Help reunite an old woman with her iPod
Without your help, Evan could be as sad and drunk as the man in this stock photo. Won’t you please help?
We here at Macenstein are not exactly what you would consider “nice people”, or “caring people”, or people “with souls”, but even our hard exterior can be melted worn down by constant nagging, and so to that end, we present the case of poor Mrs. Lugh, mother of Evan Lugh, a sometimes Macenstein contributor who is using his powers of guilt to strong-arm us into doing one good deed before we die.
Evan writes: “my mum/mom has a rare heart condition. A major drug company is willing to freely give out a drug which can help give her life back, and the lives of thousands who also suffer from this condition. The company, NICE is asking for a petition to be signed. The more people that sign, obviously the more likely they are to help.”
Truly a touching story… a boy’s love for his mother. Who (besides me) wouldn’t do everything in their power to help? Well, luckily there is an angle here that was able to touch even my frozen heart, and thus warrant this post. You see, Evan’s mom, a proud owner of a video iPod, has been unable to use it since receiving her pacemaker. Reports of the potentially lethal side effects of mixing iPods and pacemakers, however unclear, have been reason enough to keep Evan’s mom and her iPod separated for months.
I’m tearing up again at the thought, so won’t you please help? All Evan is asking is you take 20 seconds out of your life, and sign this online petition to bring these experimental treatments into the hands of his mother and countless others afflicted with pulmonary diseases. If nothing else, think how many new iPods could be sold if pacemakers were to be eliminated. As an Apple stockholder, I think it is the least we can do!
I don’t know what the deal is with that. I’ve had a pacemaker for 6 years and mixing my iPod with it isn’t ever a problem. I’ve even experimented by holding the iPod to my chest while it was playing just to see if I feel anything. I know it sounds exciting, but nothing. I don’t even have trouble with my iPhone.
I use all sorts of electronic devices, including a Polar heart rate monitor for the gym (the kind that has the transmitter wrapped around my chest), I work around HUGE electro-magnetic fields and I can even go through airport security.
My guess is the whole iPod/pacemaker thing is just another story to try to sling mud at the iPod. Ha! It’ll never work!
Aside from making me look like a complete begging-nut, thanks for the post.
John, My mum used it and had rather weird palpatiations. Perhaps it’s just a random thing? Who knows lol
Evan ps. she isn’t ‘that’ old. hehe, cheers doc 🙂
People should not sign this petition. Period.
While I’m not an expert on the situation or the subject of pulmonary hypertension, I can tell you this: This is the drug company’s attempt at getting more money instead of helping anyone’s mother out of the goodness of their hearts.
A very large study was done a number of years ago called ALLHAT. While it didn’t look at PH specifically, it did look at hypertension and the drugs used to treat it, new AND old. What it found was that the 50 year old diuretic ($37 for a years supply) not only performed on level, but exceeded that of the newer drugs ($750-1100 for a years supply).
While I don’t know much about the UK health care system, I do know that the US FDA has some of the highest standards in the world. Here, drug companies _do_not_have_to_prove_ that newer drugs treat a condition any better than an older drug. All they must show is that a drug _does_ treat a condition. This is why they almost NEVER compare their newer drugs to older ones in tests and the ones they do, they usually up the dosage of the new one to show it has greater effect. Now, if you are the pharmaceutical company, what would you want NICE to recommend to treat a condition: you’re most expensive drug or the cheap one that’s been made by generics for years and years?
Now take into consideration that the UK’s health system is national. Take a drug that treats a condition better, or 95% as well as the newer drugs, but is only 5% of the cost. By far the better choice for the system is to treat with the cheap drugs first and resort to more expensive drugs if they prove ineffective.
Sorry your mom is sick, but getting people to sign a petition to get some good recommendations changed is not only wrong of you, but incredibly selfish. The best (and this is only a _possibility_) and most expensive treatment is not always the smartest idea. All you’re doing is making the drug companies a bundle of money to make your mother _possibly_ slightly better while at the same time taking away from others that need it far more.
Ironically, the studies that show the cheap_as_dirt diuretics perform better against hypertension than the newer ACE-inhibitors are far more conclusive than that of ipod’s effects on pacemakers.
Robert, thankyou for your input. While I can agree with you on some points, there are others where I think you may have the wrong information.
To state: The drug will be freely available, meaning the drug will be prescribed via specialist hospitals free of charge, saving the patient around £10,000 every quarter.
“mother _possibly_ slightly better”, I can’t blame you for saying this as you didn’t know, but all currently-known PH sufferers have been using the drugs for around a year, which has had significant results.Thus, the drugs are most certainly effective, which many meetings has proven.
Over the past 48 hours PHA, as I’m aware, has had more media coverage than it has in the past 3 years together. Television shows, newspaper articles, magazines, more radio interviews, sponsors such as BMW and Ford. If this is some ‘poxy’ petition, then explain to me why BMW and Ford are offering 3 cars each in a fundraiser of some-sort?
So again, your input is only 50% effective re:you didn’t know information but telling people not to sign is more than selfish on your part. You said there I was selfish, this did make me laugh as your first line is morally based on your opinion.
Thanks,
Evan.
Evan,
I pointed out factual studies and statements that come from Marcia Angell (former Editor-In-Cheif of the New England Journal of Medicine). Point me in the direction of something that is factual in nature (i,e, ALLHAT study) and I’ll take a look at it. Otherwise, I stand by my previous statement.
Regards,
RH