Consumer Reports corrects "restless leg" drug TV ad

Consumer Reports has launched a new online video series that plays TV commercials for prescription drugs, inserting information that the manufacturers forgot to include. They call it an "antidote to TV drug ads."

Their first video is about a TV commercial for a drug called Requip, which is offered as a way to reduce symptoms of "restless leg syndrome." Consumer Reports explains that Requip reduces symptoms in up to 73% of people (with scary potential side effects) , while a placebo is effective on 57% of people with RLS ("restless leg syndrome").

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This first installment concerns an interesting class of medications that are approved to treat something called "restless leg syndrome." That condition may sound fanciful, but it's a real problem. Something like 3 percent of Americans suffer from RLS, which is characterized by an uncontrollable impulse to keep moving your legs even when you are trying to go to sleep –- which obviously could make sleep difficult.

Several years ago, doctors discovered that drugs that were originally developed to treat Parkinson's disease could provide meaningful help to people who suffered from moderate to severe forms of this condition. But the drugs have serious side effects – one of the more bizarre involves a propensity for uncontrolled sexual or gambling impulses, as our video mentions. And while these medications may provide welcome relief to some RLS patients, the ads could leave anyone who ever suffered fidgetiness when trying to go to sleep to wonder whether he or she has RLS and should seek treatment.

Link (Via Mind Hacks)