Redstate

Does not affect the physically active. Period. I'm not sufficiently up on the medical science to explain why. Only to know that it doesn't.
Telling isn't it? Much like Obesity and Diabetes being the greatest health-risks to America's "poor."

"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal comfort... has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
--John Stuart Mill

Seriously. We have too many people whose livelihood depends on pushing pills. As long as there's money to be made selling repackaged corn syrup, hydrogenated fats, and pills, people will get fatter and less healthy.

I don't have a better alternative, though.

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""What's interesting is they're beginning to understand that, with victory comes responsibility..." - Pres. GW Bush

All these new coined "syndromes" are just an effort to create more drug sale opportunities. By giving them names gives people comfort to put a name on their terrible disease!

It is the same as Hallmark and other card companies trying to invent a holiday for every day of the year. today is "national garbage man day". Get them a thank you card and leave it out w/ your trash.

Up next, CTD, Conservative Thinking Disorder.

"Have you had random thoughts of conservatism?" "Have you had sudden thoughts of tax cuts?" "Did you vote for the Republican party in the last election?"

"If you answered yes to any of these questions you just might have CTD, Conservative Thinking Disorder. Good news is there is a treatment now available from the makers of Head On Apply Directly to the Forehead, Head On, Apply directly to the forehead, Head On, apply directly to the forehead."

If you often find yourself arguing the exceptions rather than the rule you just might be a Democrat.
-CommonCents

...she's 81, and, yes, fairly inactive these days, although she says she can remember having it as a child. Her dad used to rub her legs so she could go to sleep.

RLS is a real nervous disorder of unknown origin. It's treated with drugs similar to Parkinson's disease. You can find your own links.

Mom also has osteoporosis. You may find that "disease" amusing as well, since it tends to afflict inactive older women. Like RLS, they advertise a drug remedy on TV; their spokesperson is Sally "You Really Like Me!" Field, who still looks pretty good at 60 or so, if you ask me.

Guys, I'd really advise you not to follow Rush's lead on this one. Sometimes he can really be a d**k.

Restless Leg Syndrome is an outcome of another syndrome that I call "Big-Pharma's-Run-Out-Of-Big-Ideas-So-It's-Pushing-Crap" Syndrome. With do respect for the poster who's mom has "suffered" with this syndrome, these radio and TV spots are intended to make anyone who's ever had a leg jerk or spasm in their sleep to go their doctor and ask for a prescription.

I am so tired of drug commercials and their warnings... for people who can't sleep, people who sleep too much, people who can't pee, people who pee too much, people who can't get an erection, people to get too many.... - no, scratch that one - people with bloating, people with nail fungus, and so on and so on.

I'm going to have to depart from my natural free market capitalism bent and say that in this case I'm sorry the gov't lifted its prohibitions on direct-to-consumer drug advertising.

Anyone who's got any knowledge in this area knows that the proper term for this malady is "jimmy legs".

'Cause I'd prescribe the blues for that.

More seriously -- although that's a fine piece of history linked above -- perhaps there has been a new drug finally approved by the FDA, sparking a rush to lock up market share.

Or soon-to-be-licensed drug, as the case may be.

..by my Distinguished Colleague, I will not respond to him directly but will make a general comment.

My previous post attempted to compare & contrast RLS and osteoporosis:
- Both are medically recognized conditions.
- Both may have a lifestyle component.
- Both have treatments that are advertised on TV.
- Neither is caused by a bacteria or virus.
- Osteoporosis, in its advanced form, has debilitating effects that are obvious to the observer; RLS does not.
- Osteoporosis has a long name with Greek roots. "Restless Leg Syndrome" sounds funny.
- No one in their right mind would make fun of osteoporosis.

Slim, above, made a good point: maybe we should prohibit prescription drug ads in popular media. Some people are suggestible. My mom, though, was diagnosed with RLS at least 20 years ago.

So, who gets to decide if a disease is funny? All's I'm doing is advising a little circumspection.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Now there's an illness I can't help but giggle about.

he was joking too! That's hilarious!!!

