I
started out this week with all good intentions of writing
something smart and sassy about the IRS and tax filing. However,
the more I started to work on this piece of fluff, the more
depressed I became and finally threw it away in disgust and
concentrated upon something a little lighter. Wanting to skip over
death and dying I settled for something a tad bit easier to
discuss…the so-called ‘possible side effects of prescription
drugs’.
The other day I was cleaning out some files looking for some piece
of paper or another relating to the above mentioned tax deadline
and in some forgotten folder I stumbled across four information
sheets for some prescriptions I had gotten this past year. Now,
the only time I have talked to a doctor this past year was for
something to take for allergies and sinus infections. Not too big
of a problem, certainly nothing that is life threatening or
dangerous in my opinion. You know what I’m talking about, several
times of the year when the pollen counts go up, you get that
stuffy nose, running eyes and general fatigue that comes and goes
without fail every year. I used to try and shrug it off and tell
my body to just get over it, but have now chickened out and take
the easy way to relief. I call my doctor and tell him what it is,
and he calls in a prescription or two and in about a week I am
good to go again until the next blooming or whatever time of the
year.
Now, times have changed when it comes to taking prescription
medications. Used to your doctor or the person at the pharmacy
would give you instructions on the do’s and don’ts of taking any
sort of medicine. Nowadays, they put it into an information
package that resembles a legal document, which will take you the
better part of an hour to read and comprehend. For example, there
are three sections of the forms I am looking at right now. “How to
use this medicine” “Cautions” and the famous…”Possible side
effects” section. For my money it would help if they would put
those little signs on the sheets with an red line through them to
point out what not to do. For example in the “How to use” section
we find warnings like ‘don’t take vitamins with this product’ or
‘avoid antacids with aluminum’ ‘do not crush this tablet’…all of
these are in this section.
My theory is that these are caution issues that should be
highlighted very boldly rather than inserted in with a lot of
legal mumbo jumbo. The next section is rather stupid to me since
for the most part it starts off by saying….’Before taking this
medicine, see your doctor”. Well, duh, how did I get the
prescription in the first place if I had not checked with my
doctor? Maybe I’m missing something but isn’t that the first step?
Next it tells me ‘don’t drive or operate any heavy machinery or do
anything that could be dangerous while taking this medicine”. Now
that just about limits you to stay at home and in bed covering up
your head for the next two weeks or so doesn’t it? Obviously if I
started feeling goofy, I wouldn’t drive. I don’t operate any
machinery heavier than the riding mower, so I’m ok there as well.
But, doing anything dangerously? Well doesn’t just about
everything we do involve some element of danger? I tend to think
so. You can get mugged at church these days.
The grocery store parking lots have armed guards in some parts of
the country. Heaven help us. I’ve saved the best part of this for
last. The ‘possible side effects’ section. Here I only have
sniffles and congestion, but if I take any of these medicines I
MAY experience any or all of the following: coughing, upper
respiratory tract infection, back pain, dizziness, fever, ear
infection, indigestion, vomiting, stomach pain, diarrhea,
headache, rash, joint pain, hives, trouble sleeping, nervousness,
itching, blurred vision, pale skin, mood changes, swelling of the
tongue, fainting, fast heartbeat, yellowing of the eyes and
finally seizures. None of which I had before I started this
medication. Whatever happened to the ‘take two of these and call
me in the morning’ medical advice we had a long time ago? Now, we
have to decide is the cure worth the risk. Life just keeps getting
more and more complicated, doesn’t it?
