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« Dr. John Abramson's Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine (OR, How Medical Research Lost Its Credibility) | Main | The Crestor Study: A Humorous Addendum »

November 20, 2008

Comments

Allen

Hi there,

I just found the link to this site from The New York Times (statins in water) comments section.

This is a brilliant, informative, no nonsense, see it as it really is site. I have nothing but praise at what I have already read and watched, and there is lots more still to see.

In another article I read and watched, who would have thought that a dietary change could help and even stop epilepsy. I.E. please don't call me Shirley :-)

EXCELLENT PLACE, I AM GLAD I LOOKED :-)

jeffrey dach md

It appears that journalists have a short memory.

Only four year ago, Dr. David Graham, associate director in the FDA's Office of Drug Safety gave senate testimony that Crestor was one of five drugs with safety concerns. The drug causes muscle breakdown and renal failure.

To read more...

http://jeffreydach.com/2008/11/14/crestor-jupitor-crp-and-heart-attack--by-jefffrey-dach-md.aspx

Gregory D. Pawelski

In terms of Numbers Needed to Treat (NNT) to avoid a serious event, 120 patients had to be treated for 1.9 years to prevent one serious cardiac event. At $1,250 a year, that’s $285,000 per event prevented just for the statin pills. Add in the physician visits, CRP tests and lab work, can you imagine how many heart attacks could be prevented if that money were targeted at people who are truly at risk of heart disease to help them modify their lifestyles and get treatment for their underlying conditions?

If AstraZeneca can get two million more healthy men and women on Crestor, it’s an additional $2 billion-plus in sales for AstraZeneca. And if they can test 10 million people to find the estimated two million with elevated CRP levels, it’s $200 million in test sales. If the royalty is only 1%, that amounts to a hefty $2 million a year in extra income for Dr. Ridker, who owns a patent on the $20 test that measures CRP.

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I am very glad to see that so many people have been questioning the advisability of putting even more people on statins! While I agree that patients with high levels of C-Reactive Protein are at greater risk for heart attacks (even with normal cholesterol levels), like you, I am worried that so many physicians seem to think, unquestioningly, that statins should be the FIRST treatments considered.

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Yes, many people are helped by changing their diet and activity. I guess I don't have much faith in Joe Six Pack having an epiphany when they're told this by their doctor. Doubly so when I have a hard time believing that they didn't know this in the first place.
Thaks for sharing with us.

Dan

This Makes Me Sick


When I heard the word ‘warmonger’, I had to find out its definition, as I had no idea what that meant so long ago. I knew others could be labeled this word, so I wanted to find out what it meant. Finally, I found the answer: a warmonger is one who promotes something that is undesirable or discreditable. In this case, one labeled this would promote war.

Mongering still exists, yet instead of war,, it is medical disorders and disease states that are being promoted in this way.

There appears to be those who question the existence of what is called disease mongering. Disease-mongering is when typically a large pharmaceutical corporation implements various illegal activities in order to sell more of their products.

They do this by creating more of those who may be candidates for their drugs and what they treat more than what really exist. One method pharmaceutical companies implement is a determined goal to extend the range of what is truly abnormal regarding the health of others. If this is done, the market for the treatment its products are used for is to the benefit of the pharmaceutical company.

The intentional creation of front groups is one method masked as advocacy or support groups for a particular disease state or medial disorder. Embellished data shared primarily with health care providers as it relates to the efficacy of the pharmaceutical company’s medications is another way. There are many other tactics utilized by this industry that ultimately is nothing less than clear disease mongering.

How such pharmaceutical corporations do this in these other ways will be explained soon- and you will read how and why they want the needs for their drugs to be unmet throughout the patent life of the drug of a pharmaceutical company. The companies want to let the public know constantly about the progressive increase for the disease states for which their products treat, and the symptoms expressed by others that indicate such disease. Often, the disease increases as well as the symptoms that conclude specific disease states relevant to the pharmaceutical company are far from authentic.

This disease mongering in fact does occur often to widen the diagnostic boundaries of an illness, disorder, or syndrome by primarily creating awareness of such medical conditions that often is far from what is really accurate. The drug makers share such information that is flawed both to the public as well as the health care providers, but in different ways as they present in a convincing way what may be overall more fiction than fact..

First, let's take a look at this label of disease mongering: It is an inaccurate phrase in that it is an incomplete phrase. Unlike diseases and illnesses, mongering activities also occur with medical disorders and syndromes as well by large pharmaceutical corporations. It is accurate and factual, however, that what is called disease mongering does occur, and occurs often so the promoted drugs of the pharmaceutical companies will increase the market share of their source of revenue.

Mongering, by definition, is the process of a dealer who promotes something overall void of credit or desire by others in order to create need by establishing credit and desire that does not exist.

There was a book written by Ray Moynihan and Allan Cassels called, "Selling Sickness" in 2005. The book thoroughly described how big pharmaceutical corporations are turning all of us into patients due to the activities of pharmaceutical corporations misleading the public in this manner.

Disease mongering progressively continues to transform healthy people into patients with illnesses that they more perceive than possess. Big pharmaceutical corporations engage in creating such misperceptions in a number of ways: Further disturbing is that these drugs that are being used more often than need to be are not always safe, and at times are quitee toxic to one who is taking such a drug.