-Miles Christianus
The U.S. Constitution - It's in there; look it up.

The majority of sufferers who have a chemical analysis done tend to be severely deficient in Magnesium.

Magnesium is critical to heart health and can reverse some heart arythmias, is critical also to preventing muscle cramps and muscle spasms, to keeping Calcium IN THE BONES and OUT OF SOFT TISSUE and thus preventing Arthritis. It is also a calming influence on the jitters. (Any of you aware that many heart meds are actually basically only CALCIUM BLOCKERS?)
Often, an injection can shut a heart attack down on the spot.
It also happens to be the mineral most asthmatics are most deficient in, and also a deficiency of it can cause hair to gray - however, balancing the Magnesium prolly won't restore color.

Meanwhile, synthetic medications (Prescription patents only available with synthetic ingredients) usually have side effects that you sure won't like!

Have everyone pay for their own drugs. It's amazing what kind of drugs people want prescriptions for when someone else is paying for them. I know somebody who is on two diabetes medications even though she does not have diabetes. Why? Because she knew other people who were taking them and wanted them. It wasn't hard to find a doctor who would give them to her. I believe she's on almost a dozen maintenance drugs with minimal health problems.

So here we have a marketplace where the only people who are involved in the decision to buy are those who do not have to pay for the purchase. Seems like a recipe for dysfunction to me. The drug advertising doesn't help, but it isn't the real problem, either.
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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman

There's an interesting report on the peaceful imams who were just trying to mind their own business and not bother anybody here.

Highlights:

Witnesses said three of the imams were praying loudly in the concourse and repeatedly shouted "Allah" when passengers were called for boarding US Airways Flight 300 to Phoenix.

Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks and also found in probes of U.S. security since the attacks -- two in the front row first-class, two in the middle of the plane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of the cabin.
"That would alarm me," said a federal air marshal who asked to remain anonymous. "They now control all of the entry and exit routes to the plane."

The imams who claimed two first-class seats said their tickets were upgraded. The gate agent told police that when the imams asked to be upgraded, they were told no such seats were available. Nevertheless, the two men were seated in first class when removed.

Three of the men asked for seat-belt extenders, although two flight attendants told police the men were not oversized. One flight attendant told police she "found this unsettling, as crew knew about the six [passengers] on board and where they were sitting." Rather than attach the extensions, the men placed the straps and buckles on the cabin floor, the flight attendant said.

Hmmm... seems like those seatbelt extensions would make pretty effective improvised weapons... probably more effective than some banned items. I'm not sure why they even gave them to the passengers if they clearly didn't need them.
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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman

Restless Leg Symdrome is a very real and very dificult problem to deal with. Try getting to sleep with your legs jerking every 2-3 minutes. As for only inactive people getting it....bunk. I ran track and cross country in high school, held the mile record in college, ran a marathon, biked numerous centuries rides, and backed packed over 100 miles in both the eastern and western mountains. I don't think that would qualify me as exactly the couch potato type. Might want to wait until you are old enough to have seen your grandkids and great grandkids being born before you start deciding you would never want to take meds.

Old Hokie

I occasionally suffer from RLS symptoms. It's a weird, annoying sensation where I can only find relief by stretching/moving my legs. Quite frankly, I hate it. You would too. It comes and goes but it's not bad enough to see a doctor about so I haven't.

However, after reading some of the above posts, I will get some multi-vitamins that contain magnesium and see if that helps. Thanks to those of you who mentioned it.

I don't mind drug companies researching and coming up with new ways to treat medical conditions. That's what drug companies do. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't live as long and our quality of life would be worse than it is today. So why bash the drug companies for doing what we want them to do?

I don't necessarily like some of the drug commercials (Viagra, Cialis, et al) but my doctor knows what I need and what I don't need so I just trust him. I don't go to him with a list of meds I heard about on TV, but if I see a commercial for a product that makes me wonder, I just might ask him about it. After all, he's not going to prescribe it unless he thinks it's necessary.

www.scottbomb.com