Medication

Several years ago I was on several different tablets for medication. At one stage an anti-biotic was included. I would get sick all day. I had a feeling one particular tablet was the problem. The only way I knew to prove it, was to become a human guinea pig. So I thought “if I talk half a tablet I should be sick for half a day.” Sure enough, that is what happened. Turns out I am allergic to that. I don’t even know what it is called. Every time I need to ask Merril “what am I allergic to?”
There are things that work and are needed, and I am all for taking them. Some are life and death things. Something happens and I need that tablet or else I will die sooner. Occasionally there is a reaction, but often a different medication will do the same thing, without the angst.
What got me thinking about that was an article I was reading on medication. Americans it seems use 49,000 tonnes of paracetamol a year. They also spend about $1,200 a year per person, on prescription medication.
There is emerging evidence that even the most commonly taken non-prescribed drugs, are affecting the human personality. That makes sense to me. I take something because of its effect. Other effects it has, can be more subtle. One particularly concerning matter for me was the clinically proven fact that while in the system paracetamol reduces empathy.
The BBC Future article was talking about the dire consequences of some drugs on the human personality. It contained several examples, but one was about a guy that started taking something, and after a while his wife noticed his personality had changed. Where once he had been mild mannered and reasonable, he became super agro. Car rage was commonplace, and his family got really scared when he warned them to stay away from him, if they did not want to end up in hospital.
Eventually he worked out what was going on, stopped taking that drug, and returned to normal. That was a good outcome. Examples were quoted that did not end well.
I know I need to wear glasses more often. Occasionally when I work in the yard, I get a headache because I am continually looking in the distance and looking close. Mostly it is not bad. If it is, paracetamol works. I am just not naturally a tablet person. Where I can, I avoid them.
I guess I am a bit of a cynic. It seems to me drug companies want me taking their product for life and will try to convince me I need to. Vitamin C is a prime example. Apparently one dose contains much more than is needed in a day. The extra is not used. Eating the right fruit is what is needed. Way less expensive too.
The taking of non-prescription medication seems to be a product of our society on a couple of levels. The instant solving of problems is one product. Spend on this product, and you will not need to think about the way nature has provided what is needed.
The other outcome to me is the desire to get out of it. I knew a guy whose dad was a pharmacist. He would go through his dad’s books, looking for the effects different drugs would have, and take what he wanted. The plan was to get high.
There are many ways people mask need. The taking of non-prescription medication is often one of them.