Take Creon For Life, EPI Sufferers
Savvy drug marketers realized decades ago that convincing people that they did not have a“ bad day” or bad job but actually a“ chemical imbalance” called depression would quadruple profits. They need a drug for life.
Similarly, someone who is bored or sleep deprived and can’ t“ focus, organize, meet deadlines, or prioritize at work” might have“ adult ADHD,” neurodivergence, or a“ spectrum disorder” requiring lifelong drugs.
In the digestive and gastrointestinal“ space,” someone with diarrhea could have IBS— Irritable Bowel Syndrome— and someone with heartburn could have GERD for life monger drug marketers. On a chronic drug, how do you know if an incident was transient? How does someone know a child will“ outgrow” a mongered condition?
The marketing decision to sell drugs that will be taken for decades or life means drugmakers have long ago abandoned low-to-no profit antibiotic development which the NIH( taxpayers) now subsidizes.( Guess who keeps the profits?) Ditto for PRNs— Latin for“ as needed” drugs.
Hypochondria Sells
When drugmakers began transposing minor and transient conditions into chronic conditions requiring prescriptions, they discovered another shocking windfall and dividend. Americans like to have medical conditions, medical diagnoses, and needing medication. Yes, they want to be sick.
Gone are the days when the family doctor assured people“ take two aspirins and call me in the morning.” Today, doctors note that patients can get angry if they are not given a diagnosis and prescription“ validation” during an office visit.( We won’ t even talk about antibiotics when they have a virus, causing the current antimicrobial resistance.) Why the desire to be sick and to embrace of medical conditions? Some say Americans like the victimhood and attention that a diagnosis confers, even something as dismissible as“ I have dry eye.” Others say in a first-world country in which“ my smart phone broke” can be considered catastrophic, privileged guilt runs rampant, and people want to feel and convey that they are“ suffering” too.
A diagnosis also confers an instant identity, friends, and a clear pathway for the“ sufferer” as the many popular, hypochondriac disease web sites and even magazines like ADDitude Magazine prove.
Finally, a medical diagnosis, especially a psychiatric one, gives people an excuse for abulia at work and impulsive, erratic and self-centered behavior with family, friends and associates. They can’ t help it!
Whether calling obesity a“ disease” to be treated by GLP-1 agonists( pay no attention to that fast food marketing / availability behind the curtain) or convincing healthy people to get“ screened” for conditions that would make Pharma money, direct-to-consumer( DTC)“ ask your doctor” marketing has revolutionized American health care and not in a good way. EPI marketing is just the latest example.
Before becoming a reporter, Martha Rosenberg worked at McCann Worldgroup and other top medical agencies and at Louisiana State University Medical Center and Northwestern Memorial Hospital.