Generics and Snake Oil

I read Sixuntilme on occasion since I have type 2 diabetes. sometimes type 1 and type 2 are so dissimilar, but there is alot of overlap. Also, since UC is an autoimmune condition, type 1 folks deal with the same "omg why does my body hurt itself?" frustration. So anyway, i really hate researching stuff online and finding crap like "just eat spinach and sunflower seeds and cure UC" or idiots online that play e-doctor but don't follow their doctor's orders and wonder why their meds aren't effective.

I read this post of hers today and thought it was awesome! totally found it by accident -- trying to google "diabetic snacks" and typed "diabetic snakes" instead:

After clicking around for a while, I had a good sense of how much snake oil is being peddled to people with diabetes.

And the thought made my stomach spin.

I can't help it. This shit makes me crazy! Don't market your false cures to me. Nothing I eat is going to cure me. ... Stop preying on people with diabetes.

This is the shit I wish the FDA would stop. It's total bullshit that things like "align" can market themselves as medication, mimicing the same DTC advertising of real pharmaceuticals. and not include any side effect information in their ads. Lipozene, enzyte, all of that crap. It's snake oil and should not be allowed to be marketed like that unless it is subject to listing all the side effects of that garbage. I hate how they have the brand name and then a made-up chemical name so it looks like real drugs. If they want to pretend to be pharmaceuticals, they should be subject to the same regulations.

People are generally science stupid, but even well-educated people can get a little cuckoo when dealing with serious illness or a condition they feel powerless over (ED, weight issues). It pisses me off that people will waste time with crap and self-diagnose and self-treat and not get the medication they need (myself included*). Not that we need to be everyone's mommy, but these snake-oil peddlers should not be able to operate their scam right out in the open and look legitimate because they have the same advertising as real meds.

While I'm on the soapbox, let me just say that the govt messing around with biologics pisses me off too. I do not trust generic drug manufacturers to have the same quality controls as Centcor and J&J. it would make me really fucking nervous to get some generic Remicade that is "equivalent" according to some lab drone that doesn't have to be injected with it. Biologics are sensitive drugs for serious conditions with serious side effects. This is NOT where they should cut corners to save cash. Stick to making generic shit that won't kill you or give you lymphoma when the generic manufacturer in India fucks up. See Ranbaxy: Thank god they weren't making anything important :rolleyes: If we can't trust them with generic claritin, do you want to trust them with manufacturing generic monoclonal chimeric antibodies?

and fuck, remember all the shit that went down with brand-name heparin??? That was an FDA failure to inspect Chinese factories, and the factories were messing with the chemicals in order to fool the quality control tests! They did that shit with FOOD (adding melamine to make it look higher in protein and killing people's pets and their OWN BABIES!). You're gonna trust them to make sensitive, expensive drugs? Don't come near me with that shit, I'd rather have under-treated ulcerative colitis.

And then, once these generic biologics are available, anyone with insurance issues is screwed. The govt/ insurance companies will force you to use the generic because it's cheaper. That's fine when we're talking generic metformin, generic lexapro, generic antihistamines, but doesn't it bother anyone that they're willing to give you generic chemotherapy? That is fucked.


*sigh* now i'm all incredible-hulked up... I need a unicorn chaser. I should see what else google has in store for "diabetic snakes" or take a trip to ICHC...



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* I'm not bashing SCD here. I don't consider trying SCD to be that bad of a thing. I consulted my docs and kept taking the meds i was on (mesalamine). I tried Lialda so I could take 4 pills a day instead of 12 (didn't work out). My disease just progressed from mild to moderate/severe at the same time i made dietary changes. If it had not progressed, diet and asacol may have been enough. I still plan to use some of the lessons from SCD going forward - whole foods, limited processing, cooked fruits and veg, easier to digest things. Because they make sense and seem to work. Alot of these ideas are also in this great slideshow here by Dr. McDermott -- his presentation is about managing IBS so it was less likely to trigger IBD symptoms (for those of us lucky ones that get to have both). But I can't fanatically adhere to it so I can't use it strictly. Also, so much of SCD online is geared toward autism instead of gastro disorders, and though there is a mind-gut connection, I think SCD would only be part of the treatment plan and not the whole answer.