Here are some ways pharmaceutical companies engage in disease mongering:

1. Paying medical journals to publish fabricated clinical trials involving their promoted medications after paying those involved with such a clinical trial to create such fabricated data. That is disease mongering to the health care provider, and takes the mongering to a higher level as it relates to fraud and deception.

2. Subjective medical screenings for various mood disorders, is one way. These were infrequent until about the mid 1990s. It was also at this time the U.S. was becoming a psychotropically induced nation as a result of activities such as this. These screenings were largely composed of particular questions. The sponsor, of course, was involved the creation of these leading questions conducted by disease state support groups upon instruction of their supporting sponsor. When this occurs, the support groups are converted into front groups after being funded by those big pharmaceutical companies who produce drugs for these mood disorders of various kinds and degrees.

3. Disease creation-1, such as social anxiety disorder, or social phobia: This disorder is in the DSM IV which was published in 1994, and some were forced to delete the statement regarding this disorder that said, "Social Anxiety Disorder is not well-established, and requires further study." The DSM, by the way, is the Psychiatrist’s handbook for diagnosing and treating those with mental concerns.

Aside from what may be simply amplified introversion, social phobias are likely due to societal dysfunctions or malfunctions, and certainly should not be labeled as a pathological condition requiring pharmacological treatment as it presently is, in my opinion.

4. Disease creation 2- what is defined as premenstrual dysphoric disorder. I call this a mid-life crisis, yet it was entered by instruction from the APA into the DSM in 1993. Possible anxiety about the inevitable does not require pharmacological treatment. The APA, by the way, is the American Psychiatric Association.

5. Direct to Consumer Advertising- a vexing component of our lives more so in the past 10 years or so.

With such advertising, perhaps most memorable were those commercials for erectile dysfunction. Their absurdness in creating these commercials was possibly psychotic. The typical setting for such a commercial is as follows:

A healthy man who could probably run a marathon is having a decent time with his wife at some upper middle class location. He is smiling all the time. Because now, his marriage is secure due to copulation that now occurs with his wife that was apparently void before this wonder drug entered him, and his restoration of his life. Of course, it is not possible to have a strong marriage without intercourse, according to others, apparently

Then there are other conditions, entirely natural in the human lifespan, that have been determined to be diseases by those who can profit off of these age-related conditions. Examples include osteoporosis and menopause, as well as erectile dysfunction. It’s insane the FDA approve pharmaceuticals for such natural events in a human being.

Finally, there are the required medical guidelines frequently revised for various disease states, such as dyslipidemia, for example.

There are also publications with such titles that address the disease state of dyslipidemia, as “The Lipid Letter”, or, “Lipid Management.” Both medical publications of any type, as well as the disease state guidelines, offer progressively more aggressive management of the lipid profiles of the patients of the readers, who are normally health care providers. And both guidelines as well as medical publications are typically funded by those big pharmaceutical companies that promote a class of medications called statins- the class of drugs that is almost entirely used as therapy for dyslipidemia.

A myth is something unproven. A false premise. A story of fiction.

Disease Mongering is not a myth. Large pharmaceutical corporations promote if not encourage illness and disease occur as often as possible for their own benefit. Illnesses and diseases certainly not desired by anyone and discredited by many. The pharmaceutical corporations do this for potential profit from others who prescribe their promoted drugs.

Why this behavior of these large pharmaceutical companies continues to be allowed is a mystery to me and others. Their strategies with what they implement are not entirely tacit if one is aware that such activities occur.

Investigations would be appropriate, and should occur to ensure the health of others. The others are United States Citizens- this is the health of the public. Protests are not out of the question.

Perhaps if we as citizens protest, and make each other aware of tactics such as these from pharmaceutical companies in larger numbers, there may be a change that will occur that needs to happen for our own well-being and safety.,

Dan Abshear



.

Trish B

I took Crestor (&other statins) in 2005-2006. Side effects: passing out 6 times - once with cuts to my neck and face. Generally felt weak, severe muscle spasms and weakness in legs, gained 25 pounds! Developed chest pains, irregular heartbeat, etc. Dr. kept prescribing related drugs. Switched doctors, stopped all medicines. Felt fine for 2 years. Moved, got new doctor, Crestor Hydrochlorothizde prescribed. All symptoms back. Not going to doctors again!

Terri

I was prescribed Crestor. I gained weight, had kidney pain and LOST HAIR!!! I have taken myself OFF this drug. I also had severe fibromyalgia and muscle pain. I am going to treat myself holistically with vitamins and real food.

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I am quite interesting in this topic hope you will elaborate more on it in future posts.

erectie

Well it was says that they have implied that the connection between CRP and heart disease is “news.”.But some says that this is not true..They say that many researchers have long known that while cholesterol is one risk factor for heart attack and stroke..

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This is a brilliant, informative, no nonsense, see it as it really is site. I have nothing but praise at what I have already read and watched, and there is lots more still to see

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You really have nice article here Impressive that you shared your ideas here, and I will definitely share this article to my friends out there.


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Since nearly all of these studies on nutritional supplements capable of lowering CRP are catalogued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in its online database, Medline, it really is shocking to me that so few conventional doctors have bothered to read them.

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