I take a shitload of medicines.

Seriously.

A shitload.

My everyday-no-matter-what meds.

It was more than what you see here on-screen, but my health has progressed and gotten better.

Most of these medications are for the chronic urticaria, a few for blood pressure and yet others for managing my bipolar disorder and allergies.

Chronic urticaria would have had me dead a long time ago if it weren’t for most of these medications. They make it possible to live my life, even if it’s uncomfortable at times.

So, I take them.

The alternative sucks.

My blood pressure medications have lowered my risk of a stroke or a heart attack. I have side symptoms of headache and racing heart so when I don’t take them , I feel lousy.

So, I take them.

The alternative blows.

My Oh-My-God-Help-Me meds

My allergies cause asthma and discomfort, as well as urticaria, so some of these meds ease my discomfort. It’s truly gross to feel so shitty and not be able to escape it. That’s what chronic allergies do to a person.

So, I take them.

The alternative bites.

Having bipolar disorder and not managing it to the best of our ability makes for a dangerous life. Promiscuity, spending sprees, think we can fly or read people’s minds put a real damper of every day living and can result in jail time, institutionalization, loss of touch with reality and death.

So, I take them.

The alternative licks mold.

Imagine my life and health if this was fifty or more years ago. I doubt I would even be alive let alone comfortable most days. Where would you be if it was 1950?

Tonight I am grateful for science and medicine.

The active minds of people who question everything, who have a deep need to “fix” things has made it possible for us to live a better and longer life than years ago. Polio and small pox are almost eradicated in the U.S.A. Children who would have died as childbirth because of the disease, Tuberous Sclerosis (which I own a copy of) have a chance because people wanted to unravel how to take care of some of the terrifying symptoms. Typhoid Mary gave us the lesson of the importance of cleanliness in contact with one another and how we can carry potentially life threatening illnesses without becoming sick ourselves.

Allowing me to live at all, and then, live in comfort, is a luxury we often forget. So, during this Lenten season, my third day of gratitude list is “Science and Medicine“.

Gratitude List:

• Feb. 22 ~ Laughter
• Feb. 23 ~ Community
• Feb. 24 ~ Science and Medicine

I gotta’ put all these meds away…a fork lift is in order.

You got a fork lift?