# Illnesses only Americans seem to have/get. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 11, 2007, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591 "2007-12-11T04:59:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/1 "2007-12-11T04:59:04Z")
I’m sure some of these are just called something different in Ireland and Britain but how come so many Americans get mono, acid-reflux and why are there adverts for Social Anxiety Disorder medication constantly on the tellybox stateside? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/2 "2007-12-11T05:01:39Z")
Well, not exactly an answer to your question, but my brother in law in Luxembourg came down with mono last year. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/3 "2007-12-11T05:09:11Z")
Mono is glandular fever? It just doesn’t seem that common here but in tv and on messageboards and from American friends it seems to me it is more prevalent or more diagnosed in the US than here. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/4 "2007-12-11T05:10:58Z")
Do men have as much a problem getting an erection on your side of the pond as they do here? ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/5 "2007-12-11T05:12:49Z")
Have you got any restless leg syndrome over there? I have always assumed that it wasn’t a greater prevalence of medical misfortune but a more lucrative market for direct advertising to consumers for whatever the medical-industrial complex has created most recently. When it costs so much to see a doctor for 45 seconds everyone is being taught what to askk for so they do not waste any time. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/6 "2007-12-11T05:21:46Z")
Heh. What about SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder.) We only see the sun for 30 milliseconds every second day here in the winter. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/7 "2007-12-11T06:07:57Z")
I can’t imagine that bi-polar disorder is either diagnosed or medicated much at all in Third World countries, even for the well-off. Citizens of most countries just seem to deal with the medical/mental issues they have. Americans enjoy the luxury of having a pill for everything. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/8 "2007-12-11T06:14:04Z")
Acid reflux may well be a consequence of bad diet. Mono is highly contagious, so it could be just one of those regional things that for some reason flies around more in this part of the world. > [@Leaffan](#): > > Heh. What about SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder.) We only see the sun for 30 milliseconds every second day here in the winter. I remember reading that SAD was discovered in Norway and that Norway has been leading the world in being affected by it pretty consistently for a long time. Which makes sense, considering that they see even less of the time than you guys do in Canada IIRC. At the very least, I assume the sun doesn’t hide that much in _all_ of Canada, whereas Norway is small enough, and all in the far north, that the whole country is sheathed in darkness all winter. > [@Agent Foxtrot](#): > > I can’t imagine that bi-polar disorder is either diagnosed or medicated much at all in Third World countries, even for the well-off. I remember reading somewhere that clinical depression and anxiety are more common in developed countries, supposedly because we have the luxury of worrying about frivolous things instead of, say, how we’re going to feed ourselves on a dollar a day. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/9 "2007-12-11T07:03:21Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] I’m sure some of these are just called something different in Ireland and Britain but how come so many Americans get mono, acid-reflux and why are there adverts for Social Anxiety Disorder medication constantly on the tellybox stateside? [/QUOTE] I once did a google search for anxiety disorder. There are a LOT of anxiety disorder websites from the UK. Maybe they use remedies from websites rather than prescribe medications, but I doubt it. I suspect the rate of medication for these disorders are the same in the US and the UK. I didn’t notice any sites from Ireland, so I don’t know about them. Speaking of furriners, what’s a tellybox? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/10 "2007-12-11T07:16:31Z")
I suppose simply the fact that medication is allowed to be freely advertised means that medical terms become adopted as catchy marketing phrases. ‘Social anxiety disorder’ suits this aspect of the American market well, being easily understood (if not understood correctly). The term certainly does exist within the psychiatric profession elsewhere, but isn’t as familiar to the general public. [QUOTE=Kuboydal] Have you got any restless leg syndrome over there? I have always assumed that it wasn’t a greater prevalence of medical misfortune but a more lucrative market for direct advertising to consumers for whatever the medical-industrial complex has created most recently. [/QUOTE] IIRC, it’s only recently that the first drug has successfully treated the condition, and it was one initially designed and used to treat Parkinson’s disease. As I suggested above, this now means that in the American media and public, the term has recently become more familiar, but I know someone who was diagnosed with it here a good decade or so ago. [QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] I remember reading somewhere that clinical depression and anxiety are more common in developed countries, supposedly because we have the luxury of worrying about frivolous things [/QUOTE] …whoever wrote that really did _not_ know what they were talking about. :mad: ( :mad: at the author, not you!) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/11 "2007-12-11T07:52:31Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] At the very least, I assume the sun doesn’t hide that much in _all_ of Canada… [/quote] No, and here in Edmonton at about 53 degrees N, the sun will rise at 0840 and set at 1614 today, giving us 7 hours and 34 minutes of sun. That will shorten up as we approach the solstice, but it’s a little longer than total darkness 24/7. Depends where you go though–in some northern communities, the sun really doesn’t rise at certain times of the year. A friend from Inuvik NWT (about 68 degrees N) has told me that while the sun doesn’t rise at all this time of year, it’s just below the horizon and so at midday, the natural light is kind of dusky–like just after sunset or just before sunrise. Still, even in southern Canada, we have our fair share of SAD sufferers. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/12 "2007-12-11T09:39:53Z")
