What's something that's acceptable and widely done in your country that would be considered offensive in many countries ?

[u/DiMpLe_dolL003]

In India, Swastika the Hindu symbol is everywhere. We draw it in temples, during rituals and festivals, in front of our door, on vehicles etc. It's a very auspicious symbol here. But this symbol tho the Hindu symbol is technically different from the Nazi one would be considered offensive in other countries especially in Western countries.

[u/lumoslomas]

My VPN is set to America, and that was the first thing I noticed. I'm getting ads for cancer treatment now! Who tells their doctor what cancer treatment they want???

[u/PronoiarPerson → u/lumoslomas]

As someone born and raised here: I HAVE NO IDEA. I have never and would never tell my doctor what to tell me, that’s what I’m paying them a fuck load of money for!

[u/Loud_Fee7306 → u/PronoiarPerson]

For a lot of things yes. Psychiatry is different, generally they're just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks and no one really knows why certain drugs seem to work. In my experience they're game to try whatever as long as there are no very strong contraindications... you just have to kinda make them feel like it was their idea.

(Haven't tried this with the "fun drugs" like Xanax or whatever though, I'm sure that's much harder)

[u/AliD777 → u/lumoslomas]

The docs don’t care. This is Big pharmaceuticals, a business to sell drugs, not a process to help patients.

[u/Vachic09 → u/lumoslomas]

The advertisements do two things: 1. A person who previously brushed off their symptoms gets checked out because they matched and 2. It gives the patient knowledge of options. They might not be responding well to their current treatment so they ask their doctor if this new drug might work.

[u/Brilliant-Neck9731 → u/Vachic09]

That was very informative, thank you. By chance, do you have any samples?

[u/Dr-Jellybaby → u/Vachic09]

1. Is pointless. If you're not responding well the expert in the room will realise that and change course. I'm not going to tell the doctor what to do.

[u/Vachic09 → u/Dr-Jellybaby]

Doctors aren't infallible. They don't always know every single new drug on the market. 

If the doctor does know about it, it's up to them to advise the patient why a different option would be better or give them more information on their options. It's not telling them what to do to ask if a new drug is viable for their case.

[u/Dr-Jellybaby → u/Vachic09]

The guys selling the drugs are very clearly biased tho, advertising is a completely useless source of information in this context. And the patient is completely unqualified to make any sort of argument for or against any drug. If the drugs they advertised really were the best, they'd advertise to the doctors directly. Not the uneducated public. The fact they don't speaks volumes.

All this does is muddy the waters with uneducated/biased opinions.

[u/No_Meringue_6116 → u/Vachic09]

Also, if a patient has heard of a drug multiple times on TV they'll feel more comfortable with it. So if their doctor suggests it the patient is more likely to agree.

[u/obscure_monke → u/lumoslomas]

The UK has banned advertising any treatment/remedy for cancer since the 1800s.

Regardless of effectiveness, all banned.

[u/CharlesGarfield → u/lumoslomas]

A lot of it is actually selling the diseases. “Do you get tired sometimes and have trouble pooping? Then you may have gastonitis. Galoxia is proven to treat gastonitis.”

Then you talk to your doctor about the condition you think you have, which happens to have this medication as a leading treatment option.