Fun with Pharmaceuticals!

As everybody knows, pharmaceuticals are big fun and big money. Like so many modern mental cases living la vida medicado, i've developed a modest level literacy when it comes to prescription drugs, side effects, going off-label and Big Pharma, but even
i was surprised to learn that...

#14__There were more than two dozen pharmaceutical
companies that made over a billion dollars in profits
in 2008.

#16__Nearly half of all Americans now use prescription drugs
on a regular basis according to a CDC report that was just released.
According to the report, approximately one-third of all Americans
use two or more pharmaceutical drugs, and more than ten
percent
of all Americans use five or more prescription drugs
on a regular basis.

#17__According to the CDC, approximately three quarters
of a million people a year are rushed to emergency rooms
in the United States because of adverse reactions
to pharmaceutical drugs.

#18__The Food and Drug Administration reported
1,742 prescription drug recalls in 2009, which was
a gigantic increase from 426 drug recalls in 2008.

For 21 more fun facts that prove the entire US health care industry has become one giant money making scam, click this:

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/25-shocking-facts-that-prove-that-the-entire-u-s-health-care-industry-has-become-one-giant-money-making-scam

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a Meme for the Mental!

finally, a meme for the rest of us!

it's name is Mental Illness Mouse.

kind if a cute little fella, and i'm not into cute...
in fact i think i'm allergic. but given the stigmas
and stereotypes surrounding mental illness,
it could have been a whole lot worse, right?

nuff said.

like all these kind of things, some are amazing
and some are not- here's some that struck me,
in that "the person who did this one knows..."
kind of a way.

is it just me, or is this format unusually well suited
to conveying the j'en sais quois of la vida medicado?

anyway, in the true spirit of internetiness,
i thought i should not simply use images
created by others to share the news about
poppa's brand new meme-
i should get all 2.0* and try to make some myself**.
so i did...

you can see many many more of these
and even make some yourself just by clicking
your mouse pointer on this convenient link:

Mental Illness Mouse

* is it just me, or does "2.0" sound terribly retro already?
** so someone can now copy mine and use them on their blog...

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of Mad Dogs, Englishmen & fellow travellers

Mad Dogs & Englishmen

In tropical climes
There are certain times
Of day
When all the citizens retire
To take their clothes off and perspire.
It's one of those rules
That the greatest fools
Obey,
Because the sun is far too sultry
And one must avoid its ultry
Violet ray.

The natives grieve
When the white men leave
Their huts.
Because they're obviously,
Definitely
Nuts.

It turns out that there's more to Noel Coward's signature
tune than history, wit and impeccable pentameter.

According to a recent study in Taiwan.....

Daily temperature linked to bipolar admissions

Results from a Taiwanese study suggest that high daily
temperatures are associated with increased hospitalization
rates for mood symptoms among patients with bipolar disorder,
particularly women.

The researchers found that the risk for hospitalization began
to increase when the daily temperature rose above 24.0°C,
and continued to increase with higher daily temperatures.

read the rest at News Medical.

Mad Dogs & Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun.
The Japanese don't care to,
The Chinese wouldn't dare to,
Hindus and Argentines
Sleep firmly from twelve to one,
But Englishmen
Detest a
Siesta.
In the Philippines
They have lovely screens
To protect you from the glare.
In the Malay states
There are hats like plates
Which the Britishers won't wear.
At twelve noon
The natives swoon,
And no further work is done,
But mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun!

The humidex here this summer has been bumping 40 degrees regularly and we're nearing drought conditions, but for all
that I wasn't really all that surprised when I read this.

I've never really been a "summer" guy. This may be because
I do not come from tanning stock. After centuries of living
in cold, damp, dark hovels, my people lean towards the pale
and pasty and are best kept that way. Unlike vampires,
we can withstand some solar exposure but it's best
to keep it to a minimum lest one fry like a tomato.

As a result, beaches generally bore me after about 15 minutes.
I'm not very serious about beer, distrust most varieties
of wieners and have an aversion to mosquitos, deer flies
and other blood sucking things that borders on the phobic.
On a good day.

Long before I read this news, I knew that as the temperature
goes up, my IQ goes down to the point where I'd be hard-pressed
to beat a tossed salad on Jeopardy. I can't sleep in heat of the
night and can't wake up when morning calls. No matter how
much I hydrate, I seem to sweat buckets more and my appetite dwindles to the point where even ice cream
can seem like just too much work.

I sleep a lot. I read too much, and do absolutely nothing unless
it is neccessary to my survival as an organism. I look ahead to July and August like some sort of season in hell, praying for an early autumn that never comes.
Does that sound like depression?

Mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun.
The toughest Burmese bandit
Can never understand it.
In Rangoon
The heat of noon
Is just what the natives shun,
They put their Scotch
Or Rye down
And lie down.
In a jungle town
Where the sun beats down
To the rage of man and beast,
The English garb
Of the English sahib
Merely gets a bit more creased.
In Bangkok
At twelve'o'clock
They foam at the mouth and run,
But mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun.

I do not like your insinuation, sir!

Hear Noel Coward sing this pip of a tune with the Ray Noble Orchestra, recorded at 78 rpm in 1932 here at Archive.org
It's a free, legal download!
Grab the whole album and hear Ray and the boys work
out with Noel, Fred Astaire, Paul Robeson and other fine singers.

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