Darwin Pharmaceuticals

Yup...that's right...it's Survival of the Fittest...

I don't know who to blame today...the growing and exploding negligence of the medical community that I've witnessed in my relatively short adult life (at least since the evils of HMO's began dictating medical treatment without ever seeing or speaking to the patient), or the parasitic opportunistic lawyers who seize those moments to line their own pockets on the coat tails of those who don't understand or speak legalese...The world has become hostage to lawyers to the point we've bred out common sense for fear of litigation...or...maybe the blame simply lies with the individual who ultimately should be in charge of what goes into their body...


Holy cow...the FDA has 'recommended' a ban and an increased restriction on the maximum dosage for Tylenol...Oooohhh...let's pull acetaminophen from the shelves...no more Nyquil or other cold medicines compounded with acetaminophen...Hell, soon...I'll get carded more for buying Nyquil and Sudafed than I ever did for booze...It's thoroughly ridiculous I can't buy an over the counter medicine...um, over the counter...and on top of it, I can only buy one box a day...not 2...Sorry, come back tomorrow...Is this really causing the jokers who were smart enough to figure out they could cook it down to make meth to not continue??? Surrrrre...it's like ticket scalpers...if there's a will there's a way...and what they can turn over in meth...is worth the investment in spending the day with your 10 closest friends to hit up as many drug stores with some fake ID's to buy the 30 pack of 12 hour Sudafed...Does make a tougher case for the lawyers to latch onto that big payday though, eh?

Yes, I am well aware I am shooting in every direction I can except back at myself...I understand that and will surely come full circle...but in the meantime...this is what royally pisses me off:

1. This a.m. I went to a "specialist" doctor upon the referral of my 'primary care physician." I had the 10 pages of information filled out ahead of time that they sent to me (twice) in the mail...that will be a $30 co-pay and a 40 minute wait in the "waiting room' with a 12" t.v. set sitting on a stand in the middle of the room...WTF... Finally into one of those quaint 'examination rooms' I go with the nurse who is asking me if I filled out a "patient survey." "Um...I'm not sure...what's a patient survey?" she tells me it's several pages of medical information/history etc. "Um, yes...it's right there in the chart you have." Now, she was a very pleasant gal...engaging, personable...but I could see my own hand writing upside down from several feet away so what was her problem?..."Oh yes, here it is." Suddenly, the door bursts open, the doctor walks in 2 feet, asks what I'm there for which I tell him...he says, "yes...we need to take care of that." Then starts to leave...That was 20 seconds... "Wait...can you tell me a little more?" So I squeeze another 15 seconds out of him and he leaves, "See you soon." Well, I am no fan of doctors...if I didn't need their prescription pad...I'd never go...It burns my ass that the bastard will bill my insurance company who knows how much as this covers an office visit as well as a consult...and then I have to pay $30 on top of it...You'd think there's be at least a 15" t.v. I wasn't the only one astonished...the nurse said, "wow...that was fast." then proceeded with getting my blood pressure and recording it followed by saying, "this is usually when I say, the doctor will be in to see you but....." But what pisses me off is, this isnt an isolated situation...this has become the state of "treatment." Insurance dictates how long a doctor spends with a patient by the amount of reimbursement they will pay...So my primary physician is expected to not spend any longer than 15 minutes in total with each patient...so 4 in an hour...You do the math...It's no wonder she has to ask me every time if I'm allergic to anything...or what meds I'm taking...Hell, she's the one prescribing...you'd think she'd figure it out since it's her license on the line...but...well, who has time to read the patient's chart at this point...much less ask the really important assessment questions...This is why I lived with chronic earth shattering pain for a couple plus years until the Physician's Assistant student took the time to actually listen...Funny the only person who heard me loud and clear was the person whose medical decisions were yet to be dictated by some angry resentful power hungry nurse with a phone and a computer at some insurance company who receives year end bonuses for denying medical treatment...Finally...some relief before I had to take matters into my own hands...which leads me to the next thing that pisses me off:


2. So back to today......... Today, the FDA is wanting to reduce the maximum adult dose of acetaminophen and wants to yank Percocets and Vicodin (as they are compounded with acetaminophen)...Well let's see...being as I am allergic to the NSAIDS(Aspirin, Ibuprophen, Naproxen etc.)... Tylenol is the only non-prescription pain reliever I can take without breaking out into hives...and as for the ongoing searing pains that course through my body...the only thing I can tolerate that I've been prescribed thus far...is Percocet...So let's see...if they pull that...looks like I can always cop some smack on the street...or I can head to Canada with the already throngs who go for cheaper pills twice a year to stock up...and then of course I can always start cocktail hour earlier...after all, Jimmy says it's 5 o'clock somewhere...And then again...if they just go ahead and remove the acetaminophen from the narcotic...I'd be able to finally take more without fear of an acetaminophen overdose...Ironic that the acetaminophen in the Percocets...keeps me from abusing them for fear my liver will implode...


3. My next problem with all of this...is...well okay...so now we know most of the doctors don't have the time to provide the quality care required...the responsibility of figuring out how much acetaminophen you jam in your body really falls to yourself...right???? I mean, I can understand how some might not be quite so astute...I suppose if you are taking Tylenol...there's some sort of pain interfering with normal functioning...so I understand that but the magnitude of inadvertant overdose makes it difficult to not blame outright carelessness on the consumer's part...no?

So really...pull the drugs...make new drugs...take too many drugs...ultimately, doesn't this all go back to Darwin???