Disease Mongering

Since I cannot sleep tonight, knowing that WHO has finally declared the swine-flu pandemia (lions, tigers and panthers! oh my!), I will take the chance to write a few lines about a video I saw during the last Congress of Primary Care of Barcelona thanks to Dr. Ricard Maneu. It is called 'The New Epidemic' and it is based on an article first published in the April's Fool Day edition of the British Medical Journal. This funny and fake article which dr. Joan Ramon Laporte (esteemed beacon in this jungle of drugs of dubious use that we prescribe daily) had already mentioned and that for some reason some people thought to be true. The subject of the article was the discovery of a new condition called motivational defficiency disorder, which affects a great part of the population that had until then been considered just lazy. Thanks to a just marketed drug called Strivor, people affected with this disease can again do the tasks that they couldn't do for being so sluggish...sorry... because of their motivational defficiency.

Obviously, it's all a mockery of this new pandemia (and a true one this time) of disease mongering aka exagerated or just invented diseases. It is saddly a very common phenomenon in our times, propelled by the media, pharmaceutical companies and with the collaboration of a good share of doctors. We are constantly being informed abut new alleged conditions that affect a great part of the population and that condemn us to sick lives, unless we take the proper medication, of course. The list of such invented or exagerated conditions is endless: female sexual disfunction, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, restless legs syndrome, hyperactive children, sad people (not necessarily depressed), ... I could go on, but I think I have already alienated enough patient groups and colleagues.

I'll leave you with the video, but anyway, if you are not yet feeling well enough, if you have not reached that level of well-being that you no doubt deserve, don't worry. You will always have Panexa. If you have not heard of it yet, just ask your doctor for a reason to take it.