October 02, 2003

meds

I got meds from the ND yesterday and was dismayed to realize he'd sent three
different things and recommended two more. One thing he'd sent was melatonin, and
another is basically ginseng, gingko biloba, and a couple other plant extracts.
I'm OK with taking those; I know herbal medicines are still real meds but those
are very common and I haven't heard of problems with them. One of the meds he told
me to order is a multivitamin that's supposed to be easier to absorb than the
generic Centrum clone I've been taking for years, and I'm OK with that
too.

The other two I'm not so comfortable with. One I'd have to order
is for my IBS. Heavy exercise and not drinking caffeinated coffee have made such a
difference for me in that area that I just don't feel a need to take anything for
it - at best, curing it might allow me to eat Quarter Pounders or ice cream
without getting stomach cramps or burbles from them, and the ND says to avoid red
meat ad dairy anyhow. The other one's active ingredient is something like freeze-
dried adrenal cortex, which just sounds awful -- like something you'd harvest from
a cadaver. It came with stern warnings about how you have to gradually wean off it
or risk adrenal collapse and extreme fatigue. Yuck. If I wanted to take addictive
drugs I'd have done it in college and I'd have chosen something a lot more
fun.

Speaking of -- well, not alternative medicine, but Tarot reading
has to rank as at least some level of alternative lifesyle -- I've been
reading Squirrelx lately. Her life
is so different from mine in almost all ways, and her values are so different in
some spots but so like mine in more ways, that she's absolutely fascinating. Don't
know if this is her real self of a manufactured persona, but it's sort of
irrelevant; the person behind the entries is a lot of heart, a good bit of earthy
and not-so-earthy wisdom, and unerring taste in quotations.

Posted by dichroic at October 2, 2003 12:23 PM
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