Well What Do You Know? The Stuff Works!

I don't like medication.  I never have.  Remember when you were a kid and they would give you banana or strawberry-flavoured medicines to make them easier to get down? That never worked for me.  I'd still choke on them.  When it came time for another dose, I made sure I was somewhere else. Plus they never seemed to work they way I was told they would.  'This will make you feel better in no time,' was one claim.  'This will take the pain away,' is another classic. Treachery and mendacities, all of it.


It seems like every morning during my early childhood, someone or other was shoving pills down my throat, spooning cod liver oil through gritted teeth (mine, not theirs), pouring vile medicines down my unwilling gullet and being taken to the doctor for more injections. (These were not vaccinations.) You had to wonder just how effective these meds really were if the person administrating them felt it necessary to feed them to me constantly in order to restore me to good health.


In case your wondering, I never did find out what was wrong with me.  No one would answer me when I asked why I needed the medicine.  I come from a generation and culture where children were expected to do as they were told and not question their elders.  With this background, is it any wonder I look askance at modern medicine?


So here I was sitting in the doctor's office being told, yet again, that these tablets I was being prescribed would 'make me feel better'.  'Yeah right,' I thought to myself, 'pull the other one.'  I took the prescription and went
straight home without giving it another thought.  I was fed up with being written off will meds that didn't work and I wasn't going to be conned again.


Later that evening my husband, Awesome Dude, saw the prescription lying on the desk and made enquiries.  'It's supposed to help with the pain in my joints and the stiffness in my muscles,' I said as I planted more crops on Farmville.  'Do you want me to get them for you?'  'If you like,' I responded a bit shortly when I got the 'Out of Sync' message on Facebook.  And with that, he sallied forth into the...twilight to fetch me my meds.  (He's so sweet.)


A half-hour later he returned with my prescription.  A month-long supply of a  non-steroid, anti-inflammatory usually prescribed for reducing pain, fever, inflammation and stiffness caused by osteoarthritis (that word again), rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, gout, ankylosing spondylitis (no idea), menstrual cramps, tendinitis, bursitis, and also for treating primary dysmenorrhea.


'You should take one now,' he advised.  'I will,' I replied lightly as I moved on to Cafe World.  (I won't, more like.) I was sick of being palmed off with pills and potions that never seemed to do what it said on the label.


The next morning I had had a change of heart.  Not because I thought the pills would do any good, but because Awesome Dude went to all the trouble and expense to get them for me and it seemed ungrateful not to take them.


Later that evening, I noticed a slight difference.  I still hurt and my movements were still restricted, but it was easier to tolerate.  It was the same effect I felt when I was taking ibuprofen.  'For the same price Dude paid for these,' I thought, 'I could have probably bought a year's supply of ibuprofen.  With the same results.'  Still I stuck with it, more for my husband's sake than my own.


Sometime during the night as I slept a miracle occurred. When I woke the next morning I was 99.9% pain free.  I could turn over in bed without the stabs of hurt that usually accompanied that manouevre.  I could actually get up on the first try.  The stiffness was gone and my movements were free and fluid.  I can't remember the last time I felt like this.


It's been a about two weeks now and I am still marvelling at the transformation.  I'm me again.  I've got loads more energy, I'm so much happier and I feel less stressed.  My Wii Fit Plus workouts have improved so much that I feel it's time to incorporate some other types of exercise into my Wii Fit Plus routine.  I think I'll raid my daughter, Lil Diva's work-out DVDs and pick some cardio-type stuff to improve my stamina and burn off more calories.

Am I annoyed with myself for not having gone to the doctor sooner?  A little.  I probably could've saved myself months of pain and frustration if I had spoken up sooner.  But there's no point in raking over those coals.  I've been given a golden opportunity to do what I have to do, what I want to do, to regain my life.  And I'm taking it.