It seems like some issues are never easy, particularly when your health – or someone you love – is in question. With the explosion in pharmaceutical profits, as well as the use of both prescription and over the counter medication, we’ve seen a bit of a backlash against lawful drug use. There is a growing sense that we are too quick to medicate ourselves, seeking a fast fix for our symptoms rather than working to eliminate the root cause of our problems. I believe we run into a problem when we take this backlash too far though. Sometimes the pharmaceutical solution is the better solution, despite society’s hang-ups. As medicine has evolved, so too have our lives. We live longer and healthier than most of our ancestors, and you have to acknowledge that some of that has to do with our increased ability to fight and prevent disease with a pill or an injection.

Can we be too quick to pop a pill? Can we be too rash in any of our other decisions in life? Of course we can. The question that plagues me is, when is it the right time to resort to the cure in a bottle (with optional child proof cap)? Normally this isn’t a debilitating issue. I simply try non-drug solutions first and pop a pill when that doesn’t work. I get overly tired; I try and get more sleep (unless there is something I really want to see on T.V., then I stay up anyway and let caffeine work it’s magic).

This entry represents my attempt to work through my own anxiety. We’ve been trying to treat a problem without medication for some time now, but we’ve had mixed results. We’ve recently decided to try the medicated solution, and I just hope we made the right decision. On the one hand, we know we’ve tried other things. We’ve tried to tell ourselves that we have come to this solution out of necessity, not convenience. But on the other hand, beliefs born from society’s collective “wisdom” are hard to set aside; no matter how hard we’ve tried to rationalize our decision. We THINK we have made the right decision, but there are some things you don’t want to learn by trial and error.

No, this is not a cry for help. No, this is not a solicitation for pity. Have you ever noticed that some problems seem diminished when you talk about them? I may not be talking, but it’s the next best thing.

The trouble is I’m not much better at convincing myself than I am at expressing myself.