Henry Waxman Schooled On Restless Leg Syndrome (VIDEO)

As you may have heard, California Rep. Henry Waxman was released recently from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, having been admitted after fainting in his L.A. office. Waxman is on the mend, and we're glad he's doing okay. Sadly, the news is not so good for one of Waxman's health care reform talking points, which expired quietly on the air on C-SPAN's Washington Journal.

Seeking to make a point about pharmaceutical companies and how their relentless advertising places all sorts of free-range diagnoses into viewers' heads, Waxman attempted to use his own experience in the hospital, and a joke about "restless leg syndrome." Waxman was of the mind that he was talking about a pretend-disease. That did not go well!"

WAXMAN: Somebody said, "Why is your knee jerking?" And I thought I was making a joke, and I said, "Well, I have restless leg syndrome." Now, I don't think there is such a thing as restless leg syndrome. I'll probably hear from all those people who have it. But I thought that restless leg syndrome was a disease that was created by a drug company that wanted to sell a drug for the disease they had created. And I was making a joke. Well, when I got out of the hospital, I looked at my record, it said, "He claims to have restless leg syndrome." Well, I don't know if there is such a thing or not. I don't have it. But a lot of people start thinking they have medical problems because they've seen too many of these commercials. I don't think that's doing the public a lot of good. It's certainly making the drug companies richer, but it's not doing a lot of good for the public.

HOST: Let's hear from Scott on the Independent line, from Greenbackville, Virginia.

SCOTT: Uh, yes. Representative Waxman, good morning. As someone who does have restless leg syndrome...

WAXMAN: [Laughter]

SCOTT: ...I can tell you that it does exist.

WAXMAN: It does exist.

SCOTT: Oh, absolutely. It's a terrible thing. I had achieved that through a back injury.

Story continues below

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[WATCH]

SCHOOLED! Though it's worth pointing out that none of this changes how annoying those pharmaceutical commercials are, with their trippy cartoons and packs of wizened old men celebrating their boners in song and that one for Yaz that HuffPost Comedy Editor Alex Leo hates because of the terrible, awkward set up to a strained conversation about side-effects.

[WATCH]

Waxman's restless leg syndrome talking point died peacefully, and was probably survived by a bunch of talking points on the over-prescription of selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors.

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Comments

[lunchlady]

GRRRRRRRR. I've had RLS for decades, and it used to be described as "obsure and benign" in medical books. It is neither. The stupid name doesn't help.
I would love to give this man a taste of untreated RLS while on a redeye flight to Asia, or while strapped to a stretcher in an ER without his pills and unable to explain why he was so agitated.

[SimonOne]

Advertising prescription-only pharmaceuticals to the general public should be illegal. Period.

[cdub1991]

Most in the medical profession would agree with you. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the right to advertise had to be granted because of first amendment issues. Advertising is a form of speech that is protected. It very unfortunate, since everything folks are saying about the commercials driving unnecessary demand is true.

[Conservador-Rebelde]

I believe you are correct, but they also want to advertise to move product. When they first discover a medication, they have a 10 year patent on it... they want to sell as much as they can, unfortunately at high prices, to pay for the research and turn a profit. Once the 10 year patent is up, the "recipe" for the medicine is available to all, leading to cheaper medicines, such as Tylenol, Advil, and all other general pain-killers. They were once expensive, because they were brand names.

[frantaylor]

Then why is there no nudity on television? If the First Amendment trumps all, how can there be censorship?

[alguien]

the worst part about those ads are those stupid litanies of possible side-effects and the admonishens to call your doctor should any of those side effects occur.

[lynettema]

They banned alcohol commercials. They could ban these. The valid reason would be because the patient is the last person who should be prescribing for their own ailment. That is what happens with these commercials.

RLS exists. It hits me nearly every night. Really frustrating and annoying.

