I have a confession to make. I like medicines. I like the way they remove pain and discomfort. But I often feel too embarrassed to admit this, as many of my friends womanfully struggle on through illness and ailment. And I really admire them. But unless I can flop on the sofa and vegetate in front of day time TV - not possible with my three kids! - and feel sorry for myself, I will take almost anything that makes me feel better.
Sometimes the guilt catches up with me and I try to avoid taking pills, especially antibiotics. The results are not pretty. A recent bout of sandpaper throat led to weeks of me being cross and grumpy with the kids and miserable with everyone else until I finally gave in, went to the GP, got the antibiotics, and then, like magic, I was better in 24 hours. In the meantime I spent a small fortune on lemsips, strepsils and chocolate biscuits. And piled back on all the pounds I'd lost since Christmas.
Alternative remedies have been recommended. Many of them expensive and most of them useless. At least for me. The only things that have helped at all are tea tree oil and Manuka honey. Oh and I do believe in food intolerances after discovering that the red weals on my legs were not caused by bed bugs or scabies, as the GP thought, but 'luckily' were due to an intolerance to citric acid...
My pill intake seems to rise steadily as the years go by. At 40, I just bought the occasional packet of Nurofen. But now that I have started to slowly disintegrate, I seem to need a growing arsenal of packets and pills to arrest my physical decline. My pill-popping also increased when I became a contract worker with no sick pay - it was cheaper to medicate myself to the max and keep going....
I'm not quite so keen on medicating the kids. Angel rarely takes anything now, but then she does have a long-standing relationship with the sofa in the living room. In her pretonsillectomy days she took enough antibiotics to be able to tell the GP whether she wanted the pink one (nice), the yellow one (ok) or the white one (gritty and horrid).
My special girl came home from hospital with a two page prescription. Now just a distant memory. Today Smiley just takes a couple of things to stop the snot, and a tiny dose of moviecol to help prevent constipation, the one thing that really upsets her.
My son still believes that a plaster and magic cream can cure most things. Just as well, as he complains of aches and pains almost every day!
So what do you do? How big is your medicine chest? Do you pop pills or do you tough it out when illness strikes?
I also did what you did - 3 weeks of mild flu-like sickness during January and I lost 10lbs. By February I was better and it all went back on. And I'm not slow to break open the paracetamol when I feel a headache coming on. No period pains anymore because I think you need stomach muscles for those. I'm supposed to take Vitamin D but I keep forgetting. C'est tout.
ReplyDeleteIts bad; we seem to have collected a lot of stuff between us - asthma medications, stuff for my son, lemsip, paracetomol, stuff for poorly tums and back pain. I like to be prepared but it builds up and I have to have a clear out and get rid of outdated stuff. You've reminded me that I probably need to do that now. Deb x
ReplyDeleteI tend not to take anything, I seem to ignore those aches and pains but when I do want a nurofen or paracetomol there's never any there because my pill popping family have nabbed them all. I have been known to slurp the calpol when nothing else is available!!! Daisy, well she's another story, a locked cupboard for her class A's, a fridge and a normal cupboard for the non-dangerous stuff plus another cupboard for the ancilliaries. I'm a big fan of osteopathy for those aches and pains us carers always get, nothing like a bit of manipulation by a sadistic polish osteopath to keep you on the straight and narrow!!! x
ReplyDeleteI have a cupboard full of lotions, potions and pills. I rush off to the Dr and then never end up finishing whatever it is he has given me!! Do you think we become more neurotic about illness as we get older. Let's blame menopause!! :-)
ReplyDeleteLovely post Blue Sky, you always come up with something interesting. xx
We pop pills like candy. Some by choice others by necessity. I have to give my son 4 meds for Asthma...I take Ibuprophen and Tylenol like candy when I have a headache or cramps. I know my liver is hurting for it but its that or I'm doubled over in pain.....
ReplyDelete@Midlife SInglemum - I should probably take vitamin D too if you need it in sunny Israel?
ReplyDelete@Deb - I do regular clearouts and I STILL have scary amounts of medical stuff x
@Stephanie Nimmo - I would like to be like you :) I took Smiley to an osteopath when she was little and he more or less cured her reflux and certainly prevented her doctors putting her through another unpleasant test x
@Reality Bites - Yes, I am totally neurotic about illness these days... Glad you like the post, it was inspired by something over at Mummy from the Heart about carpet bugs of all things xx
@Lixbeth - Oh I've regularly got rid of one problem only to be faced with another, due to side effects!
