Moving legs, a bit of acid in the throat, or a flaccid sexual member? You should rush immediately to your family disease "expert" and get the latest pill from the pharmaceutical industry.

"Disease mongering” is the effort by pharmaceutical companies (or others with similar financial interests) to enlarge the market for a treatment by convincing people that they are sick and need medical intervention [2]. Typically, the disease is vague, with nonspecific symptoms spanning a broad spectrum of severity—from everyday experiences many people would not even call “symptoms,” to profound suffering. The market for treatment gets enlarged in two ways: by narrowing the definition of health so normal experiences get labeled as pathologic, and by expanding the definition of disease to include earlier, milder, and presymptomatic forms (e.g., regarding a risk factor such as high cholesterol as a disease in itself). (News Target)

Moving your legs while trying to fall asleep, or "Restless Legs Syndrome" as officially named, is one of many simple ailments that the immensely profitable drug industry has forced the FDA to recognize as a disease of wide consequence. Why? Money. All corporations have an interest to make more money for their shareholders, regardless, it seems, as to whether such business is to their customer's detriment.

How do we know we are afflicted and dying? By simply turning on the television and letting the parade of drug advertisements wash over our subconscious. This dangerous practice of broadcasting deceptively pleasing images that people need powerful drugs and their many side effects should best be left to doctors to communicate to their patients.

The news coverage of restless legs syndrome is disturbing. It exaggerated the prevalence of disease and the need for treatment, and failed to consider the problems of overdiagnosis. In essence, the media seemed to have been co-opted into the disease-mongering process. Although our review was limited to the coverage of a single disease promotion campaign, we think it is likely that our findings would apply to others. It is easy to understand why the media would be attracted to disease promotion stories and why they would be covered uncritically. The stories are full of drama: a huge but unrecognized public health crisis, compelling personal anecdotes, uncaring or ignorant doctors, and miracle cures. (News Target)

It is also easy to understand the media's promotion of drugs when the billions of drug advertising money is tallied up. As convicted felon and fraudster Kevin Trudeau, author of Natural Cures, correctly says, "It's all about the money" for the "massive cabal formed of the federal government, pharmaceutical companies and the media [that] is keeping Americans from living well."

And no one is living well after a gut busting meal of a Double Quarter Pounder® with Cheese, super sized fries, and a gallon of Coke, despite McDonalds' marketing slogan of "i'm lovin' it." Who wouldn't expect a little bile to come up in the throat? The drug companies have an answer for that in the form of a friendly sounding little "Purple Pill" named Prilosec which on their web site you need to "Get to know".

"Erectile dysfunction" is the latest bodily wilting to "get to know". Most people in the United States are dramatically unhealthy with drooping folds of diabetic flab and cancerous smoker's lungs, so it is no wonder men are unable to have erections. More to the point, it is a wonder many such people are still alive, but the body is remarkable resilient to violation as porn star Jenna Jameson via talk host Bill "No Spin" O'Reilly has convinced us.

Living a healthy lifestyle instead of waiting for science to cover up your symptoms is the best prevention to disease, but people are easily convinced to continue on with their miserable existences. Drug pushers on the street and in the corporate boardroom know this all too well. Living healthy through good values, nutritious food, and fun exercise is beginning to catch on to bloated and catatonic America, though stagnated by valueless education systems and fast food mentality.