The pandemic had more than its fair share of tragedies but it was not all doom and gloom. Pharmaceutical companies are enjoying a renaissance as they proliferate a vast number of medicaments for every conceivable ailment. These new medicines have come into being as a result of the accelerated research that covid demanded and the rise in the drug companies most important ally…fear. Every bump and squiggle we experience in our health might, in fact, be deadly. When we get together there is often a protracted “organ recital,” where the state of our health is moved to first position in every conversation, current affairs, family achievements and all other topics come second. We are rapidly becoming professional patients as we self diagnose and self medicate.
What bothers me is not the fact that many drugs and potions are being created, after all, many of them will prove a boon to many people. What bothers me is the current naming conventions and marketing strategies. In 1974 a hippie group called Pilot gave us a song called MAGIC that is now the theme song for a cure for skin disease. Drugs are give exotic names with a faint smell of the scientific: Sotyktu, Xidra, Vyvgart, Rybelsus, Biktarvi and a host of others. Honestly, I don’t know if these are drugs or the Egyptian pantheon of the fifth century BCE. Perhaps we would benefit from more easily recognizable naming. Preparation H could become AssEase, Lotrimin (athletes foot) could become StepPrep and Viagra could be renamed StickUp! These names – and others – would clarify many things and give a sense of fun. Why are Band-Aids not called Disaster Plasters? Beats me. This naming atrocity has been going on for many lifetimes… we all remember Unguentine and Sal Hepatica and it’s time for this ugliness to end.
There are dangers in our rage to medicate. Polish sci-fi writer, Stanislaw Lem offered this: “since no one any longer responds to things spontaneously, you take drugs to study, drugs to love, drugs to rise up in revolt, drugs to to forget the distinction between manipulated and natural feelings has ceased to exist.” Drugs certainly have their uses but we would do well to be careful. It is easy to become a professional patient.
Do we need to be a little tougher?
Olio Folio 