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WillWorkForChocolate's avatar

Do you think we will ever see medications that don't include a list of 20-50 possible side effects?

Asked by WillWorkForChocolate (23163points) July 12th, 2012
16 responses
“Great Question” (5points)

Honestly, every time I see a commercial for a medication, the list of possible side effects is so ridiculously long that I can’t help but laugh. Will we ever see more “perfected” medications that won’t seem so threatening?

“If you experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, nosebleeds, dry mouth, vaginal dryness, erectile dysfunction, constipation, irritability, mood swings, cramps, fatigue, sweating, dizziness, restlessness, stroke, loss of appetite, hair loss, frequent urination, loss of bladder control, headaches, chest pain, depression, heart attack, fingernails falling off, bleeding from every orifice, or if you feel like you’re dying and the Grim Reaper won’t stop ringing your doorbell, please call your doctor. Life altering fucked-upness or death are rare but possible occurrences.”

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Answers

Blackberry's avatar

I’m obviously not a chemist, but I imagine there’s no perfect formula. There are pros and cons to everything.

josie's avatar

No. But with any luck, someday people will be more reasonable about their expectations about what drugs can actually do in the inevitible conflict with micro organisms, genes and physical injury so that the manufacturers and prescribers can stop having to be parents for grown up children.

ucme's avatar

Probably not, precautionary madness must have it’s say.

chyna's avatar

Checking my drug inserts now.

zenvelo's avatar

The problem is that the drug trials must document every possible side effect, so if a person in the test wakes up with an upset stomach from having too many meatballs, it is considered a possibility of nausea. Or if they had too much apple juice and get the runs, or an old guy is fatigued and can’t perform one night. All that gets ascribed to the medication.

Correlation is not causation, but during a clinical trial it might be, so it goes in the warning.

JLeslie's avatar

Not unless you change the laws regarding advertising drugs.

talljasperman's avatar

Yes… Food, water, and exercise .

Sunny2's avatar

It’s the law! Bite the bullet and take your meds. Nothing is risk-free.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

“In the event of loss of vision see a Dr immediately.” How the fuck do you see a Dr if you’re blind?

WillWorkForChocolate's avatar

Hahaha, I’ve wondered that as well! And now I can’t remember which medicine that warning was for. ARGH!

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@WillWorkForChocolate One was a dick drug. I forget which one.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

Oh the other one was if an erection persists for more than 4 hours see a Dr. If my erection lasts for more than four hours do you think my lady is going to let me go?

WillWorkForChocolate's avatar

Hahahahahaha!

Berserker's avatar

Ha yeah…I remember these eye drops I had to take, and the pamphlet basically said, this is a beta version of the medication. It’s still being tested. It may not work, and may make things worse. I got freaked and never took em. Why do they even give these to people if they’re not even sure of the effects?

I’ve seen this skin medication that listed so many side effects, that included yellowing skin to suicidal tendencies. Are you fucking serious? With shit like that, I figure I’d die from liver failure faster than I would with alcohol. :/

Thing is with stuff like that, it’s pretty complicated to make medication that works 100% without any side effects, because a lot of diseases, conditions, disorders, what have you, are really complicated. Even if doctors and medical dudes know about em so well, they all agree that people react differently to every ailment and the medications given, so it’s a complex project to put a treatment together that adheres to all key points. To fight a specific thing, medication is made a certain way that it will attempt at the task, but all the stuff in the medication will and can affect other parts of the body. I’m guessing what is generally observed on a general scale is what they warn you about. I don’t think we’re close to the day when medication isn’t the bubonic plague in a bottle, and in fact, for accurate treatment that does just that and nothing else, I’m thinking an entire different approach would, or will be, taken. Like, nano technology or like…finding the Gryffindor Sword or something.

Linda_Owl's avatar

Probably not. Everyone’s physiology is different, so everyone’s body will react in its own way to whatever medication is being taken.

Pied_Pfeffer's avatar

I doubt it, at least in the US where lawsuits are a dime a dozen. I just looked through a copy of Reader’s Digest. For every one-page ad for a drug, it is followed up by another that goes into great detail in fine print on potential side effects. There is also a two-page ad that has two pages of the fine print.

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