My Thoughts

Bad Medicine

The pharmaceutical companies in the United States are required to list all the side affects to their drugs. Some of the drugs have very serious side affects. But they tell so many side affects that most people tune them out. You could almost make up your own. Such as: If you take this drug, your arms could fall off. Also you could grow a duck bill in the center of your forehead, that would quack every Tuesday.

A couple of years ago my doctor told me I had high cholesterol. She prescribed some medicine to get it under control. Instead I decided to cut out pork and shell fish. Also fish without scales like catfish. Basically I tried to eat as God commanded the Israelites in the Old Testament.

Sometime later my doctor checked my cholesterol again and found it went down a lot. In fact, she was impressed on how well the medicine worked. I told her I didn’t take any. My cholesterol was now borderline and it was all from the diet. Maybe a year later she checked the cholesterol again and found it was still borderline. She told me again to take this medicine just to bring the numbers a little lower. So I did.

One day I was in a store when some guy come up started talking to me. He acted like he knew me so I played along. (I knew I have never seen this guy before in my life.) Then he called me by name! Who was he?

Later I remembered when my wife and I drove through Southeastern part Missouri. But that’s it. Nothing else. What were we doing there? My wife said say it was vacation.

A few days later I tried balancing the checkbook. But I was having a difficult time. I always had been able to balance it to the penny, but this time it was difficult. Why? What was happening to me.

A year and a half ago we were in California for a wedding. The bride and groom had a gift bag for the guests and in the bag with all kinds of goodies was a puzzle similar to the one in this link. The one at the wedding in California took me less than hour to do. The one at this link took me over six hours over a three day period. Now I was worried. I was also having headaches. Lots of them. What was happening to me? People I’ve known for years, I could no longer remember their names. My wife was concerned.

After thinking things over I was beginning to realize all this started when I started the cholesterol medicine. I didn’t know what to do. Finally my wife told me to call the clinic we go to. Because it was after hours the doctor wasn’t in, but the nurse told me some of the side affects could be amnesia and loss of cognitive thinking. She said other things, but I’m not sure what. I do know she said it was reversible. Good. That night I stopped taking the drug.

A week later I tried doing the Garden Puzzle again. This time it took three hours. A week after that I balanced the checkbook with no problems at all. (Though I found I have made a lot of boo-boos a month before because of the drug.) I’m too familiar with the answer of the Garden Puzzle now; so doing it again would mean nothing.

I haven’t worked on any more puzzles since but am instead reviewing an old electronic text book. (Yes this old mechanic was at one time interested in electronics and also have an AA degree in computer networking.)

So now I wonder, how many other people are affected by medicine and just assume it’s ‘old age’? What about people who are already disabled?

Please do not misunderstand me. I am not saying such and such medicine is bad. And I am not saying do not take medicine that you need. If you need something and it does no harm to you, then it would be foolish not to take it. What I am saying is pay attention.

Every year I get a flu shot. And every year I get a paper that says something like “If you have allergies to eggs or egg bi-products, do not take this vaccine.” And this gets us to childhood vaccines. Many people do not want their children to get vaccinated, yet others are saying they must get vaccinated no matter what.

Because of what’s happened to me a month ago, I am all for giving the parents the right to say what’s right for their children.

I was very fortunate that what happened to me was not long lasting and was easily reversible. Some side affects are not. And vaccines, which are designed to last a year to a life time; well if you or your child is allergic to it, it would be horribly bad. And dare I say, any government office, or official who forces parents to vaccinate their child, no matter what, is evil.

By the way, I was told to go back to my Old Testament diet and exercise more.