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November 11, 2004
Old, fat and lazy… but happy
Once again I’m taking a snapshot of some recent reports in the news and jumping wildly to whatever conclusions I can conjure up.
The aging population of Australia are reportedly Old, fat, happy … and reaching for a pill. In general it seems that people over 65 are content — with the number of them complaining of high pysiological distress is 9% compared with 13% for people over 18.
How do they do it? Apparently by eating lots of food, taking lots of drugs and doing very little physical activity. Sounds like a recipe for fun. Sitting around all day eating food would certainly help boost the success of say, Coles Myer and Woolworths — who are doing ok right? As for the drugs, a 12.8% increase in the cost of medicare for the September quarter and blowouts of the PBS scheme thanks to drugs like Celebrex would certainly be at least partly due to pill popping by the older members of the community.
Of course, the young people in Australia are taking drugs too. Mind, it’s not dangerous recreational drugs like methamphetamines but… methamphetamine based ADHD medication which is somehow supposed to help them do useful things like shut up and sit down. The Australian calls it an epidemic of over-prescription and misdiagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. With Celebrex and ADHD drugs on the PBS it’s great to see an equality where junkies both old and young are gettign their fix subsidised. I mean, replace “junkies” with “sick people” and “fix” with “medication.”
In other news, Older women in their 30’s and 40’s are having more abortions than ever. I’m going to hazard a guess and say that is probably due to all the sex they’re having with teenage males pumped up on dexamphetamines. Dexamphetamines prescribed by doped up elderly doctors to treat ADHD. Not that anything like that is really happening of course.
Posted by Patrick at November 11, 2004 1:56 PM— Filed under Common , Various News Wraps
Comments
I say the placebo effect is underrated.
Posted by: wilko | November 11, 2004 3:32 PM
I just cant get over the schoolboy who slept with his teacher. You know, the one the wowsers are complaining about because the judge didnt send her to jail, even though she's a "serious sex offender"?
Get effing real team! A 15 year old male sleeps with his PE teacher. Can you imagine the kudos he got when he told his mates? Especially given that it was his idea. He'd be a dead set Legend. These people clearly do not understand the mind of a teenage male - well any male probably...
The teacher is the real victim in all this of course.
Posted by: michael | November 11, 2004 8:55 PM
I think sleeping with a 15 year old would be both the crime and the punishment for the woman.
Posted by: Patrick | November 12, 2004 12:42 AM
Placebos do get overlooked don't they? Which is odd, considering all the studies that have been done that involve placebos.
Posted by: Patrick | November 12, 2004 12:44 AM
In Australia if you misscarry a child it is deemed a termination and included in the abortion rate. A fact most of the media and pro-lifers seem to have missed.
Posted by: SuperKIng | November 12, 2004 10:03 AM
It is well recognised that appoximately 30% of the analgesic effect of opiate class analgesics is due to the placebo effect. A well designed double blinded randomised controlled trial can minimise this tremendously though in terms of differentiating what works from what doesn't and so on.
Here in WA there is the highest prescription rate of dexamphetamines for "ADHD" in the country by far. We have a relative paucity of family and behaviourally disturbed child support services, and the bulk of the prescribing is done by a handful of somewhat notorious paediatricians...who aren't trained in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology.
What worries me most of all, personally, is the pumping of what is essentially speed into developing minds. Like all other amphetamines, dexamphetamine can cause psychosis by overstimulation of the dopaminergic system. How many of these children will end up suffering from schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses as time goes by ?
Posted by: epicurus | November 16, 2004 6:04 PM
Reminds me of an idea I once heard about marketing empty capsules as "Placebo"
You know "1/3 as effective as opiates, so take three."
Posted by: Patrick | November 16, 2004 10:12 PM