The drug problem

My mother never believed in taking any medicine. She used the traditional Vicks or Camphorated Oil on our chests when we had a cold. She would also fix a salt and soda concoction to gargle if we had a sore throat. If we got a cut or scrape we could expect iodine unless we talked her into only using mercurochrome. Our medicine chest was rather bare except for those standbys. We didn't get sick very often, and thankfully none of us had anything very seriously wrong with us.

I followed my mother's example and avoided taking medicine except when something was really making me feel bad. I don't take any medicine regularly today.

However, last week I was having pain in my head, around my eye and nose that went down into my upper jaw to a certain tooth. A routine dental check-up settled that it wasn't a bad tooth but suggested sinus trouble.

Naturally my own doctor was out of town but I got good attention from his fill-in. A few days of taking the prescription took care of the sinus pains but after another day I developed another problem. A call to the pharmacist confirmed that my new problem was a side effect of the sinus medicine.

Another visit to the clinic got me fixed up with another medicine to counteract the first drug. Since I don't use any medicines regularly I had not made my deductible for our insurance plan. So the first prescription cost me $50 or so. The drug to take care of the problem caused by the first one only cost $10.

I was glad to be able to start curing the side effects of the original medicine because they really bothered me more than sinus problems had.

Two days on the $10 stuff was doing a good job on the second condition, but then a new situation happened. I developed a side effect to the cure for the first side effect. The paper that came with the bottle said that this might happen, and sure enough it did.

I am just going to tough this one out. If I tried to remedy that symptom I probably would be into June before I would finish up all the different prescriptions I might be getting.

As long as I know why I feel the way I do I am not going to worry about it.

I am curious though as to how much the cure for the second side effect would have cost me. It would have certainly helped me meet my medical deductible on our insurance plan. But I still am going to pass on that opportunity.

If I ever have the sinus problems again I think I will just ignore them also.

One person told me that I had these side effects because my system isn't used to taking drugs. If that is the case, I have one more reason to avoid them as much as possible.

I wonder about other side effects in our lives. We move to a certain house and the side effect is that we meet new neighbors. Sometimes that can even turn into a romance. A side effect of the romance might be marriage. That is a condition that can (and did) last for six decades or more. Other side effects continue called children, then grandchildren, then great-grandchildren. I'd better take an aspirin and go lie down. This boggles my mind too much.