I use ice compresses for my feet
Sometimes put body lotion on my feet and legs. Sometimes use an athletes foot lotion on my feet.
Massage my legs and feet with a large massage unit. (this is most effective)

Sometimes I do all these things - just to be able to sleep.

I have no idea why I have the ailment.

[ClareP]

Why is advertising protected speech? And we do restrict advertising of other substances- there are regulations (though not a ban) on cigarette ads. It can't be so protected that it has to be unregulated- if we have to have it, then we should at least tighten up the regulations.

[amdezurik]

advertising ANYTHING that causes "leakage" should be banned...u­nless it's the fun kind (don't ask, use your imagination!) ;-)

[miketothad]

It WAS illegal until right after Bush "won".

[cdub1991]

Actually, I'm not sure it's ever been illegal. It was just "not the way it was done." It wasn't considered cost effective, because the pharm companies could market directly to doctors to drive sales. Apparently, that's been rethought by the industry over the last couple of decades, for better or for worse.

[weatherwaxx]

Bush won, Big Pharma and the insurance industry got to write US health policy, and Colin Powell's son was given the plum post of head of the FCC.

If prescription drugs are advertised, the commercials should include the possible side-effects in LARGE TYPE. The pharmaceutical industry considers a certain percentage of DEATH as an 'acceptable risk', but they post their commercials as all lovely results and no icky problems.

[DRaymond]

It isn't so much that restless leg syndrome doesn't exist, but that the drug manufacturers do manufacture desire for medications with dubious needs. For example I see lots of ads for a medication that is supposed to grow eyelashes. I can understand it possibly as a vanity issue, but the ads treat it like not having enough eyelashes was some sort of medical problem.

[amdezurik]

what they do a lot of times is take a real but rare condition/­disese/syn­drome and make a treatment for it. then realize they need a bigger market to over-pay the research costs (most if not all of it subsidized by us BTW) by enough to get a chalet in Nice this year or some dammed thing then over-sell the condition/­disese/syn­drome to pump up the market.

[GreatNews27]

Real Americans don't need 'health care'. We don't need clean water, safe food, good schools, clean air, sanitation, security, or any other of those 'liberal' programs that only 'government' can provide. What we Real Americans need is protection from teh gays. They absolutely terrify we 'Real Americans'.

[ladyv]

Just FYI for anyone with a mild case of RLS; pop a piece of Nicorette in your mouth when you go to bed. The nicotine stimulates enough dopamine to calm a mild case. Especially good for the RLS that comes with late pregnancy. Doctor said Nicorette was fine during pregnancy.

[AndiAngel]

A healthier alternative is to take Vitamin E in the evening. It takes a couple of weeks to notice the difference, but it seems preferable to taking nicotine or a pharmaceutical with a list of side effects as long as your arm (or leg, heh). Lay off the caffeine as well, or cut down. I agree this is a created "syndrome" easily remedied by common sense. Glad to see Waxman is OK.

[weatherwaxx]

I had a friend whose doctor sugested he drink tonic water - apparently a tiny bit of quinine also helps in some cases.

[Jamie Kowalski]

Ladyv,

I'm intrigued by the idea of the Nicorette, and just spent a little time searching for any info on it being useful for RLS. Do you have any links you can supply for any discussion on it?

[ladyv]

Can't think of any. Just sharing my personal experience.

[weatherwaxx]

Your doctor thinks it's OK to give nicotine to an unborn baby?

[ladyv]

Yep. My doctor said a single piece of Nicorette was fine in the third trimester. I don't know if she'd have the same opinion earlier in the pregnancy, but pregnancy-related RLS doesn't emerge until the third trimester.

[Conservador-Rebelde]

This coming from the guy wanting to reinstate the Fair-less Doctrine. He says his opinion and laughs when someone gives him facts about it. Does he even know what the "Fairness Doctrine" would do?

[weatherwaxx]

Yeah, it'd give people with RLS, or a doctor, the chance to refute Rep. Waxman's misconception.

