The Cure Is Worse Than The Disease

First of all, however, before I get to the actual subject up there, all right, damn it, Anonymous, what I was thinking of was going to my aunt and uncle's place in Riverdale-Ivanhoe, where we did TOO see a far off funnel every now and then. So there, you Anonymous person you, who rather clearly grew up on my block...

Back to my actual subject. Now I take pills. I take a pill for my chest, and I take two for my heart. I listen to my doctor on what the side effects are likely to be (basically none, with what I take). But I'm getting increasingly frightened about what OTHER people are taking.

I have here in front of me (all right, it's actually slightly to my left), an ad that's been appearing in the newspapers all week. It's for something called ACTOS. Now according to the first page of this ad (it comes in three pages, for God's sake), "ACTOS has been shown to lower blood sugar without increasing your risk of having a heart attack or stroke."

Well, this is clearly good news, right, particularly after recent stories about another diabetes drug that DOES cause those.

Ah, ah, ah...not so fast. Then you turn the page.

I do not BELIEVE the list of possible side effects with this thing. Look:

Weight gain
Liver problems
Macular edema (diabetic eye disease with swelling in the back of the eye)
Fractures - yeah, broken bones
Low red blood cell count (anemia)
Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
Ovulation (OVULATION?)

This is the medication that's supposed to be BETTER for you? Good God.

First of all, it's supposed to be a diabetes drug. And you're telling me it may make your blood sugar too low. And fractures? You want me to take a drug that may cause my bones to just casually break? And it increases the chance of pregnancy in premenopausal women who don't have regular periods any more?

You know, I think I'll stick with the heart attack and stroke.

Love, Wendy