May 30, 2011

Do You Think the Medication Label is Excessive?

There are many doctors saying that the medication's label leads to information overload. Then why do these doctors want to prescribe medications with many side-effects that may harm their patients? Because, this is what they do and many do not even read about the medications they prescribe. They listen to what the Big Pharma salesperson says and start prescribing.

Then they have patients that start having some of the side-effects listed on the label and know they have problems and just want to believe it is in the patient's head. That is the main reason they want less side-effects listed so they have an easier time convincing their patients that it is all in their heads. This is just my take and the article has not changed my mind.

Yes, the doctors are saying that this information overload is having a negative effect on some people who could benefit from certain prescription medications. The doctors seem rather insistent in their request and want Big Pharma to reduce the number of side-effects listed.

Jon Duke, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis and a researcher at the Regenstrief Institute says he and his colleagues are developing software to help filter, prioritize, and personalize relevant drug safety information. He says he envisions “a dynamic label that uses electronic medical records to pull in the information that is most relevant.”

Unless and until such changes are made, “the key thing is to ask your doctor about side effects because doctors are pretty good filters,” Duke says. “There are some things that most people will never, ever get yet patients are often afraid to take the medicines because of how scary the labels are."

The big question is how well the doctors know the side effects, how they are able to determine which ones are the ones that need concern, and how well do they know their patients. Many doctors fail to take into account the individual patient and how they may be affected by the different side-effects. Certain patients have a greater tendency to be sensitive for certain side-effects while other patients can tolerate the same side-effects. So how does the doctor know?

While this whole thing is directed at the FDA, the side effects may be more that the patients desire if the problems from side effects are not reported until after the patient has problems and ends up in the emergency room or worst yet the morgue. I would rather know about the side effects than having them get the best of me.

Read the article here.

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