I don't think Henry Waxman is afraid of learning that he's made a mistake -- unlike any random Republican.

[Conservador-Rebelde]

My point exactly... Someone had that chance, they called in and told him it's real. Waxman proceeded to laugh in their face, figuratively.

[JackRusselTerrier]

To me, it's not whether or not restless leg syndrome or any other disease exist, it's how at the end of the commercial, the drug manufacturer will list off all the possible side effects of the medication they're selling. The side effects listed are usually worse than the condition they are trying to cure, sometimes even death.

I think the problem with drug manufacturers is that they are regulated by the FDA. The problem with the FDA is that they are funded by the drug manufacturers. Doctors are given free samples to push the drugs and are given perks to do so.

A lot of these drugs are no better than fad diets. How many times do we hear about some drug that been on the market for some time and later it is discovered to do more harm than good.

[judiNJ]

Agree. I avoid going to the Doctor because I am afraid I will be prescribed one of these drugs and the side affects are just awful. It is like making you read the circular in the prescription box that gives all the side affects. At least I don't have to read that.

[loki]

Great, ticking off a powerful congressman, no matter what party, will only help to ensure that no health care reform that will help American citizens will have a chance of passing. Congresspeople think they are better than everyone else, and if you dont stroke their ego's , like the lobbyist are good at, you get the opposite results. Even if they are 100% for something, one person makes them mad and they will vote the opposite just to get back at the person.

[ClareP]

If powerful congressmen get ticked off at hearing facts and being educated, they really don't belong in congress- I don;t trust them writing my legislation. Reform legislation has to be written in such a way that legitimate illnesses can be treated for whoever has them, no matter what politician chooses not to believe in them. There are scientific ways to diagnose restless leg properly- it's not really up to a patient who's watched too many commercials. As someone who has been at a sleep lab and was measured 7 filmed waking up an average of just over 8 times per hour the entire night (and that one was not one of my worst nights), I can tell you that there are people with genuine and properly diagnosed conditions. And if you look at the real medical effects of prolonged sleep deprivation, you will see that this sort of illness can be really debilitating for anyone who suffers from more than a mild case (mine is moderate- and without medication I spend half the night awake- I would hate to be someone with a severe case- but it can be progressive).

[anne0003]

Hey Jason: Whats up with the creepy Yaz video? Did you mean to post the Yaz spot or some weird illiterate mashup with creepy subtitles? At least I hope its a mistake...

[lynjs]

And we wonder why a lot of things that people deal with aren't dealt with properly. It is because the people we have elected in office haven't had to walk in our shoes and deal with the stupid laws and regulations that they have passed.

I'm a Democrat and I don't care what party he's in, what he done was stupid. They need to confess that they don't know much about a certain subject.

Yes, I'll agree that we've become an over medicated society with the advertising of prescription drugs. And yes, I'll admit that some NOT all may have talked themselves into having such symptoms as the drug adverstised. But that doesn't mean that the disease in question doesn't exist and that millions of people don't suffer from it

The moral of this for all politicians is to do your homework before opening your mouth.

[PATina]

Actually..­. I thought the same thing about "irritable bowel syndrome". I'm not saying that it's not real... however, what's the difference between that and constipation and diarrhea (which ibs causes)? Can't the same treatments be used depending on what symptom you're experiencing?

[cdub1991]

Constipation and diarrhea are symptoms, not diseases in their own right. The treatment of the symptoms can be the same, but that doesn't address the underlying condition. I'm too lazy to google IBS right now, but I think it tends to be more neurological in origin, since it will respond to serotonin reuptate inhibitors. (If I'm wrong about that, don't jump down my throat folks.)

[Jamie Kowalski]

I suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome, and trust me, it can be absolutely horrible when it hits bad. The standard Rx for this is Requip/Ropinorole, a dopamine agonist originally prescribed for Parkinson's. Unfortunately, this medicine has some pretty horrible side-effects as well, and there isn't anything else that helps me. Eventually I figured out that what was best for me was to take half the prescribed amount, and split the difference between the RLS and the side-effects. It sucks, but I can live with it.

