO THANKS! Also why are prescription drugs that are man made legal, and Marijuana is not. I think that is a travesty. I am moot on the subject of legalization of THC but to me it's ridiculous that drugs that cause terrible side effects are prescribed and pot is illegal. Maybe I'm not so moot.
You can agree or disagree with me if you want.
Interesting thoughts, bro. I haven't seen said commercial. I also agree that there's something sinisterly ironic about a manmade, manufactured drug that is designed to improve the quality of life of those who take it with suicidal side-effects for 1 in 500. But how do they test this? to get odds like that, how many people were actually tested on this drug? To get odds like that, that's a lot of "pre-approved FDA testing," if you take my meaning. And secondly, are these odds substantially worse than the odds of those who have had thoughts of suicide at one time in their life or other for any reason, man made or otherwise? I'm not sure our species needs the help. For the condition it treats, it would seem to me that the kind of pain they're already experiencing might well cause similar side-effecty thoughts more often than NOT taking Lyrica. Ack.
ReplyDeleteI heard those side effects and thought the same thing... seriously??
ReplyDeleteoh mannn. dave and i live for those commercials because there are so darn MANY of them, and they border on hilarious because all have side effects that are so severe, it makes you wonder why it doesn't seem to bother anyone! I think if the general public knew more about the pharmaceutical indusrty, and more about the kickbacks doctors get every time they write a prescription, we'd be VERY skeptical of those drugs and the medical indusrty in general. two words- money makers.
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