There are shark attorneys advertising on television now, offering to represent people or families of patients who?ve taken vioxx. Vioxx is a medication prescribed to relieve joint pain ? like from arthritis. The manufacturer, Merck, pulled the drug of the market because it turns out that Vioxx can bring on a heart attack or stroke. Yikes.
We had a little discussion about it on Widownet. Several of our spouses took Vioxx regularly. Could it have contributed to their deaths? Maybe. Rich took Vioxx for a long time before he died. His knee joint was totally deteriorated and the same was so of his right foot. He was in terrible pain almost all the time and the Vioxx helped relieve it.
Rich?s health was deteriorating. I?ll probably always wonder if the Vioxx or the untreated sleep apnea contributed to his cardiac arrest. Is it worth it to me to pursue it by contacting one of these sharks? No. It won?t change anything. Besides, Merck pulled the drug voluntarily. It?s not like the FDA was doing anything in this case.
Since then, we?ve learned that celebrex and bextra might also cause complications like heart attack because they are all cox-2 inhibitors, meaning that they stop prostaglandin. They also block a substance, another form of prostaglandin, that prevents heart problems. Pfizer makes celebrex and bextra and say they have studies that show celebrex is safe ? but they are still being scrutinized carefully.
If all of these drugs are dangerous, what is left to take for arthritis pain? I don?t want to take something that might cause me to have a heart attack!
When my mother was diagnosed with arthritis, the doctors couldn?t do anything to help her manage the pain. She took a lot of aspirin and once or twice the doctors injected her with gold. I remember she used to drink a lot of grapefruit juice ? a home remedy, I guess. Maybe I?ll have to do the same thing.
What TV show theme song did you like best, even if you didn?t care for the show itself?
My all time favorite TV theme song is from Hill Street Blues and I did like that show very much
Wednesday Whatevers
1. How do you feel about the electoral college voting?
I don?t like it at all because it?s anachronistic and can turn out to be a disaster, as what happened in the 2000 election. Bush did not win the popular vote. He is the first president to have gotten in without the popular vote and now look at us
2. Who defintes what is "cool?"
Beats me. Part of it must be the self confidence the ?cool? person exudes
3. How is a believable character in tv, movies, books, etc made?
By giving the person foibles and faults as well as good qualities. It makes the character more like us and so more believeable
10 on Tuesday:
Ten Really Scary Movies
1. The Exorcist
2. Silence of the Lambs
3. Psycho
4. Night of the Living Dead
5. House on Haunted Hill
6. The Sixth Sense
7. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
8. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
9. The Shining
10. Rear Window