Wyeth and the Multibillion Dollar Menopause Industry

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Wyeth-and-the-Multibillion-by-Dr-Stuart-Jeanne-B-110401-592.html

I have written previously (http://www.opednews.com/articles/Marketing-Serotonin-Defici-by-Dr-Stuart-Jeanne-B-100713-513.html) about the ingenious -- and deadly -- strategy by pharmaceutical companies of inventing fictitious illnesses to market highly profitable drugs that allegedly "treat" them. The technical terms for this are "medicalizing" or "disease mongering." Dr Marcia Angell, in her 2004 The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What To Do About It, also talks about "generalized anxiety disorder," "erectile dysfunction," "premenstrual dysphoric disorder," and "gastro-esophogeal reflux disorder (heartburn)" as examples of common complaints that drug companies have reinvented as chronic illnesses requiring lifelong treatment (see http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/171/12/1451).

Estrogen Deficiency Syndrome

The marketing of so-called "estrogen deficiency syndrome," which is known as "menopause" in English-speaking countries (other cultures have no word for it) and "hormone replacement therapy (HRT)" has been far more lethal, in view of 30 years of research linking it to reproductive cancers. The number of premature deaths linked to HRT is estimated in the millions. In this case the culprit is a single company, Wyeth, which manufactures Premarin (conjugated estrogens extracted from pregnant mare urine) and Prempro, a combination of estrogen and a second female hormone progesterone.

Although the medical community (and Wyeth) have been aware of links between estrogen replacement and breast, uterine and ovarian cancer since the 1970s, the research was effectively concealed from public view -- until the frightening results of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study hit the front page in 2002. Between 1993 and 1995, the National Institutes of Health enrolled 161,809 women in the double blind WHI study. In 2002 the NHI shut down the study, originally scheduled to finish in 2005, when it became clear that the women taking HRT were experiencing a 26% increase in breast cancer (with the risk doubling after five years), a 41% increase in strokes and a 29% increase in heart disease (see http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/9804/).

More at the link --

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. New 'disease' - going to bathroom too much, sold with manipulating commercial

1 commercial - black mother runs to bathroom during daughter's wedding dress fitting to return and look sadly upon daughter and dress seller bonding. The dress has been picked out while mom was in restroom. LOL!!!!

2nd - Mom, who the family is clearly tired of, has the car stop to run into a restroom. Teens in back seat look fedup!

OMG! I'm sure that 'pee too much' exists as a real problem for people but these commercials are clearly designed to widen the pool.

[Donnachaidh]

2. oh yeah -- that one irritates the shit out of me

Doesn't have anything to do with the stuff we're drinking that might be causing a problem. Let's just take a pill and enrich the drug pushers even more.... :grr:

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. Your thread is making me think of more: Butterflies flying thru the window & tucking person it.

For gawds sake! Who hasn't had trouble sleeping? Are we supposed to take a pill for EVERYTHING?

[Donnachaidh]

19. strangley enough, my doc gave me a sample of that drug

And the side effects of BIZARRE dreams and a metallic taste as if I'd flossed with a chrome bumper was enough to make me nuts. I tossed out the rest of the sample pack.

There has also been reports of suicides on that drug.

[pipi_k]

6. Yeah, that wedding dress one...

is just totally LAME.

The mom comes back and the look on her face says, "OMG...Me and my selfish need to pee! I've just ruined my daughter's life forever!!!!"


Anyway, I pee a lot myself.

My MIL used to have the same problem. She was on so many medications for so many things, but anyway, the one for peeing...

I looked at the side effects one time.

Bullshit.

I'd rather pee every 2 hours.

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. ...what kind of selfish daughter wouldn't wait 5 minutes for mom to return before choosing gown

???? Daughter in commercial kicked mom to the curb and took on dress seller as new mom.

[pipi_k]

11. Yep, that's the other thing...

I mean, it's not like having to hold up the whole wedding ceremony.


Keep being a bratty little Bridezilla and blame it all on the mom's selfish bodily functions!

