I’m the worst person ever when it comes to medication and doctors. Maybe it’s because I was raised under the belief that disease builds character, maybe it’s because the one time I went to the wellness center in college they were convinced that the pain in my ear was somehow related to my sex life. Whatever the reason, I just generally ignore all illness until I’m completely laid out flat.
I dated a few girls who were all about meds. Hey, from what I can tell about our culture based on the commercials on TV, it seems like the whole country is all about pills. Look, I don’t want to appear anti-drug, believe me I’m all for drugs, but why the fuck have commercials for medicine? If it’s the right one for you, shouldn’t the doctor recommend it to you? It seems like they should spend all that advertising money bribing med schools and doctors.
I always get amused when I’m watching TV. They always play about 10 “Say No to Drugs” commercials for the kids. Meanwhile, they have spots for about 7,000 new pharmaceutical meds in between. They tell you that everything is a condition that needs to be medicated: being sad, being happy, being bald, being horny, and not being horny…what the fuck message is REALLY being here? It’s “Kids don’t do drugs…unless you buy from us.”
At any rate, I remember having a girlfriend who was literally on about 15 pills a day: allergies, A.D.D., tendonitis, plus God-knows what anti-depressants. I don’t even take ASPRIN. My strategy for dealing with illness is a simple one: I curl into a ball, drink my weight in tea and prepare a copy of my will. It used to bug the hell out of her when I’d be lying in bed sick, refusing the 50,000 strange color pills she wanted me to swallow. I do think it was a cultural thing: she was raised to believe that people don’t get well unless they take medicine. I was raised to believe that whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.
The last two times I’ve been sick, I completely forgot that I had medical insurance. I was limping into work, drinking a bottle of Dayquil a day, sleeping in the car on my lunch break, somehow over looking the fact that a hefty portion of my paycheck goes to people who are supposed to get me better. Today I did some calculations and realized that I hadn’t even been to the doctor since 1998. Once a decade qualifies as “regular check-ups” right?
It’s times like this that I think about Warren Zevon. He was an awesome musician who wrote “Werewolves of London,” “Excitable Boy” and “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me.” At any rate, he skipped the doctor for about twenty years then went in and discovered that he had inoperable cancer. The doctors gave him two months to live. He went on the Letterman show and said, “Do I have any regrets? In retrospect, not going to the doctor for two decades might have been a mistake.”
In honor of that very cool dude, I’m finally going to try to go to the doctor tomorrow. He skipped for 20 years. I’m only at 8. By my calculations, that means that I still have a good four months to live.
3 comments:
I just happened by and you caught my attention. Hope you don't mind.
I don't know about your medical system but recently I had an experience that led to me learning that doctors only know what they are trained in and do not think outside the box.
I will still see my GP but have moved into a more natural area. I found myself both a naturopath and traditional Chinese medicine doctor. They have done more for me than a whole slough of conventional physicians...
Of course I don't mind, Nan. Feel free to cyber stalk my blog all you like.
Lola, it's interesting you brought that up. I was actually raised on all homeopathic medicines and remedies. I know, I'm a strange one. Over-all, I'm not sure how effective they were--sometimes I think I would have healed at the same speed without the medecine. I'm honestly not sure where I stand now in terms of conventional healing. Of course, it may just be because I'm drugged up on half a bottle of NyQuil.
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