Love it! Great blog!!
ReplyDelete@LennyLovet - Thank Lenny!
ReplyDeleteYep, happy to pop the pills if they help. Like you say no time to sit back and wallow in it. Mich x
ReplyDelete@Michelle Twin Mum - Yes time is always in short supply here, and thanks for the inspiration for this piece x
ReplyDeleteI try to avoid medicines wherever possible as I usually find what works best gives the worst side-effects. However, I consult Dr Google with alarming frequency! x
ReplyDeleteYou know what I am going to say before I even say it don't you - lol
ReplyDeleteNo pills or potions for me unless you count the 'superfoods' I take. At the moment they include Spirulina a blue green algae which is one of the most nutrient rich foods out there and Maca - a peruvian root vegetable which is an adaptagen amongst other things and said to help with balance the hormones (getting to that stage in life now where that is vital!)
I also take selenium which is helpful in detoxing the body from heavy metals and someone is sending me some zeolites which do a similar thing for me to trial.
Haven't taken pharmaceuticals for a long, long time. It always confused me as to why something that is supposed to 'cure' a headache can also cause one in the list of side effects. Not for me.
But then I can't remember the last time I had need to take anything like that either so I guess what I am doing must be working. xx
Oh the list of meds I've taken over the last few years is as long as my leg, let alone my arm! Painkillers, sleeping pills, anti-inflammatories, antiobics, all sorts! But to be fair these are never sought easily and I often don't think to take paracetomol if I have a headache, I've just been a bit of a medical nightmare over the last few years.
ReplyDeleteHowever, since my 3rd allergic reaction to antibiotics at the weekend, the apparently new sensitivity to Sudafed, and the partial eroding of stomach lining with Diclofenac just before I had my daughter, I'm going to be very careful(and nervous) in popping any pills in the future!!!
MyOH is very anti-medicine. Our medicine cupboard is currently empty.
ReplyDeleteHe won't take a painkiller, anti-histamine (despite having severe hayfever) and even a cancer scare led him to make the decision to refuse chemo (luckily lump was benign - docs were amazed).
It's amazing how many pills I used to pop, very rare I take one now.
MyOH is very anti-medicine. Our medicine cupboard is currently empty.
ReplyDeleteHe won't take a painkiller, anti-histamine (despite having severe hayfever) and even a cancer scare led him to make the decision to refuse chemo (luckily lump was benign - docs were amazed).
It's amazing how many pills I used to pop, very rare I take one now.
@Jane Gregory - Google can be dangerous too :) x
ReplyDelete@Helen :D I love it that I have friends with so many different viewpoints and as you know I think you are a huge inspiration. Perhaps natural remedies only work for some people? As I wrote, a couple of things have worked for me, including cutting all citrus fruit out of my diet. As always I follow your progress with great interest, and it does push me towards a more healthy lifestyle xx
@Beadzoid - Yes those reactions do sound very nasty, I hope you don't feel the need for anything for a long time!
@LUCEWOMAN - I think I would feel very panicked if I had an empty medicine cupboard, but again I really admire people who manage without x
Oh my medicine chest is HUGE! Getting bigger the older I and OH get too! I am a serial pill popper. I do not believe in suffering. My hubby isn't and does suffer....and therefore so do I! Sigh...
ReplyDeleteAs I alaways say: 'just keep taking the drugs'!
xx Jazzy
@jazzygal - I think we're in this together! xx
ReplyDeleteI dunno, wouldn't mind some more of that super-strong codeine ;) xx
ReplyDelete@Beadzoid xx
ReplyDeleteAfter filling a $100 prescription for a not-to-be-named arthritis drug, I found that a carefully-draped hot water bottle worked better.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I do have a long-standing relationship with Ibuprofen...
@claire hatcher - Oh that must have been really depressing, but glad you found a way to get relief x
ReplyDeleteI am inclined to pop somerhing for my headaches but apart form that i am scared of pills,
ReplyDelete@Þorgerður - I wish I was..
ReplyDelete