I have begun to get so irritated at the commercials I see on TV describing the drugs for Alzheimer's and what they can do for the patient...and showing a supposed AD affected person having fun, smiling, playing games, going out! These commercials give a very different and unreal view of Alzheimer's than what is actually true. Why is it that others, who are probably unaffected by the disease, want to project this wonderful "life on meds" that doesn't exist? Is it just so people will run to their doctors and demand these medications. My Dad has had experience with four meds that I constantly see commercials for and they have not turned him into the bright, sunny person on these commercials, and we knew they wouldn't! But I think these advertisements give people false hope and paint a sunnier picture of the disease than is true.
Sorry for my rant! But does anyone else feel this way?
I do feel your irritation, though, and would like to add my irritation of drs, hospice nurses, nursing homes,etc., pushing and/or prescribing more drugs or trying an anti-physcotics to calm (sedate), lessen anxiety (dope up patient). etc.
I have thought the same exact thing! But I'll go one further. How about print ads for nursing homes and other senior-related services that show a lovely older lady with twinkly blue eyes, smiling up fondly (from a wheelchair) at a staff member. I've never seen anyone who looks like that in a nursing home. There are even pictures on this site that are unrealistic. It's advertising. No one wants to see a half-dressed old woman with uncombed steel gray hair and a gaunt face, in diapers, ranting and raving while her caregiver (her daughter or son) sits at the kitchen table, head in hands, crying in frustration and anxiety.
You're so very right. Alzheimer's doesn't look like it does in the commercials and I agree that they're ridiculous but they're trying to sell a product. Anyone who has ever known anyone with Alzheimer's (and that's a lot of folks) knows it doesn't look like that. Think of President Reagan. Not too long after Nancy announced that he had Alzheimer's he disappeared from the public eye. He didn't take a pill and all of a sudden get up and start golfing or puttering in his garden. No one saw him because he was probably a wreck and Nancy didn't want him remembered that way. I don't blame her. Same with Charlton Heston. He disappeared too. We know what Alzheimer's looks like and it's ugly. I would think most people who see those commercials and who have someone with Alzheimer's in their life know better.
You made my day with your descriptive post! My Mom called me first thing this morning to say she was unable to come to Sunday School and church with me -- she was up all night because my Dad was continuously wandering through the house yelling for her, wouldn't stay in bed no matter how many times she put him there, kept turning all the lights on, was talking to "someone" in the hallway and asking that person where my Mom was, etc. Another picture you won't see in an ad!
In reality, dementia sufferers are often anxious, fearful, agitated, paranoid, loud, and sometimes aggressive. Their minds and bodies have betrayed them, and no medication can change that. I've read that some Alzheimer's patients experience mild improvement of symptoms for a brief time with some meds, but that's the best-case scenario. Nothing has helped my husband. Some of the medications caused him to vomit without warning, or gave him diarrhea. One made him dizzier and even more prone to falling. He already has urinary and fecal incontinence, and the drugs just made it worse. They did not ease his agitation, OCD behaviors, perseveration, checking and shadowing behaviors, sundowning, sleep disturbances, or any other symptoms.
The commercials can't show the reality of Alzheimer's, or the true ineffectiveness of the medication, because if they did, the drug would not make money. This is false advertising of the worst sort.
The advertisers play on the emotions of the desperate caregivers. It is a case of "Open your wallet and help yourself" How many "as seen on TV" products really work? What does a "lifetime guarantee" really mean? Your life? the life of the product? or the life of the company selling the latest marvel.
As everyone who has seen it Alzheimers is a cruel and depersonalizing disease and anyone who tries to say otherwise is smoking something!
The medical industrial complex has largely become a sham - a scam - to separate you from your money by promoting false hope. The FDA is complicit. The FDA is supposed to make sure drugs work. I can't remember the last time a drug did not make it through clinical trials and onto market. It's bogus science - they publish positive results and hide negative ones. Beware the medical industrial complex because they are a dangerous bunch of people whose only motive is profit. The only way I know how to fight them is to not watch their commercials.
But the same can be said of any advertisement for a drug.
Why do we see a cute "cartoon" bladder dragging a woman to a washroom, why do we see another cartoon of a colon for the IBS drugs? Because no one wants to see someone running to the bathroom and and then wetting themselves just as they get to the door, or someone writhing in pain from cramping and diarrhea.
I recall years ago drugs were not even advertised on television or in magazines. The only way you found out about a drug was from your doctor. Now we see the ads and ask our doctor...what about this one..I saw the ad and it is supposed to work better...
Lets not even get to how or why a drug company can change one thing like making the drug an extended release just to keep it from being able to go generic. More money for them if you want the "new and improved" you can not buy a generic.
You can google to find it. The Alzheimers patients are shown having a picnic in the park amongst family and friends.
The
Then there are the ED ads which I find so uncalled for during meal time and at times when kids would be watching TV. Or if you are in the room with your parents. Dad noticed the commercial and wanted me to make an appointment to see his doctor about this problem. Good grief, this isn't a conversation I wanted with my 90+ year old father :[