"It's teeny!": the World of Healthcare

[Bastet]

Yeah, for a non-estrogen pill, it sure has a lot of side effects similar to those one gets with HRT.  Topical lubricant, used only when needed, is a lot safer (and cheaper) than a daily pill.

 

And I laughed at the "do not take this if you're pregnant" warning in another thread a while back, but I can't remember where.  Probably in the head scratchers one.

[Sandman87]

I've been seeing a lot of ambulance chaser ads since I started watching RetroTV. My current favorite is for hip replacement surgery patients who have suffered "any of the following effects" and want to get in on the class action settlement. They list a bunch of effects that make sense, such as parts corrosion and metal toxicity. They also list "additional replacement surgery" as a symptom. I picture someone waking up unexpectedly in the middle of the night because he's having a sudden attack of replacement surgery.

Yeah, for a non-estrogen pill, it sure has a lot of side effects similar to those one gets with HRT.

It's probably a gigantic molecule that's only different from estrogen by about one atom.

[smittykins]

Frankly, if I never hear the term "transvaginal mesh" again, it'll be too soon.

[Sandman87]

One of the ambulance chaser ads that's been running lately has been for a settlement involving "bladder slings." I don't know what a bladder sling is, but it sounds like something that David would have used to kill Goliath if he also wanted to make him smell like urine.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

One of the ambulance chaser ads that's been running lately has been for a settlement involving "bladder slings." I don't know what a bladder sling is, but it sounds like something that David would have used to kill Goliath if he also wanted to make him smell like urine.

 

For your edification, Sandman87.

 

http://www.drugwatch.com/transvaginal-mesh/bladder-sling/

[OSM Mom]

I never heard of bladder slings or pelvic mesh... And I wish I still didn't know..

[RedZoneTuba]

There's the ambulance-chaser ad where the sleazy lawyer lists the questions that victims of mesothelioma (sp?) would supposedly have.

 

I always mentally add: "Who are these damn lawyers that keep bugging me and why won't they leave me alone?"

[InDueTime]

I saw this ad three times in one night and that was three times too many.  In a way, it's clever because hearing so often it will likely stress you out, therefore, increasing your cortisol.  So you'd have to buy the damn Relacore.

[Shriekingeel]

There's a lawyer commercial that flat out states that you can "get cancer" from "poorly handled instruments" at a doctors office.

Now I assume they are talking about the transmission of HPV, and just left out the whole HPV part. But the commercial makes science history by informing the public that cancer is contagious.

It's like saying that you can get lung cancer by kissing a smoker, leaving out the part that the smoking person you kissed persuaded you to start smoking.

[EighteenTwelve]

I think those are the "if you had fibroid surgery with a power morcellator, you got cancer and can sue for a zillion dollars" commercials. 

[CoderLady]

From Googling, it looks like a morcellator is sort of like a surgical stump grinder (how's that for a mental image?) which if not completely cleaned between patients can transfer cancer cells to a previously cancer-free patient. Or so the ambulance-chasers claim. And I don't want to think about this any more than I have to.

[riley702]

They were being used for hysterectomies to be able to remove the uterus through a smaller incision (less pain, quicker recovery, etc.). Problem was, some of those women had known or suspected cancer and by chopping up the uterus, they were actually spreading the tumor cells into the abdomen. Some surgeons are still using them, although they swear it's safe because they're putting the uterus into a bag before chopping away. I wouldn't want to bet my life on that. Nothing like taking a small, contained cancer and spreading it every damned place.

 

ETA: And that has to be the worst name ever for an instrument. "We're gonna chop it up into tender, juicy morsels!" Eww.

Edited March 4, 2015 by riley702

[kassa]

Yeah, the movement against it was actually led by a local female anesthesiologist who had the hysterectomy, then was told  a couple of days later  "oops, turns out you had cancer, so, um, we probably just spread it."  She and her husband who is a surgeon have led the charge to stop the procedure.  Which is NOT to say they've led the charge to sue the doctors who performed it.  Just to get a moratorium on it until it can be done safely.

 

But the vultures will seize on anything.  In a way, it actually probably makes it harder for the medical establishment to decide to take a step back and reexamine things they are concerned about, because it's a red flag to those bulls.

Edited March 5, 2015 by kassa

[Jamoche]

I don't know if that was the effect they were going for. 

