Tamoxifen - The "miracle" breast cancer drug
It was in Tulsa in 1998 I watched a doctor in a high priced, high profile cancer clinic (we've all seen their high-priced TV ads) form the words, " tamoxifen - the GOLD standard in fighting breast cancer."
He smiled when he said it. Your wife will be on one of our special drug trials, so many get the real drug, so many a placebo, after which she's on tamoxifen until we "shrink" the tumor. (Yeah, "shrink" the tumor. " Guess what?)
Today, December 6, 2012, an Associated Press story warns that Tamoxifen, when taken over five years MAY have better results curing breast cancer, so says Dr. Peter X. I wonder if he has a Mrs who has breast cancer?
The idea is, take the stuff for five years, then try ten. " the overall benefits outweigh the risks, " says Dr. Trevor I over in England. Nice of him, don't you think. While I'm at it does Trevor have a Mrs? And how healthy are her breasts? I wonder how motivated he would be if she were, uh, with cancer? Just wondering...
Researchers, all of these people. I venture to say NONE of them had wives at home, tortured, screaming in pain and agony, in bed suffering with the effects of Tamoxifen. Hair falling out, sickness, throwing up, sex drives disappearing into the sunset and her all the time, worrying about the agony of her husband, feeling badly about putting him through all this misery.
None of these stone cold researchers, I'll wager, have anybody at home, turning white as a sheet, hair falling out all over the rug, stiff and dead, husbands cradling their wives as they weep softly rocking them again into a dull drug induced sleep.
To them, it's just numbers, phony sugar pills, placebos, " you're making history," helping others to get better, helping finding a cure. One of the researchers is blatant, cold, actually, about saying " asking 6800 women who took Tamoxifen for five years to either continue taking it for another five, OR, TAKE SUGAR PILLS FOR ANOTHER FIVE." !!! Sure, how would you like to hear that knowing the love of your life is rolling the dice under the loving hand of a statistician who could care less. " just the numbers please."
I wonder. I wonder just how much money the makers of Tamoxifen are making pushing this new philosophy of TEN YEARS of taking their anti-breast cancer drug, torturing women who can barely make it through five? Why are we not seeing stories of women who are survivors of five years of
Tamoxifen therapy? What agreements do the manufacturers have with the doctors?
Where are the investigative reporters of yesteryear?
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He smiled when he said it. Your wife will be on one of our special drug trials, so many get the real drug, so many a placebo, after which she's on tamoxifen until we "shrink" the tumor. (Yeah, "shrink" the tumor. " Guess what?)
Today, December 6, 2012, an Associated Press story warns that Tamoxifen, when taken over five years MAY have better results curing breast cancer, so says Dr. Peter X. I wonder if he has a Mrs who has breast cancer?
The idea is, take the stuff for five years, then try ten. " the overall benefits outweigh the risks, " says Dr. Trevor I over in England. Nice of him, don't you think. While I'm at it does Trevor have a Mrs? And how healthy are her breasts? I wonder how motivated he would be if she were, uh, with cancer? Just wondering...
Researchers, all of these people. I venture to say NONE of them had wives at home, tortured, screaming in pain and agony, in bed suffering with the effects of Tamoxifen. Hair falling out, sickness, throwing up, sex drives disappearing into the sunset and her all the time, worrying about the agony of her husband, feeling badly about putting him through all this misery.
None of these stone cold researchers, I'll wager, have anybody at home, turning white as a sheet, hair falling out all over the rug, stiff and dead, husbands cradling their wives as they weep softly rocking them again into a dull drug induced sleep.
To them, it's just numbers, phony sugar pills, placebos, " you're making history," helping others to get better, helping finding a cure. One of the researchers is blatant, cold, actually, about saying " asking 6800 women who took Tamoxifen for five years to either continue taking it for another five, OR, TAKE SUGAR PILLS FOR ANOTHER FIVE." !!! Sure, how would you like to hear that knowing the love of your life is rolling the dice under the loving hand of a statistician who could care less. " just the numbers please."
I wonder. I wonder just how much money the makers of Tamoxifen are making pushing this new philosophy of TEN YEARS of taking their anti-breast cancer drug, torturing women who can barely make it through five? Why are we not seeing stories of women who are survivors of five years of
Tamoxifen therapy? What agreements do the manufacturers have with the doctors?
Where are the investigative reporters of yesteryear?
###
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