The Medical Industry Is After My Money
Posted by Lauren | Under Random Thoughts with 560 views Monday Apr 14, 2008Today’s realization: doctors are the best salespeople for the pharmaceutical industry. They capitalize on people’s fears of sickness and they do it well, because with ten years of med school (with diplomas on the wall for proof) and a white coat, anyone will believe what they say about your health. Or lack of it.
My health is just about as important to me as religion - which is to say, not very important. Oh sure, I think it’s important to think about the existence of God every now and then but I’m not going to go out of my way to do research about why he doesn’t exist. Nor am I going to go out of my way to earn brownie points so I can sing hymns and play the harp beside the cherubim and seraphim when I’m dead, just in case I’m wrong and God is actually up there, being great and all. Normally I don’t go out of my way to make sure all my parts are in working order either. But get me paranoid enough and you’ll find me waiting outside the doctor’s office within the week and cranky, because doctors are ALWAYS late.
Two weeks ago, Anne and I went to the gyno because that’s what you do with your friends when you’re a woman in your twenties. The following day, our YM conversation looked something like this:
(1:31:03 PM) Anne Gomez: Did you get your meds?
(1:31:05 PM) Anne Gomez: Fucking vaginal suppository
(1:31:08 PM) Anne Gomez: Fricken weird
(1:31:15 PM) darthlaurian: hahaha i did
(1:31:23 PM) darthlaurian: i used one na last night
(1:31:35 PM) Anne Gomez: Now I’m discharging yellow shit and she told me not to use pantiliners
(1:31:40 PM) Anne Gomez: Eugh
(1:31:40 PM) darthlaurian: ohhh o_o
(1:31:56 PM) darthlaurian: bah i hope these wont be a bitch to wash
(1:32:01 PM) Anne Gomez: It’s from the meds, sabi nga nya wag daw akong mashock
(1:32:11 PM) darthlaurian: yeah
(1:32:18 PM) Anne Gomez: How grown-up are we? Talking about vaginal meds and shit
(1:32:32 PM) darthlaurian: we gotsta take care of our sex organs, ya know!
(1:32:41 PM) darthlaurian: they’re like, the most important part of our bodies
(1:33:03 PM) Anne Gomez: Ya ya!
Today I went back to the gyno with my mom because she was concerned that I might get cervical cancer like, sometime in my life. Apparently, boys don’t just bring babies - they could bring cervical cancer without their knowing it too. The gyno then informed us that the cervical cancer vaccine will cost six thousand pesos a pop. I’m getting mine on Wednesday, and then one in two months, then the last one in six months. That’s eighteen thousand bucks to protect myself from the possibility of cervical cancer.
Naturally I freaked out at the price. My mom mom will be subsidizing the vaccination costs, but come on - I could be using that money for my travel funds! But noooo, my hard-earned sweatshop blogging money will be used to protect myself from a mere possibility instead. When I pointed out to my mom how ridiculous this all sounds to me, she shot back by saying that my uncle who got leukemia went bankrupt because of the treatment. The saddest part of the story is that he died anyway. “Prevention is better than the cure” sounds like a cheap advertising slogan to me, but I guess my mom has a point in there somewhere.
Today’s visit to the doctor got me around to thinking - are all the pills prescribed to us by doctors really necessary? I mean, I had to take anti-depressants for months but I stopped when I found out that I could deal with the serotonin imbalance without the happy pills (which didn’t even do shit to make me happy to begin with). The anti-depressants were supposed to prevent me from doing something crazy, like killing myself or raining bullets on people. But I’m still alive and I’ve never taken out my bad moods on anyone, not even when I was at my worst. You know what did make me snap out of the depression though? Quitting my shitty office job and going back to school. Whenever I start feeling nihilistic I give Ale a call, or one of my friends, and a few hours later the world doesn’t seem like such a half-bad place to live in. Pills aren’t the answer to the meaning of life. The don’t even do that much of a good job supplementing it.
So now I’m going to be x amount of pesos poorer because of the damn cervical cancer vaccine which is, now that I come to think of it, really quite clever of the medical/pharmaceutical industry.
Medical/Pharmaceutical Industry
So maybe we’re not gonna get rich off your family because you won’t be getting teh kansa anymore. But at least we’re making money while we’re preventing it! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Lauren
…I HATE YOU ALL.
you forgot the part where two of my aunts in both sides of the family died of cervical cancer. Be happy there is a preventive vaccine for such cancer.
Oh and men are carriers of that cervical cancer virus which they get from women they sleep with. They don’t even know they are carriers. That’s what your uncle told me.
Oh, I’m happy that there’s a vaccine. I’m not at all happy that it has to cost an arm and a leg, and my unborn children.
Yes they are=P They are fueled by the pharmaceutical industry as my dad says=P What is important is proper nutrition. For cancer prevention, supplement with selenium;)
They say the healthiest people are those furthest away from ‘medical care’=P
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When cancer sets in, it spreads (at a rate depending on how ripe a person’s body condition is for its propagation). If it spreads, cancer attaches itself to healthy host cells thereby making it impossible to kill the cancer cells without damaging the host cells (and other healthy cells similar to the host cells). Preventing cancer cells from settling in by protecting parts of the body where they might most probably “cultivate” could still be the best alternative people have. I don’t know, I’m no specialist. But I trust that they are. While a cure can rid me of a disease, based on my example’s logic, I’d be more willing to pay for prevention than undergo the experience.
Case in point: Anne had this really bad cold last time. She was in the living room with her nose all runny, slight fever, and intermittent cough. I had flu vaccine a few months back. Although I felt I was going down with something that same night with various symptoms going on (itchy nose, headache, painful throat), I did not feel a thing in the morning. It was as if I did not at all get exposed to the virus the night before. As a result, I was not bed-ridden the entire day, my body didn’t get to suffer and experience the inconvenience of being weak and helpless, and I got to work without being deducted leave credits. Of course my flu vaccine cost does not equal that of your cancer prevention serum but I hope you get where I’m coming from.