Get this - that's the ad series they touted as being aimed at women.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I think we are supposed to think of them as the gorgeous wives and girlfriends of the lucky viagra patients, but it all just comes across to me like high paid call girls. I don't know if that was the effect they were going for.

I think they're trying to say that their product will let a guy perform as though his woman was like the one in the ad.

Edited March 23, 2015 by LoneHaranguer

[janie jones]

Given that my husband finds that woman completely unattractive, I don't want anything to make him perform like that.

[Lola16]

One of my favorite pharma commercials for the side effects:

 

[Prevailing Wind]

It's easy to avoid the turnoff to the casino if you fall asleep while driving.

[Muffyn]

Well sure, I fell asleep while driving after having sex that I was inexplicably compelled to do to get money for gambling that I could not resist, but at least my legs weren't restless.  You've got to count your blessings.  

[kassa]

I heard one the other day for some medication to treat a condition that I am sure is frustrating as hell, no doubt about it, but one of the side effects was male lactation. They advise you to stop if that happens.

[RedZoneTuba]

I heard one the other day for some medication to treat a condition that I am sure is frustrating as hell, no doubt about it, but one of the side effects was male lactation. They advise you to stop if that happens.

They should market it as a feature.  "Do you have an infant child and want to give Mom an occasional break?..."

[pandora spocks]

The prescription med ads advise us to ask the doctor if <insert hawked product here> is right for you. I don't know about you, but if I were a doctor, I'd be a little pissed that patients come to me and give me advice based on something that was shown on Wheel of Fortune or 60 Minutes.

Edited May 7, 2015 by pandora spocks

[Actionmage]

I am so over Marie Osmond trying to get me on whatever weight loss program she's extolling.

 

No, Marie, I am a woman who isn't interested in a Little Black Dress Moment. It would be nice, but I'm not going to base my weight loss around a singular moment that is fleeting.  You don't see Charles Barkley trying to convince men to lose weight for whatever the potential equivalent is for men. Possibly because there isn't one for guys. Also, there are enough about trying to live for other family moments, like a daughter's wedding or a child's graduation.  Still, for  women-directed ads it's about how the women look/ feel about themselves, even in a Marie ad starting off about how tiring it is to worry about how you look!

[BW Manilowe]

I think this belongs here...

Awhile ago, there was an ad, technically for/sponsored by Johnson & Johnson--it seemed to be saluting nurses or honoring Nurses' Day--where a male nurse comes into a pediatric patient's room to give her some sort of injectable medicine; I think she might be getting treatment for Cancer or something equally serious, but I'm not positive. When he starts the injection, until he removes the needle, the nurse & the little girl sing a chorus of the song The Name Game ("banana fana, fo fana, fee fi fo fana...") then he tells her how good (sic) she did, during the injection, & asks her if she feels OK.

They've recently started airing that ad again, & I love it as much as I did when it originally aired. As someone who's spent a lot of time in hospitals due to chronic health conditions since birth (most recently I was hospitalized from the end of last August until about 10 days before Christmas 2014), & who's had her share of--much hated--needle sticks for blood tests, IV's, & other treatments/meds, I wish I could be lucky enough to get a nurse as compassionate as the 1 in that ad is. Luckily, I've actually come close a few times.

[smittykins]

Umm, I think I just got some dust in my eyes.

Yeah, that's it...

[BW Manilowe]

Umm, I think I just got some dust in my eyes.

Yeah, that's it...

I'm guessing that was in response to my previous post? I know, me too. I just love the nurse's compassion depicted in the ad, & the relationship that seems to have been fostered between the nurse & his young patient. (My guess is, it was a real nurse & patient in the ad & not actors--but I don't know).

I didn't realize, until re-reading my original post just now, that I forgot to link to where the ad can be seen, if anybody hasn't seen it or wants/needs a reminder of it. Here you go:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2PVeOq60GcA

[DrSpaceman]

The prescription med ads advise us to ask the doctor if <insert hawked product here> is right for you. I don't know about you, but if I were a doctor, I'd be a little pissed that patients come to me and give me advice based on something that was shown on Wheel of Fortune or 60 Minutes.

Much more annoying is hearing "SO I was reading on facebook...." OR "So Dr Oz said......" followed by some BS that is just total nonsense, usually.

The one med commercial that annoys me is apparentely ther is a new version of the epi pen???? Was this really needed? I know my daughter has an epi pen but we have never had to use it, was the old one really that complicated?

[Rick Kitchen]

Well the new one talks!