:spank:

[pnwmom]

18. That particular commercial drives me crazy! Could anything be stupider? n/t

[SoCalDem]

35. Gotta pee? Just sneeze

..problem solved:rofl:

(not enjoying this part of getting older) :)

[Zax2me]

3. Add A.D.D. and pumping kids with Ritilin.

Kid squirms in his seat and its dollars in the drug companies pockets.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. Parents - easy group to manipulate over their fear kids will not be successful

[midnight armadillo]

26. Sorry that one's real

and there is a biological difference in ADHD brains. See Nature for an example: http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v3/n8/full/nrn896.html

edit here's another: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21183160 "Gray Matter Alterations in Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Identified by Voxel Based Morphometry."

[Old and In the Way]

7. Hmmmm, I wonder who made this decision in 2002?

Can't have facts conflicting with the Big Pharma agenda.

[Luminous Animal]

9. "Other cultures have no word for it" (?) Um, yes they do.

[marions ghost]

10. My momma said

"don't let anybody in the family ever get on that horse urine..."

[notadmblnd]

12. you know, I'm a 52 year old woman and I don't understand all the negativity around menopause

I am absolutely loving it! I would not trade 10x's the number of hot flashes for another menstrual period. I'm not taking any prescribed medications for any of the nasty symptoms we've all been told to expect. It's been a very liberating, very good time in my life. I just don't get what all the bad publicity is about:shrug:

[Heidi]

14. Thank you. I've looked forward to menopause since I was 12.

I'm 48 and still eagerly awaiting the relief my doctor, mother, husband, cat, and I hope menopause will bring me (and us). NO sarcasm. I'm dead serious.

[notadmblnd]

15. Mine ended when I was 49. they became irregular at first

so I had like a years supply of pregnancy tests stocked up (birth control drugs, I never took either). But it's been three years now and I feel great! I do get hot flashes, but for me they seem to pass quickly. Besides in the winter, they help keep the heat bill down. The mood swings just aren't there anymore (I had major anger issues during my monthly cycles). But now, I find I have much more patience with people. Don't get me wrong, I still have days where I have to go home an lock myself away, but instead of weekly or monthly occurrences, I now go for months with out getting the urge to rip the face off someone who pisses me off.

[pnwmom]

17. Apparently your hot flashes aren't waking you up off and on

all night.

There are degrees of symptoms with menopause -- just as there are with periods. I'd rather keep the once a month periods and skip the 24 hr. a day hot flashes, if I'd had the choice. You don't "get what all the bad publicity is about" because you have milder symptoms than many women. Lucky you.

[notadmblnd]

21. id I say all were the same? I described my experience

I don't know, maybe you never had a period that incapacitated you in the way it does many other women? That's not what the conversation was about. I will say, that I do think that many women have been programed to believe that this has to be a bad decade in their lives and the only way that they can possible make it better- is to start popping pills prescribed by a doctor. I was just standing up to say, that it isn't necessarily a horrible time in every woman's' life.

[Hannah Bell]

23. put me down as another one for whom it was no big deal.

[pipi_k]

24. It took me literally 13 years to get through perimenopause...

and even then I'm not sure I'm completely through it.

Oh, I know what the "rule" is...12 months without a period, but I've gone 23 months in between. Then I've had 46 days in between (since last November), 8 months, 13 months, and all over the place.

Anyway, it has sucked. Totally.

The hot flashes were awful. The "flooding" was scary and messy. The mood changes had me wondering if I might be losing my mind. And the breast pain and swelling....OMG. Such pain....I never felt that before peri...

I like not having a regular period and having to deal with sanitary products, but now I deal with bladder control issues and a different sort of sanitary product.

So you're right. Some women are lucky enough to get through it with minimal aggravation.

And some of us go through hell.

[notadmblnd]

33. The bladder issues are a different issue

You should see a dr for that. My mother (69) just had her bladder lifted, it has done much to relieve her incontinence.

[pipi_k]

34. Actually it's been going on for a very long time

I mean, even as a child I used to pee a lot...up in the middle of the night, etc.

I even wet my pants as a child and teenager.


so really this urine thing is just a continuation of business as usual, only more pronounced (sneezing, coughing, laughing, etc.)

[SoCalDem]

36. I'm right there with you, except that I had no "peri" at all

Just stopped on a dime & didn't give me 9 cents' change..

Raging hot flashes for YEARS..haven't slept more than 45 min to an hr at a time for decades now..

In a few days I'll be 62, and this all happened at age 40..