It breaks my heart to see what happens to people who are suffering from a disease that could have been prevented/avoided/long ago eradicated. Not experiencing the pain at all still trumps easing the pain of a person suffering from an already existing disease with a cure.
If I were not with the pharma industry, this would have still been my stand.
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The vaccine against Human Papilloma Virus (the thing that causes Cervical Cancer) was just released last year. The demand is still high so I guess would remain the same. I think an ovarian cancer (far deadlier, but less common) is also in the works.
And oh, as expected, Fritz is on the side of the evil pharmaceutical companies! LOL.
Cervical cancer is very common among Filipinas because a lot of the men are OFWs and seamen.
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i meant ovarian cancer “vaccine” is in the works. LOL
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that’s because there’s still no generic substitute for that vaccine since it’s a newbie! and i don’t want to discuss here too on how pharmaceutical companies work on that. basically, if a company gets the right to manufacture such vaccines due to their support for its loooooong research before being approved, then it’s just right that they get what’s due to them. the result of the research on its effectiveness is also very promising.
if you don’t want the vaccine, then the best effective method of not acquiring the papilloma virus which can cause cervical CA is abstinence; don’t have sex. simple.
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I know it makes more sense to undergo the prevention rather than the cure. But I have doubts as to how serious the threat of cervical cancer really is. It seems to me like the vaccine is just a created need, much like mouthwash was when Listerine started sometime in the early 1900’s. I mean, I find it strange how nobody really made noise about how there’s a need for a cervical cancer vaccine until the pharmaceutical companies started marketing it.
heh…benj said seamen.
Oh where was I? Oh yeah, I think the cost for a “prevention” is well worth the price considering the high rate of transmission among people our age of HPV, a strain of which is what that vaccine is for. It’s the most common of the STD’s after all, and the most unnoticed. Anyway, think of it as a seatbelt (albeit an 18,000 peso one): It’s an annoyance, but you never know when it saves your life.
Yes, dad. :p
But you won’t be getting teh kansa!
… wish there was a vaccine for obesity. =(
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What Fritz said.
But there is something to be said about believing in doctors too much. There was this one time a doctor gave a talk about how most of the stuff they prescribe patients because of the placebo effect. He said it breaks his heart prescribing expensive meds to his patients while he’s sure they won’t do anything but to keep the patient coming back. So he could pay for his golf country club membership.
He also say that a lot of times, doctors purposefully don’t tell you the side effects of certain meds because they make money prescribing them.
He didn’t tell us this to scare us off from going to doctors. He’s more concerned about empowering us to exercise our own judgement when taking medication.
But then again, cancer is kinda scary so maybe you should listen to your mom about this.
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well, i’m getting mine at st. luke’s next week…if i don’t forget the appointment.
and yes, it costs a lot. although there was this other anti-cancer vaccine that you couldn’t get if *ahem* you’re not all that pure. which my ninang/ob gyne tried to give to me and thus, i had to come clean and say: “ninang, nakikipagsex na po ako.” she almost fainted. lol.
miss yah.
i’d be wary of taking the vaccine. i’m sure there are no grave side effects, but it only protects you from 4 of the known strains that can cause cervical cancer. i know from an academic source that the company that developed the vaccine is now looking to release one in the next few years that covers up to 8 strains. and the cut off age for vaccination is 26, so you still have time to reconsider. it is definitely a matter of sales more than prevention.
i considered it for myself after hearing one doctor promote it. i addressed it with my own gp and he advised against it. i appreciated his honesty. just thought i’d let you know.
Fortunately I can get the HPV vaccine in Australia for free. SO I’m getting it. My third need is due in a couple of weeks
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Hello! I’m Karen from SPOT.PH. We’d like to invite you to an EXCLUSIVE BLOGGERS’ tour that we’ll be having on APRIL 25 & 28 at 1pm. Please click on the link:www.spot.ph/bloggerstour for the complete details of the tour and to confirm your attendance.
Feel free to contact me should you have any questions: karen.delacruz@pep.ph or 0922.846.5322
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Don’t blame men for everything. They usualy get infectd by women. Use a condom or absten and be very sure who you share your bed with.. Vacines may be good but new vacines can still have unknown side effects be weary.
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That is a fuckload of cash for a round of injections. However if you were to say live somewhere with a first rate, well maintained, free medical service like that in say Australia you’d be getting the vaccine for free. The government loves Australian cervixes intact thankyou very much.
Now if only you had a tall, dark, handsome aussie to marry and take advantage of citizenship…
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Blargh :/
Goodness gracious… For protection against HPV, here are some options from the un-medical point of view:
1. Abstinence.
2. Have your man wear a condom even when engaging in oral sex. And have the woman put plastic wrap or saran wrap over her va-jayjay.
3. If you like having multiple partners, then be choosy in your promiscuity. The married ones are pretty loyal to their spouses (less risk). I would stay away from single men who don’t have a steady girlfriend. Definitely have more protection when it comes to known philanderers and bed-hoppers. But if the guy has just severed a long-term relationship, that’s ok.
4. Phone sex or auto-erotic sex (read: masturbation) so you don’t exchange any body fluids.
Better to have a vaccine than none at all. It’s not 100% fool-proof.
IT’S NOT A SALES PITCH. IT’S VERY REAL.
Cervical cancer is caused by HPV. Viruses are able to change their biological, or chemical (I think, not sure about the technical term), compositions to adapt to changes. This shot you’re getting will not really 100% prevent you from getting the cancer.