On the other hand, I don't think this story is important at all. It doesn't bother me that Waxman didn't know about it, and I agree with the underlying sentiment: the drugfomercials are completely out of control.

[Yurdelite]

My doctor prescribed Klonopin and it worked really, really well. My sister is a nurse (a darn good one too) and I called her told her my symptoms--she said you have RLS. I went to my doctor and told him my symptoms--he said you have RLS! I took the medication on and off for a year and I am happy to say I have not had any bouts with it in the past two years. Yeah!! It is very annoying and hard to deal with.

[Yurdelite]

P.S.

I have to note that I had never seen a RLS commercial until after I was diagnosed.

[Lemonsession]

Totally agree. I too have RLS and it's been the bane of my existence since I was a child. I don't take Requip any more because it exacerbated by problems. Now when I try to sleep without the non-narcotic pain reliever I've been prescribed, I experience a pain that feels like my muscles are trying to collapse inside themselves.

Sadly, because the criticism has been made popular by Carlos Mecina and Jon Stewart, people tend to just take it as fact without realizing that popular comedians are fallible.

But the real enemy is the pharmaceutical companies, so Waxman's comments shouldn't be completely laughed off. Really -- the syndrome was first diagnosed in the '40s, but not until the 00s did it become so well-known, all due in part to GlaskoSmithKline's media campaign, which included commercials and even investing heavily in the RLS Foundation. Though we see the medicine as a needed relief, GSK sees it only as a product -- the company first started studying Requip's effects on RLS in order to find it a new purpose because it wasn't as effective on Parkinson's any more. And guess what? They got the gov't to subsidize the testing! Your tax dollars went to their next business investment.

I highly suggest everyone read Marcia Angell's "The Truth About Drug Companies," which covers this story in detail. I also suggest that you not only read about Requip, but Neurontonin and the drug company's campaign behind it as well.

[FredDobbs]

Waxman has an horrible incurable disease, he's a liberal.

[pakaal]

Absolutely! Waxman's initial comment about "hearing from people who have it," and subsequent education on the issue is a perfect example of the difference between Democrats and Republicans: Dems are ready to admit when they're wrong. If Waxman was a Republican, he would have been on O'Reilly's show the next day, complaining about "Teh Librul Media" hyping a non-existent condition.

[alwqb]

Waxman was pointing out how in the hospital someone told him he had a disease he didn't. He was making the point so many of us realize, the drug companies push illness to prescribe medications. The more sick people we have the more money they make. Chalk up his lack of knowledge about restless leg syndrome to being locked in an office all day doing his job and trying to solve the problems in our nation. Keep working Henry.

[cdub1991]

The mistake was Waxman's, not the hospitals. You know, when they are trying to take your medical history, it behooves you to take the process seriously. It's an important part of your diagnosis and care.

[Forester]

Especially if it means they can do more expensive tests on you with the machine that goes "ping".

[thelistener]

Jason, you're so funny - love to read the pieces you write.

I'd love to hear you write more on the how these two types of pharm commercials mesh together. Could be really funny:

"Though it's worth pointing out that none of this changes how annoying those pharmaceutical commercials are, with their trippy cartoons and packs of wizened old men celebrating their boners in song and that one for Yaz that HuffPost Comedy Editor Alex Leo hates because of the terrible, awkward set up to a strained conversation about side-effects"

I have to say that in the time that I actually sit and watch tv, I must hear those P ecker Pill commercials 4 or 5 times, maybe even more. And then we have the the preggers preventative in the form a very convincing portrayal of a "doctor" spewing all of the side effects for her girlfriends - in a bar. uh huh. Unfortunately, some people are listening or they wouldn't play those annoying things over and over and over and over......­.