Posted by King Vultan on April 21, 2004, at 19:28:11
In reply to my appointment today with my so-called doctor, posted by Stryker88 on April 21, 2004, at 17:02:17
> he does not seem like a doctor but i had this appointment today, and the funny thing is while I was in the waiting room, a group of salesmen showed up as if ready to give a sales presentation to my doctor. These two had freshly manicured hair, fancy suits, and sales packets. At that point I heard them telling the receptionist about there new Effexor Promotion. Effexor is what I am on. It was educational to see how the drugs we take get from the sales to our mouths and everyone makes a profit in between
I haven't seen this while waiting in the behavioral health area where I see my pdoc but have seen the drug salespeople in the area where I see my GP. Obviously, this type of activity is going on everywhere and has a huge impact on medical care and what winds up getting prescribed. I think it's the reason why you see, for instance, calcium channel blockers prescribed so much for hypertension at the same time that some doctors, such as my GP, feel that they are an expensive and ridiculous alternative to diuretics, beta blockers, and ACE inhibitors.I don't believe we can say exactly the same thing about drugs like Effexor in the psychiatric field, as this at least does have a unique method of action. I do think, however, that patients are being done a disservice by doctors unwilling to use some of the older proven technology such as tricyclics and MAOIs on a more frequent basis.
Todd
poster:King Vultan
thread:338469
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040417/msgs/338527.html