[cynicat]

Well the new one talks!

 

Maybe it says:  "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."

[Andyourlittledog2]

Maybe it says:  "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."

 

Thank you.  I needed that this morning.  

[friendperidot]

I've been seeing some ads, usually on smaller cable channels & very late at night. The voice over is about this medication and how there's a limited supply and only people with last names A-L can call tonight and those with last names M-Z can call after 9 AM tomorrow. Does the premise of it being so limited work? I don't know what the medical item is.

[CoderLady]

That's a gimmick. If the supply is so limited how do they manage to run the ad multiple times? I've been seeing that ad late at night on one of the Hallmark channels several times for at least the last three weeks.

 

I'll bet they wouldn't refuse to sell to you if you called at the "wrong" time, either.

Edited June 30, 2015 by CoderLady

[LoneHaranguer]

Just because there's a limited supply of something, doesn't mean there aren't plenty of them available. A bad artist can have a limited number of pieces to sell, but be actively looking for buyers because he's having trouble finding anyone willing to take one.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Just because there's a limited supply of something, doesn't mean there aren't plenty of them available. A bad artist can have a limited number of pieces to sell, but be actively looking for buyers because he's having trouble finding anyone willing to take one.

 

They spoofed this in The Simpsons. Marge was calling one of those 800 numbers because she wanted to buy something she'd seen advertised on TV, and they show the guy sitting in the middle of a warehouse or something with thousands of boxes stacked all around, and he says something like, "You're in luck, Ma'am, we're almost out of X Whatever Thing. You called just in time!"

[janie jones]

Yeah, you could have 10 billion of something, and if no more is being produced, it's technically limited.

[friendperidot]

I figured it was a scam, but it just seemed such an odd way to advertise. As a modern fashion doll collector, I know all about limited editions.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Yeah, you could have 10 billion of something, and if no more is being produced, it's technically limited.

I don't think they make quite that many, but isn't that what they do with the "commemorative" plates and coins? They produce whatever fixed number they think they'll be able to unload, and when they're all sold or dumped onto a closeout retailer, they move on, to a brand new "limited edition".

[ratgirlagogo]

 

Given that my husband finds that woman completely unattractive, I don't want anything to make him perform like that.

I hear you.  Although I actually came here to post that I find all of the Viagra models hot.  The blonde is 44, the brunette claims to be 36 (kind of nasty of me to doubt it, but she doesn't have her date of birth listed on IMDB, which makes me think she's fudging a bit, which is a turnoff - which I hate because I find her very attractive, she reminds me of Paige Turco, age 50), and the current one is actress Kelly Hu, who is 46.  Obviously I don't consider any these women "old" but we all know that Hollywood does.  It's one of the things I prefer about TV, that actresses who are considered too "old" (meaning over 35) to play a 75 year old actor's girlfriend in the movies can play hot and sexy on TV.  

 

 

And I, and my post-menopausal friends, find that we're way more responsive and that sex is more enjoyable. Go figure.

That's how I feel NOW.  But many of my fellow post-menopausal women friends went through a severe drop in libido and never got it back, so it's important to acknowledge that it can happen.  I don't want to get too clinical here, but my own libido dropped into the sub-basement initially when I stopped bleeding, which was a huge and unpleasant shock.  I think if I had figured out earlier that the hormonal shifts were temporary it would have taken less than the year or so it actually took for me to regain my sexual functioning.  I had to get over the depression and the performance anxiety enough to allow myself to relax and explore (draw your own conclusions)  my own changed middle-aged body. This was more helpful than the various  hormonal creams that I briefly tried out - and oh, by the way,  those Osphenia ads completely creep me out.  Why are we so fixated on looking for drug/chemical fixes to problems that don't require them?   There are some women for whom "vaginal atrophy" is real, but I'm convinced that for most of us it's a myth, and one that gets worse when you keep trying to solve it with drugs and HRT/HRT-type creams.

Edited July 5, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[Aja]

 

They spoofed this in The Simpsons. Marge was calling one of those 800 numbers because she wanted to buy something she'd seen advertised on TV, and they show the guy sitting in the middle of a warehouse or something with thousands of boxes stacked all around, and he says something like, "You're in luck, Ma'am, we're almost out of X Whatever Thing. You called just in time!"