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict] Do men have as much a problem getting an erection on your side of the pond as they do here? [/QUOTE] They certainly do on this side. Viagra got approved in Japan so quickly, just based on overseas studies, that it actually shamed the Health Ministry into legalizing birth control pills as well (they’d been dragging their feet for 30+ years, claiming the safety of OCs hadn’t been thoroughly confirmed, overseas tests weren’t rigorous enough, blah, blah, blah and all sorts of other concerns that evaporated the minute a reliable impotence pill hit the market). Dyslexia doesn’t seem to be as common here as in the US, though, or at least nearly as widely reported. The prescription rates for Prozac and other anti-depressants also seem to be a lot higher in the US than anywhere else. I thought America was supposed to be the greatest place to live on earth? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/13 "2007-12-11T10:18:40Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > …whoever wrote that really did not know what they were talking about. I’m not seeing what there is to be angry about. But either way, just to be fair to anonymous psychology and sociology writers everywhere, I could’ve just interpreted it that way, or frankly I could’ve pulled it out of my ass and convinced myself a long time ago that I read it somewhere. It’s happened before. “It’s true! I read it in a pamphlet.” “Are you sure it was a pamphlet? Are you sure it wasn’t…_nothing_?” “Oh yeah, that was it.” ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/14 "2007-12-11T13:28:20Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] I remember reading that SAD was discovered in Norway and that Norway has been leading the world in being affected by it pretty consistently for a long time. Which makes sense, considering that they see even less of the time than you guys do in Canada IIRC. At the very least, I assume the sun doesn’t hide that much in _all_ of Canada, whereas Norway is small enough, and all in the far north, that the whole country is sheathed in darkness all winter. [/QUOTE] But in Norway, the sun always shines on TV. [/obscure '80s reference] ---
**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:** [December 11, 2007, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/15 "2007-12-11T13:45:31Z")
March Madness® (when the college basketball frenzy peaks,) probably is little known outside the US. 😉 Yes, it’s a registered trademark, as is Final Four®. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/16 "2007-12-11T14:17:49Z")
[QUOTE=Heffalump and Roo] Speaking of furriners, what’s a tellybox? [/QUOTE] It’s the same as a tellywidgeon… ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/17 "2007-12-11T14:43:01Z")
[QUOTE=Kuboydal] Have you got any restless leg syndrome over there? I have always assumed that it wasn’t a greater prevalence of medical misfortune but a more lucrative market for direct advertising to consumers for whatever the medical-industrial complex has created most recently. When it costs so much to see a doctor for 45 seconds everyone is being taught what to askk for so they do not waste any time. [/QUOTE] Ha, you and me should go bowling. I thought the same thing until a recent pit thread about it. Still, I come from rather stoic stock. If you’re leg was shaking you’d just deal with it. I do still have an issue with the whole “Ask your doctor about Reebabeeble” commercials when they don’t expressly tell you what, exactly, Reebabeeble is used for. There was a period of a year or so where I was convinced that Claritin was some sort of hallucinogenic based off of their commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/18 "2007-12-11T14:54:01Z")
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict] Do men have as much a problem getting an erection on your side of the pond as they do here? [/QUOTE] It’s worse. Have you SEEN English women? What about “fibromyalgia”. That always struck me as American. Do they get tha tin England? ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/19 "2007-12-11T15:00:19Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] It’s worse. Have you SEEN English women? [/QUOTE] Cheeky mare! ---
**Author:** ![Galwegian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galwegian/32/3426_2.png) [@Galwegian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galwegian)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591/20 "2007-12-11T15:52:55Z")
**Gadai** , infectious mononucleosis, gastro-oesophageal reflux, restless leg syndrome, and social and generalised anxiety disorder are all relatively common here. Because prescription medications aren’t advertised on the TV or magazines as they are in the US, awareness of the conditions may not be quite as widespread as on the other side of the pond. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illnesses-only-americans-seem-to-have-get/429591.md?page=2)