Happy Health Report

Something amazing came of something bad. I love it when that happens.

Last month’s trip to the emergency room cleared the way for a personal decision to finally stop taking a low-dose prescription medication that I had been taking for 12 years. Last month, I had an infected tooth extracted. I was given tramadol, a potent pain-relieving chemical, to counteract the post-extraction discomfort. But after just one day taking the tramadol, it interacted severely with the prescription drug I was taking daily, and which I had become mentally dependent upon.

My dependence on it was purely in thought; I didn’t need this medication anymore and I knew It. And it was the only medication I was taking, ever. So on the way to the hospital, in the back of an ambulance, as I was given an EKG and questioned about my next of kin, I vowed to end my meaningless, go-nowhere relationship with this dangerous prescription drug.

And I did. As I slowly weaned off it, I paid close attention to my body’s reaction. Guess what – no reaction. But in the past week or so, I have noticed something – an absolute clarity of mind that went away for 12 long years. It’s generally subtle, with moments of powerful lucidity. I have a new mental energy that I was once deeply familiar with, but had become a stranger to. The medication was dulling my mind and sapping my strength: and it happened so slowly and insidiously, I didn’t even know it.

I didn’t expect this. Really, the most I’d hoped for was to disengage myself from the drug without any adverse effects.

It took a quantum moment in a health emergency fueled by a life-threatening reaction between two potent drugs that didn’t belong in my body to bring this all about. Sometimes, you have to walk uphill all the way to get to where you need to be. 

That’s OK with me. I arrived. And I’m grateful.

ཞི་བདེ
Peace on Earth