Biggest BS "Disease"

[Hoek]

My pick is ADD. My parents seem to think my brother has it, but when I looked at the list of symptoms, they were so vague that anybody could be diagnosed with ADD. Kids were never meant to sit around in classrooms all day anyway. This whole ADD fad is just a way to pump kids full of Ritalin so people don't have to deal with real problems. Total BS

[drake]

There was a time when people made due and adjusted.

Now theres a drug for everything......

[Ming]

While I would have to say that it is a real and serious problem... I HAVE TO AGREE that too many kids are being lumped into this group. The symptoms are indeed "vague" and it is just too easy to jump to this conclusion. Drugs are not the answer to every bored child...

[Giancarlo]

Parents jumping to conclusions like this disgusts me highly. Geez, I would probably qualify myself...

[drake]

Drugs are not the answer to every bored child

yeah...thats what nintendo is for

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'm also going to have to nominate 'Depression'. You sad? Oh, you must have Depression! We'll give you pills for it .

[Dan Severn]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
I'm also going to have to nominate 'Depression'. You sad? Oh, you must have Depression! We'll give you pills for it .

Aye, there is such a thing as clinical depression, but it's much rarer than doctors would hsve you believe. (Just having fun isn't a good therapy- doctors and drug companies get no money from it.)

[Kepler]

ADD is a disease where 1% of the diagnoses are for genuinely serious problems, and 99% are to sell drugs and make a profit. I wouldn't be surprised if the prescribing MD's got a piece of the pie.

Clinical depression is very real, very serious sh1t. It may be over-diagnosed, but in many cases it has a bio-chemical basis.

[Q Classic]

there are other ones which i don't know if i believe

nexium, for "acid reflux disease" sounds pretty much like bad heartburn, no matter what they say.

viagra, for "pd" isn't fake, i assume, but i still don't think it deserves all that attention.

premarin, for "PMDD" is another one i can't fully buy. PMS can be bad, true enough, but why give it another name when it's just worse that usual? and why rename prozac for the purpose (well, it was to extend the patent...)

the main thing is that i don't understand how all these pharmacorps can get away with "manufacturing" a lot of these "diseases"...

[Imran Siddiqui]

Aye, there is such a thing as clinical depression, but it's much rarer than doctors would hsve you believe.

Same as ADD, I agree though.

[Dan Severn]

Acid reflux disease.

Why would anyone rather take a medicine than just chew up a few Tum's? One affects your vital systems and has side effects. The other simply increases the pH of your stomach contents. Gee, I'll pop a pill I probably get heartburn once a year, and only then if I eat extra turkey.

Wimps.

[Pythagoras]

Re: Biggest BS "Disease"

Originally posted by Hoek
My pick is ADD. My parents seem to think my brother has it, but when I looked at the list of symptoms, they were so vague that anybody could be diagnosed with ADD. Kids were never meant to sit around in classrooms all day anyway. This whole ADD fad is just a way to pump kids full of Ritalin so people don't have to deal with real problems. Total BS

I take serious offense to this. I have a friend who really has ADD. Im not saying that cause the doctors say that (though they have) but out of my own experience with him. He cant concentrate on anything. Any task that requires directed attention for extensive periods of time he has serious problems with. He barely got through high school, is struggling to get through college, and beats himself up for stuff he has really no control over.

[Pythagoras]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
I'm also going to have to nominate 'Depression'. You sad? Oh, you must have Depression! We'll give you pills for it .

When you deal with seriously ****ed up people like I do, you thank God that your friends have somebody they can tell anything they want and work out problems and drugs that keep them from hurting themselves.

IMO Depression is no more overdiagnossed than any other disease that would profit doctors/pharmacutical companies.

[Space05us]

ADD is a serious problem for people who really have it... not many people really have it.

edit:

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
I'm also going to have to nominate 'Depression'. You sad? Oh, you must have Depression! We'll give you pills for it .

depression is something everyone has, some people have serious depression. Those people who have serious depression really need the drugs and therepy, those who have normal depression need to go do something.

[Buck Birdseed]

When I saw this thread title I immediately thought "ADD!"...

Medicalisation and and Biologism go hand in hand. Take the responsibility away from the parents and individuals and society, palce it in genes and diseases. It's a very convenient right-wing way to preserve the power structures...