Why Doctors Often Dismiss Drug Side Effects

[Guest guest]

Why Doctors Often Dismiss Drug Side Effects

 

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/08/30/doctors-often-writ\

e-off-patient-side-effect-concerns.aspx

 

Patients’ concerns about drug side effects are often shrugged off by their

doctors, according to a survey of 650 patients who were taking

cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins.

 

Statins, such as Lipitor and Zocor, are common drugs with widely known side

effects that include liver damage, muscle problems, memory and mood changes,

and more. In the case of muscle problems, if the side effect is not recognized

it can progress to a potentially fatal condition called rhabdomyolysis.

 

Nonetheless, patients who responded to the survey said that they had to

initiate a discussion about side effects with their doctor, and when they did:

 

-- 47 percent said their doctors dismissed their muscle or cognitive

problems, and said they were not statin-related

-- 51 percent with a type of nerve pain called peripheral neuropathy said

their doctors denied a connection to the drugs

-- 32 percent said their doctors denied a connection between their symptoms

and statins

-- 29 percent said their doctors " neither endorsed nor dismissed the

possibility of symptom link to statins "

 

Rather than attributing the patients complaints to the drugs, many doctors

instead blamed the “normal aging process†or denied the symptoms entirely.

Aside from not addressing the health concern in the patient, this ignorance

toward

a potential adverse drug reaction (ADR) means that no “adverse event reportâ€

is being given to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Side effects

are already underreported by 90 to 99 percent, according to one Harvard Medical

School expert, and the FDA relies heavily on such reports to gauge a drug’s

safety once it hits the market.

 

In short, the survey suggests that the FDA is missing out on a wealth of ADRs

because doctors are not recognizing them in patients.

 

The study’s authors believe that statin-related side effects are not the only

one’s being missed.

 

They suggest that many other drug side effects are also being ignored. The

researchers speculated that doctors’ tendencies to ignore drug side effects

may

be due to the powerful ad campaigns touting medications’ benefits and

downplaying side effects.

 

Drug Safety August 2007 30(8):669-675

 

http://drugsafety.adisonline.com/pt/re/drs/abstract.00002018-200730080-00003.htm\

;jsessionid=GmHLrnGyK1H0TnvnQ3yp0yp8l1V7DF1hc74QQcHRgV7NGLPgmLPf!1864852813!

181195628!8091!-1

 

Reuters August 28, 2007

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSCOL86315820070828?feedType=RSS &

feedName=healthNews

 

Washington Post August 28, 2007

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/24/AR2007082401714.\

html?nav=rss_health

 

Dr. Mercola's Comments

 

I strongly agree with many of the posters on this article that doctors should

not be made scapegoats to this unfortunate finding.  Most physicians are

intelligent, well intentioned individuals who truly believe that they are dong

the

best they possibly can for their patients. They are clueless that they are

merely pawns in the system that is spending tens of billions of dollars EVERY

year to manipulate and deceive them into believing drugs and surgery are the

best solution for chronic degenerative health conditions.

 

When you think about it for awhile it is not that much of a stretch since it

certainly true for acute traumas, all they had to do was extend that view to

degenerative diseases and when you have tens of billions to invest in

purchasing the best marking minds on the planet, this is a relatively easy

change to

achieve. The results speak for themsevles, the drug companies have been

fabuloulsy successful in capturing the minds of logic of most of the brightest

and

educated professionals our country has ever seen.

 

BUT, they have only done this temporarily.  The Internet will change all

that. This site is helping to educate consumers and health professionals alike

about the fraud and deception. So many physicians are deceived that they are

not

at all motivated to listen to their patients' concerns about the medications

they’re taking. This is particularly tragic when you consider that

prescription

drugs result in more than 700,000 visits to the emergency room in the United

States every year.

http://www.mercola.com/2006/oct/31/using-drugs-causes-700000-in-us-to-go-to-er-e\

very-year.htm

 

It is also a shame that doctors are so quick to interrupt their patients as

you only have about 23 seconds to state your concerns before your doctor will

interrupt you, which may at least partly explain why most patients had to

initiate the drug side effects conversation, or not have it at all.

http://www.mercola.com/1999/archive/doctors_interrupt.htm

 

Physicians certainly do have some responsibility here, particularly in being

familiar with, and open to, the fact that drugs often cause side effects (and

sometimes strange ones at that).

http://www.mercola.com/2003/aug/30/parkinsons_gambling.htm

 

Drug Companies Are Influencing Your Doctor

 

In the United States an estimated 80,000 drug company representatives, backed

by more than $19 billion of industry's combined annual promotional budgets,

are visiting doctors every day.

 

These visits are influencing your doctor, essentially biasing him or her in

favor of drugs.

http://www.mercola.com/2005/aug/9/do_free_samples_sway_your_doctors_prescribing_\

for_you.htm

 

Drug companies do not stop there. They spend millions each year to influence

Congress, and similar amounts to influence YOU (via TV commercials, magazine

ads, and the like) to ask your doctor specifically for their drug, the way you

might ask for a particular brand of food in the supermarket.

 

Only a very well-informed, open-minded physician will be able to withstand

this brainwashing (that actually starts way back in medical school)!

http://www.mercola.com/2000/sep/10/drug_company_influence.htm

 

What can you do?

 

You are making the first major step already; you’re getting informed about

what’s really going on.

 

YOU now know that if you suspect a drug is causing you a side effect, you

must be sure that your doctor does not dismiss it. If he or she refuses to

acknowledge it, you must seek out another doctor who will. As many Vital Votes

readers have also pointed out, you can make a difference by printing out

informative articles from Mercola.com and elsewhere, and giving them to your

doctor.

 

Doctors are only human, and many will be very receptive to the information

contained in these pages.

 

As the Washington Post article points out, you can also report drug side

effects to the FDA directly http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/ (regardless of

whether or not your doctor does), and I urge you to do so if you’ve

experienced any.

 

Finally, my advice for your health and wellness holds true in this

circumstance as well; you can reduce your reliance on the fatally flawed medical

system

(and thereby your risks of drug side effects) by eating the right foods for

your nutritional type, exercising, and relieving stress with a tool such as the

Emotional Freedom Technique. http://www.mercola.com/forms/eftcourse1.htm

 

 

Related Articles:

 

How Many Doctors Does it Take to Heal a Patient?

http://www.mercola.com/2004/aug/7/fish_bone.htm

 

Patients Want More Talk, Less Action From Doctors

http://www.mercola.com/2001/mar/3/doctors_communication.htm

 

Patients Do Not Tell Doctors Their Concerns, Fears

http://www.mercola.com/2000/may/14/patients_fear_doctors.htm