Let's just say, I never want to sneeze except when I'm at home:(

[pipi_k]

38. I hear ya...

Sneezing at home, I mean.

There are days I change my underpants three times.

But when I go out I use something called "Glad Rags". They're real good for mild to moderate incontinence. Flannel...nice and soft...and they're non-disposable. I crocheted a nylon thread mesh bag to store the used ones in, then when I have a bunch I tie the top and wash the whole thing. Take out and air dry (they absorb better that way).

They're not exactly cheap, but they pay for themselves in a short time over the cost of disposable pads. Plus I used to always get horrible rashes from the disposables.

And with allergy season coming on, they're a life saver. :)

[Dappleganger]

20. Neither do I, but mine was done cold-turkey...

due to surgery. The first two years were a real trial, but I am not regretting it one iota. Due to my history with breast cancer, I opted to not use any form of estrogen-replacements and don't regret it at all (no supplements except for calcium and yearly bone density scan).

Menopause is a natural process and aside from vitamins and calcium supplements, IMO shouldn't be prolonged with HRT's.

[pipi_k]

25. I have a friend who did that too...

had to have surgery, I mean.

After it was over and all her inner parts were gone she said she never had any pre-menopausal symptoms at all.

I found it hard to believe, but she swore it was true.

[Donnachaidh]

27. me too nota -- I'm doing cartwheels after 30+ years of that nonsense

While I had some hot flashes in the final laps of stopping, I'm perfectly happy being able to have a life without dealing with *Auntie Flow*. Of course now we're subjected with the *you're gonna get weak bones and droopy boobs if you don't take THIS hormone replacement pill.*

[Oilwellian]

29. I totally agree

And feel the same way. It's not as bad as I had always dreaded it to be. But I do miss my estrogen. :D

[csziggy]

30. Some women have extended and painful perimenopause

And suffer the effects for years.

I was one of them. I already had dysmenorrhea for most of my adult life - irregular, very heavy, very painful periods with heavy spotting in between - with the complication of severe migrations that correlated with my screwed up cycles. When I started getting the first signs of menopause at 40, I rejoiced at first. Then Mom mentioned that for her, it was well over ten years before menopause was "over".

I was at the point where I was functional maybe one week out of four. If I didn't have a migraine, I had cramps that kept me doubled up. The bleeding was so bad I'm surprised I wasn't anemic - I could not walk across the house without dripping no matter what protection I used. And the hot flashes - I cycled between sweating buckets or shivering from the chill of sleeping in a soaking wet bed. Every night, for YEARS.

I finally talked to my doctor about it and he referred me to a gynecologist who did a complete hysterectomy. They took everything out, ovaries and uterus. What a relief. I did not realize how much I had suffered most of my life until I wasn't in nearly constant pain. It's too bad that relief only lasted a few years before other pain began (knees, shoulders, etc.). I wish I could have found a doctor that would have done the hysterectomy for me when I was younger so I could have actually lived my life instead of suffering it.

[Delphinus]

32. Hearing you, Sister!

I am officially into menopause now - same age - and am very happy to be here.

[Le Taz Hot]

37. Perimenopause was MUCH worse.

Once I reached full-blown menopause, poof! Problems gone. And you're right, I'll trade hot flashes any day for those gawdawful periods. I hated and resented every fucking one of them.

One place in which I disagree: P.M.D.D. IS a real condition.

[pipi_k]

13. The other shitty thing about this...

and I forget where I read it, but many women going through perimenopause are actually suffering from Estrogen dominance.

Yet some of them are being given even MORE estrogen via HRT.


This is just wrong.

[Liberal_in_LA]

28. another manufactured disease - too little eyelashes. Wonder how many women are using that

drug to grow more lushes eyelashes.

[pnwmom]

16. Why is reflux included in the list? It's a painful condition

that increases the risk of cancer and other problems.

[pipi_k]

22. My best guess would be

that it isn't so much a "disease" as a symptom of some other condition that causes it, yet they're treating it like it's a whole disease.

Just like if aspirin manufacturers tried to make headaches a disease instead of what it is, which is a symptom or side effect from something else, whether it's stress or eye trouble or whatever.

[ecstatic]

31. If there is no demand for the product, it won't be made nt