You may think, like I did, that counterfeit drugs are somebody else’s problem. If they are dumb enough to order drugs from some third-world country that probably supports drug manufacturers that use only fake ingredients? Well. Caveat Emptor — that person gets what he deserves. Not my problem.

I was so wrong!

Turns out counterfeit drugs are being manufactured, stolen, diluted, adulterated — right here in the United States of America. AND — they are infused into our American drug supply.

Lipitor, Epogen, Procrit and dozens of others have been taken by unsuspecting American patients. If you had bogus Lipitor, and took it for months, how would you know? If you took blood pressure medicine for months, and it turned out it was fake, how would you know?

I’ve written a series of articles about counterfeit drugs, and what patients can do to protect themselves at my About.com site. If you think the FDA is doing much about it, you’re wrong. They’ve been hamstrung by those who are making the most money.

Included in the articles is a review of the book Dangerous Doses, A True Story of Cops, Counterfeiters, and the Contamination of the American Drug Supply, plus an interview with its author, Katherine Eban.

Check it out. Protect yourself. Talk to your pharmacist. This is scary stuff.

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One of my About.com colleagues forwarded a link to an article in this week’s Newsweek called “Revenge of the Experts.”

The article analyzes Web 2.0 — a term synonymous with “social media” — like blogging, wikis, facebook, myspace, you-tube or all the link-to-link programs like Stumble Upon or del.icio.us (I never know where to put those dots!), saying Web 2.0 represents power-to-the-people. It’s where everyone becomes an expert by simply sharing ideas online with anyone else who will read or watch or listen.

My personal opinion — I think Web 2.0 de-experts the experts — waters them down.

The Newsweek article suggests that the next generation of web — Web 3.0 — will return the power of ideas to the experts. The places online that are actually making money are paying for expert content, and therefore most of what we find in search engines in the future will become more solid information, featuring less of those opinions proferred by those who don’t have the real background needed to form an expert opinion. And it does a real nice overview of how About.com chooses its experts, called guides, of which I am one.

I say - yes to Web 3.0! Thank heavens. Not that I don’t think everyone should have access and the ability to share — in fact, I think that’s very important. But sharing in general and sharing expertise are not the same thing, and social media clouds them.

Some of my readers know that prior to my transition to Every Patient’s Advocate, I worked as a web marketer. Beginning with my first web experiences in 1988 (yes, really!) I watched as websites went from text only and bulletin boards, to text and graphics and plenty of surfing, to making websites the be-all and end-all for information about businesses, to the social web. According to Newsweek, the pendulum of expert-ization will now swing back toward the center. Access for all, room for everyone, but the cream rising to the top. As it should.

So what makes an expert? It’s someone with passion, reason, enthusiasm, grasp and the ability to be always-questioning about any given topic. Through my work, I’ve met and befriended so many people who are experts in their particular fields. I like to think I’ve grown into my definition of expert since my misdiagnosis and through my work since 2004. I expect my expertise will continue to grow. As it should.

So today’s post isn’t so much about your health or your ability to be a savvy patient. It’s more about who you regard as an expert. It’s one of those cautionary tales that says — hey — anyone can claim to be an expert. But it’s up to each of us to decide whether that claim is warranted. Learning to vet who can be helpful, and who stands in the way of improving our healthcare, is key.

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Questions began circulating about the Pfizer TV and magazine commercials for Lipitor earlier this month. You’ve seen them — Robert Jarvik, the supposed “inventor of the artificial heart” touts his use of Lipitor as his way of controlling his cholesterol levels so he won’t have a heart attack like his father did.

He runs. He rows. He plays physician in his white doctor-coat. And it turns out, he (or actually, Pfizer) pulls the wool over our eyes.

Maybe he runs. But a body double rows. He’s not a practicing physician. And lo and behold, while he invented AN artificial heart, he didn’t invent the first one.

I’m feeling “took” — how about you?

Learn more about his ad, how we TVviewers and magazine readers “misinterpreted” and what’s going to happen next at my About.com blog…. and while you are there, take the poll, too!

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The FDA came out with a report on the negatives of botox injections…

It’s like deja vu, isn’t it? Where is common sense?

Read this post at About.com, Patient Empowerment.