Who is the Doctor …..Doctor?

Bad medicine has been around a long time.  It didn’t start with Socrates or some Apache Chief.  It will probably be around for a lot more years as we now enter the Internet age and find that the price of our healthcare has gotten so dreadfully out of hand…that it can even be dangerous to health…just to go to the doctor.

As we notice without doubt…..the various Drug Makers are busy advertising each and every day on our televisions.  Be it the singing Viagra old guys…or the surfing Cialis bunch……the big money is out there and pumping up the volume to create demand for prescription drugs of every kind.  “Make cause heart failure, may cause wetting the bed, may cause your wallet or healthcare insurance provider to suffer serious sticker shock!”

Recently, we had to visit our Dermatologists…..”dry lips from flying on too many airplanes in too short a period of time….”.  The sticker shock started early with $170 for an office visit for Anna.  It was only $140 for me…not three months ago!  We have to pay up front by the way.  No, we have only been the Doctor’s client for three years.  Hardly knows us!  At any rate, Anna was concerned that the dry lips thing might be some sort infection…some sort of virus….who knows what?  Thought we would check it out and find out why the symptoms would go away for weeks and then come back.  Some times they would come back within days.

Well, our Doctor said….(who is a Professor at a major Cal System University)…. that he would fix us right up.  He assured us that there were no serious side effects of the medicine he was providing us. Within three minutes the nurse had quickly returned with a bag of samples and four prescriptions.  We took our “chicken scratchings” to our local CVS Drug Store.  They were quick to mention that the Doctor required Name Drugs…NO Generics and that our order would be ready in 20 minutes.   Upon our return…we found that they were out of one of the suggested products….the shampoo.  As we ponied up to the counter….they said that they only gave us 30 days supply of the 90 day prescription…for insurance purposes.  We noticed the product had a familiar name – Valtrex by Novartis.  A 30 day supply rang in at $174 dollars!  The two other creams were from the big drug companies as well and weighed in at $71 dollars and $22 dollars.  The $268 dollar order mind you was just a partial order.  A 30 day supply of the 90 days suggested.  The pharmacy was so busy it became difficult to get a hold of the pharmacist….for futher dialogue!

When we finally got home….we pulled up the information and further side effects on the Internet.  In addition to the info provided by CVS on their info sheet….we discovered serious kidney and liver damage could occur.  We found that under no circumstances was the anti-viral cream provided not be placed on the lips.  We immediately called the CVS Drugstore and told them that we wanted to return these products and that we had not opened any.  They explained that under State law….they can’t take back any drugs removed from their permises.  We got stuck and we got stuck good.  The next day the Clobex….by another big time Drug Manufacturer became available to us from our pharmacy.  The 15 oz. plastic container was only $208 dollars.  We declined that offer as well.

We asked the Pharmacist what was going on?  Being that we have been clients for over 10 years….she told us……the Doctor’s are getting their “little taste” from the Drug Companies to push their products.  “Golly…Saergent!” “Surprise…..Surprise!”…… She also stated; there are so many that get the same treatment – either don’t have insurance or have to go without food to buy – these bogus products.

We went on the Interent and asked the question:  What causes dry lips and what therapies are available that are Natural remedies?

“Take Vitamin B-12 or B-Complex.  Take Vitamin C or Orange Juice and see me in the morning. ”  After two weeks…..that therapy seems to be working and we have refrained from ingesting any of the doctor proscribed products with the exception of one pill and one dab of the viral cream on the day that we got they medicine. 

We were just lucky this time?  What if the diagnosis was serious enough to cause a life threatening condition?  What are we going to do the next time?  First off, when ever any doctor proscribes any medicine for us…..we will want to know (1) How much does it cost? and (2) Is there a less costly alternative medicine or thearpy available?  If you Doctor dummies up and says he doesn’t know……then tell him to get with the program and find out….before you leave the office.  Do not waste the big money you are spending for the Office call.  Additionally, make sure you always check on the Internet for Side Effects of ANY medicine proscribed or provided as a sample.  Many of these products are designed to get you hooked.  One of the prescriptions that was provided us…even said: “Does not treat any virus only the symptoms!”  That was the one for $71 dollars.  Damage to your liver and kidneys is a biggie!

In these times of serious economic downturn…..we will all need to be more vigilant when it comes to how we spend our money.  Remember, every time you see one of those Drug Commercials on television…..someone is paying big money for those magic moments and if you look in the mirror…..you will soon see who that might be!  Iron Eyes Cody was the famous American Indian spokesperson that showed his tears when it came to pollution in this country back in the 60’s.  He also spoke about “Bad Medicine”.  Old Iron Eyes Cody later was found to be an Italian ….. rather than an Indian.  There are a lot of Doctor’s that are falling into that same situation.