# Ask Your Doctor **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 25, 2021, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903 "2021-11-25T01:34:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2021, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/21 "2021-11-26T03:46:33Z")
You sound like Louie DePalma. Or maybe that was your intention. Heh, heh, heh. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2021, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/22 "2021-11-26T07:07:28Z")
I’ve straight up asked doctors about certain meds. But I often ask my doctor’s many many questions. Yeah…they do hate me. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2021, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/23 "2021-11-26T12:06:48Z")
What’s a doctor? I remember seeing them when I was a child, but now I only see PA’s, NP’s, or assistants of some vaguely defined type. And these only appear as apparitions behind a laptop. As far as I know, I must be on death’s door\* or (from QtM) in prison to actually see one of these exalted and hidden beings. I’m partially serious here, as I ask this question when seeing such ads. Who on this planet actually gets to see a Doctor? I have one listed as my GP, but I (literally) have not seen him in 4 years. As far as I know, he’s perpetually on vacation somewhere and unavailable. \*My cardiologist actually appeared in person during one of my heart procedures. He shouldn’t do this, as the shock could kill a weakened patient. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/24 "2021-11-26T14:17:28Z")
My guess is that patients are telling their doctors what to prescribe. Lots of people self-diagnose and some are hypochondriacs…lots of money to be made. My doctor told me one day that drug reps were sending trucks with free food to the hospital but he didn’t think it was ethical. “Dr. Jones will get several plates—and he already had a quadruple bypass!” So there’s pressure from the patient AND from the drug companies. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/26 "2021-11-30T00:12:43Z")
I don’t ask my doctor about drug ads. He knows what he’s doing, and if I need that drug, he’ll prescribe it. For me, the irritating part of drug ads, aside from the unnaturally happy people, is that you have to look quick to see what ailment they hope to ease. I’ll tell you one thing from experience, though. If a drug says it will make me more likely to get infections, I’m going to steer clear of it. I had a long and dreadful dance with MRSA after a drug weakened my immunity. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/27 "2022-08-21T03:14:53Z")
The drug ads that kill me are the ones that say, “Do not take Onamatopea if you are allergic to it.” How would I know? Isn’t this clearly just an ass-covering disclaimer added by a lawyer? ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/28 "2022-08-21T14:43:12Z")
I have a contact allergy to neomycin, among other things. It causes a rash if I use it for more than a day or so. When first diagnosed, I asked my dermatologist what to do if I was in a situation with a questionable cut, and the only antibiotic I had available was neosporin. He told me to use the neosporin in that case, because the contact allergy wasn’t going to be as severe as the infection. So there could be times when being allergic to a drug doesn’t completely contra-indicate use. Either that, or I was given bad advice. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/29 "2022-08-23T23:24:14Z")
I once heard that drug names cannot be differentiated from members of the Tolkien universe - and once heard you can’t unhear it. Drug names/Tolkien names in no particular order: Radegast, Janumit, Glyset, Celeborn, Fingolfin, Nesina ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/30 "2022-08-23T23:33:03Z")
> **[Antidepressants or Tolkien character?](https://antidepressantsortolkien.vercel.app/)** I scored 100% correct! ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/31 "2022-08-23T23:34:19Z")
I should hope so. What Dopers know more about mythos and medicine than Mercotan? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/32 "2022-08-23T23:39:24Z")
This is no suprise. It’s one of the many reasons we love you ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/33 "2022-08-23T23:41:27Z")
Well, now that I’m retired I expect I’ll lose ground on the drug names. But I am keeping up with my continuing Tolkien education credits! ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/34 "2022-08-30T00:22:52Z")
I’ll be a devil’s advocate on drug advertisements - but in one very specific, limited scenario. Restless Legs Syndrome. A lot of people have no clue what the hell is going on. A lot of DOCTORS have (or at least, 20+ years ago, HAD) no clue what is going on. My own RLS was misdiagnosed for a number of years; when I started finding out what was going on, I saw a neurologist who was insistent that a couple of treatments that even then (and this was around 2000 or earlier) were known to be sub-optimal. In this specific scenario, I knew better than that neuro - and did not follow her advice (clonazepam and/or Sinemet). Then Requip (ropinirole) was formally FDA approved for RLS - and they started advertising it. And suddenly, there were patients who saw this add, and had huge AHA moments “so THAT’S what is going on!!”. And, I presume, went to their doctors with this information - and hopefully at least some of them got correctly diagnosed and treated. Me? Well, I’ve been known to annoy the hell out of doctors by asking lots of questions (and on several occasions, I’ve been right, and on one or two of them, the doctor was wrong), but I have NEVER gone to the doc and demanded something I saw advertised on TV. And I think drug ads are, in general, a really bad idea - if for no other reason that they are a significant expenditure that might be better spent on making the medication affordable. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903/35 "2022-08-30T02:36:47Z")
Funny song: _The Drugs I Need_ by the Austin Lounge Lizards (Possibly NSFW): [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/mYodDH4qZQo/hqdefault.jpg "The drugs I need") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYodDH4qZQo) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-your-doctor/954903.md?page=1)