{"id":37,"date":"2009-04-22T21:30:24","date_gmt":"2009-04-23T01:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bkreeves.com\/?p=37"},"modified":"2009-04-22T21:30:24","modified_gmt":"2009-04-23T01:30:24","slug":"the-cure-that-kills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bkreeves.com\/?p=37","title":{"rendered":"THE CURE THAT KILLS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Someone is always taking me to the doctor for a check up, and I hate going. Many times, at the end of the visit, the doctor will drag out a prescription pad and say, \u201cI think I\u2019ll give you some blank.<\/em> Then he or she spouts a long medical name and casually inquires, \u201cAre you allergic to that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Let me count the ways, I mutter under my breath. \u201cWhat\u2019s in it?\u201d I ask. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m wary because over the years, perfectly benign doctors have nearly killed me, trying to get me well. They have given me rashes that drove me crazy and put me in the hospital (Tetanus), Accutane that almost melted my bones while I was on deadline, Ace inhibitors that gave me diarrhea, ditto another that went the other way (we are talking concrete here) and one that is bad for my kidneys but good for my heart (Altace). Oh, I\u2019ve learned what not to take. No Iodine in my MRIs, for instance.<\/p>\n

I think Americans seriously over-medicate. The TV advertisers scare me. \u201cTake blank<\/em>,\u201d they say. \u201cIt will cure your depression if it doesn\u2019t kill you, because in certain cases, it has proven fatal. BTW, you might want to stop taking these pills if they make you suicidal. And don\u2019t drive your car or you could have a wreck.\u201d <\/p>\n

I think my all-time favorite ad is the one touting love pills for ED. It\u2019s the slyest, most insidious, brilliant sales campaign I\u2019ve ever seen. What guy have you ever met that worried if he got an erection lasting over four hours? Me either.<\/p>\n

Sleep commercials drive me bonkers. One advises, \u201cDon\u2019t start this medicine unless you have eight full hours to devote to it.\u201d Hello. The model probably has two kids and a horny husband. Eight hours? Fuhgedaboutit. Then a throw-away voice-over reminds us that most sleep medications can become addictive. Ya think?<\/p>\n

The pseudo-doctors on TV don\u2019t mention how hard those meds are going to hit you in the pocketbook. I\u2019ll break it to you gently. Most times, they cost over five bucks per pill, per day. Or ten if you have to take two. Sheesh!<\/p>\n

Next time the doctor asks me how I feel, I\u2019m gonna smile, cross my fingers behind my back and lie. \u201cDoc,\u201d I\u2019ll say, \u201cI\u2019m fine. Really, really fine.\u201d Then I\u2019ll go home, get plenty of rest, drink lots of water and get well all by myself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Someone is always taking me to the doctor for a check up, and I hate going. Many times, at the end of the visit, the doctor will drag out a prescription pad and say, \u201cI think I\u2019ll give you some blank. Then he or she spouts a long medical name and casually inquires, \u201cAre you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bkreeves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bkreeves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bkreeves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bkreeves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bkreeves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bkreeves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41,"href":"https:\/\/www.bkreeves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions\/41"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bkreeves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bkreeves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bkreeves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}