Pill Poppin' 101

Pills. Everyone with chronic illnesses has a love/hate relationship with them. We know they help but taking oh so many a day is just tiring!

I take about 20+ pills a day right now, including vitamins and supplements. I am pretty consistent with them, but I'm only human, I do forget to take my turmeric supplements three times a day or I miscount my prednisone pills.

I'm writing this because I know the connotations behind people who take lots of pills, especially pain killers, are "druggies" or "only want the pain killers to get high or sell them."

I'm here to tell you...

WHO CARES?!

I don't care if the whole world knows that I have a tramadol prescription because with my chronic illnesses comes lots of pain. I want some sort of relief every once in a while without going to the hospital and getting morphine. Do I take the tramadol everyday? No, I try to take it when I am in more pain than usual. Do I take it when I'm up at 3am in excruciating pain? Hell yes.

Also, anyone who is judging you about the amount of pills, pain killers or not, you take a day is not someone you want in your life. No one can understand what you are going through unless they are in the same shoes.

I'll give you a real life example:

My parents were very concerned about my daily intake of steroids, especially prednisone. At one point, I was taking two steroids (prednisone and budesonide) and that did not go over well. It's not like I chose to take steroids. It also didn't help that budesonide is not covered by my insurance (apparently it's an experimental drug??) and my parents were dishing out about $1400 a month for these pills. I know where my parents were coming from was all from good intentions and love, but it took them seeing me in the hospital not once but twice after getting off steroids too early for them to realize that hey, maybe this medicine is helping.

Or maybe you're the one who is worried about all the pills you are taking. Instead of looking at pills like a burden, look at them as a piece to your puzzle. An essential to your daily routine to be healthy and happy. There's always a positive light in a cloud of darkness and negativity.

This won't be my last post about pills, believe me.