Medicine Magic..
November 7th 2006 05:26
Thomas Szasz in The Second Sin, (1973):
"Formerly, when religion was strong and
science weak, men mistook magic for medicine,
now, when science is strong and religion weak,
men mistake medicine for magic."
I try to manage most of my migraines and headaches without pain medication. Too many doctors see the solution to migraines coming in pill format, they really don't want to treat you any other way.
Now my problem with most medication is that I have a reaction to the supposedly inert substances that most medication contains. How do I react? Well, they give me headaches of course! This actually isn't as odd as it seems. There are a growing number of folks that are having adverse reactions to the base ingredients of pills.
Of course this makes medicating a headache a double edged sword - if I take the medication, I feel better initially, but I may be left with a lingering headache for more than a week or more afterwards. If I don't take the medicine, uncontrolled swelling in my brain can become excruciating. Great choice eh.
This also rules out all other medication and many vitamin tablets. I can't even take a multivitamin every day without it giving me a low level headache. I call these "MSG headaches" although they may be caused by any other additives in my diet. I hope I never get a chronic illness like my husband who has to take pills three times a day for the rest of his life.
One way around it seems to be to take children's pain killer in liquid form. It relieves the headache without sparking another episode. It's a bit clunky but it works. on the whole though I would prefer to use no medications at all, as paracetamol does damage to the liver and I don't want to use it on any kind of long term basis, I'd rather treat it without the drugs if I can, which really is quite a challenge I've set myself!
"Formerly, when religion was strong and
science weak, men mistook magic for medicine,
now, when science is strong and religion weak,
men mistake medicine for magic."
I try to manage most of my migraines and headaches without pain medication. Too many doctors see the solution to migraines coming in pill format, they really don't want to treat you any other way.
Now my problem with most medication is that I have a reaction to the supposedly inert substances that most medication contains. How do I react? Well, they give me headaches of course! This actually isn't as odd as it seems. There are a growing number of folks that are having adverse reactions to the base ingredients of pills.
Of course this makes medicating a headache a double edged sword - if I take the medication, I feel better initially, but I may be left with a lingering headache for more than a week or more afterwards. If I don't take the medicine, uncontrolled swelling in my brain can become excruciating. Great choice eh.
This also rules out all other medication and many vitamin tablets. I can't even take a multivitamin every day without it giving me a low level headache. I call these "MSG headaches" although they may be caused by any other additives in my diet. I hope I never get a chronic illness like my husband who has to take pills three times a day for the rest of his life.
One way around it seems to be to take children's pain killer in liquid form. It relieves the headache without sparking another episode. It's a bit clunky but it works. on the whole though I would prefer to use no medications at all, as paracetamol does damage to the liver and I don't want to use it on any kind of long term basis, I'd rather treat it without the drugs if I can, which really is quite a challenge I've set myself!
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