Medical Abbreviations

It's one thing to have adverts for medicines on TV, especially since the manufacturers are required by law to state all known side-effects (how anyone ever buys that stuff is beyond me: virtually everything they advertise "may cause death"). But it also appears to have spawned a trend in medical abbreviations, for a variety of reasons.

One of these appears to be avoiding embarassment. After all, telling someone you suffer from ED sounds far less debilitating than admitting to an erectile disfunction. The same goes for ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and DID (dissociative identity disorder - itself a euphemism for what used to be termed multiple personality). 

Another is that it makes medicines sound more scientific and therefore more curative. Take NSAIDs, for example. Hands up if you've had one of these recently. No? Bet you have: they're non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (aspirin and ibuprofen to you and me).

A third reason is to make a serious illness sounds more harmless, trivial even. After all, wouldn't you rather have COPD than chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or prefer an SCA to a sudden cardiac arrest?

The list goes on an on.

In addition to the aforementioned afflictions, all of which I've heard mentioned on TV in their shortened, sanitised form, I've heard talk of HPV (human papillomavirus, one cause of cancer and genital warts), OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder: bad PMT) and DVT (deep-vein thrombosis).

I'm sure there are many, many more, but unfortunately I don't always have my iPhone on me to note them down while lounging in front of the television.

Which reminds me: I've got to go and watch TDSWJS (= The Daily Show With Jon Stewart).

TTFN.