It was the microphone thing that let you broadcast yourself on AM radio. My favorite part was when the commercial said "hurry because supplies are limited" and Homer screams "LIMITED??!!" :) I only know because it's one of my favorite episodes. We're sending our love down the well…...

[bigskygirl]

The Crestor commercial bugs the heck out of me.

[RedZoneTuba]

The Crestor commercial bugs the heck out of me.

I don't know if it's the same one you're referring to, but if it IS then I completely agree:  The lady is told by her doctor that the Crestor lowered her cholesterol, so she goes on a euphoric dancing and smiling spree out of the office, into the streets, and to a softball game.  Meanwhile, the narrator says something about Crestor being for when "diet and exercise are not enough". Um, maybe it's impolite of me, but she looks to be definitely on the "hefty" side and I can't help but think "Are you SURE you gave that diet-and-exercise thing a chance?"

[bigskygirl]

I don't know if it's the same one you're referring to, but if it IS then I completely agree:  The lady is told by her doctor that the Crestor lowered her cholesterol, so she goes on a euphoric dancing and smiling spree out of the office, into the streets, and to a softball game.  Meanwhile, the narrator says something about Crestor being for when "diet and exercise are not enough". Um, maybe it's impolite of me, but she looks to be definitely on the "hefty" side and I can't help but think "Are you SURE you gave that diet-and-exercise thing a chance?"

That's the one. Yes, I would be happy if I got good news from my doctor, but the commercial, to me, is obnoxious.

[Prevailing Wind]

I said this before: I don't mind her prancing about, but that open mouth at the end of the ad nauseates me.

[CarpeDiem54]

Meanwhile, the narrator says something about Crestor being for when "diet and exercise are not enough". Um, maybe it's impolite of me, but she looks to be definitely on the "hefty" side and I can't help but think "Are you SURE you gave that diet-and-exercise thing a chance?"

  

My thoughts exactly!

I said this before: I don't mind her prancing about, but that open mouth at the end of the ad nauseates me.

Yeah, her running around with her mouth open is beyond goofy looking.

[Rick Kitchen]

That one isn't nearly as bad as the guy who has all of the orange and blue Crestor colors all over his house like it's a sports team.

[InDueTime]

The mouth animation on this knee brace ad is just disturbing.

 

[Prevailing Wind]

I hate that ad.  The animation is SO amateurish & annoying & creepy.  And WHO/WHAT is the ad for?  There's no company name attached to it, unless it's buried in that teeny-tiny print.

[Actionmage]

Good lawd! I hate the animated "Grandma" ad with the fire of a thousand burning nuns on escalators! It is everywhere that is over-the-air. I can't go somewhere where that ad doesn't show up. (Maybe I should try the stations I don't normally watch.)

 

Still, the ending with Grandma telling her granddaughter that maybe she needs a knee brace too?  ::rme::

 

It is in the same hate as the Payless ads with the "painted over" people. Either have real folks in your ads or animate. Who Shot Roger Rabbit this ain't.

 

Also, we now have two ladies of color telling guys it's cool to take Viagra.

[pandora spocks]

Why in the hell would someone allow Terry Bradshaw into their home so that he can give them advice about shingles and shingles vaccine?  First, Bradshaw is not a trained physician, only a shill for the vaccine company.  Second, he's loud and obnoxious, a poor combination for pleasant company.  Third, he was in Failure to Launch, an unpardonable sin for discriminating moviegoers.

Edited August 10, 2015 by pandora spocks

[pandora spocks]

Sexually unfulfilled women, your prayers have been answered.
 
http://time.com/4002948/female-viagra-flibanserin/
 
According to Time, flibanserin, nicknamed Addye (oh, how cute) will be available in October.  Get ready for a spate of commercials featuring men with a <insert sexy male accent of your choice> attempting to cajole women to purchase this miracle drug.  It's not the panacea for female sexual dysfunction that Sprout Pharmaceuticals--with a commitment to "breakthrough firsts in women's sexual health"--would have you believe:

 

The women who took a 100 mg nighttime dose of the drug showed that on average, being treated with flibanserin increased the number of sexually satisfying events by 0.5 to one additional event per month over placebo and increased desire by 0.3 to 0.4 points over placebo.--Time

 

The results seem rather miniscule for a woman taking this drug daily.  A sizable amount of the consumer base for Addye will be women with sexual dysfunction but other women with--how should this be put delicately--partners who are lousy in bed will find this new drug sadly lacking.  

Edited August 19, 2015 by pandora spocks