My medications and the legal system

When you hear about the safeguards that are in place to reduce the number of meth labs in the state or to prevent abuse of controlled substances, they make sense.

They make sense until they become the brick wall preventing you from carrying on with your day-to-day life. And when you hit two walls in one day, you're going to walk away with a headache.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have a cold. Yesterday, I visited my friendly Target store and purchased cold medicine. As my purchases were being rung up, I was asked for my ID. The clerk scans my ID, which I'm told goes into a state database to track purchases of medicines with pseudoephedrine. Since pseudoephedrine is used to make meth, it's been regulated since about 2005. And the law has had an impact. 

Today it had an impact on me. I forgot to bring my medication with me to work and if I tried to purchase more today, a red flag would have been waved or something and a black mark would have been put on a permanent record as a possible drug lord. I thought maybe I could just go over and sneeze or cough on them in order to convince them I have a legit reason to purchase said medication. 

I had two options. I could ask a friend to go and buy the medication for me or I could ask around to see if anyone had any spare Sudafed. I felt like a high school student looking for someone to buy me some Boone's Farms Easy Nights. Luckily, a co-worker had a spare dosage that he shared with me and I made it through the day. 

I ran into a second brick wall today when I was calling in to get my Concerta prescription refilled. Concerta is a controlled substance, so they make you jump through hoops to get it, never mind the price of about $2.00 a pill (that's with the discount). One of the nurses called me back to verify some details. 

Nurse: "I have the last prescription filled in January. Is that correct?"

Me: "Yes."

Nurse: "That was a thirty-day refill?"

Me: "Yes."

Nurse: "Back in January?"

Me: "Yes, I'm not very good about always taking my ADD medicine. I get easily distracted."

Nurse: "Okay."

Me: "Plus I have ADD, so I'm really bad about calling in to order a refill."

Nurse: "Okay. Well, if everything is in order, I'll have the doctor sign the script and you can pick it up tomorrow." 

If everything is in order? I've been taking the darn medication for years and the one thing that I find absolutely ironic is a medication for people with ADD requires them to remember to call in for refills. Seriously. 

 

I Have A Cold

Ever notice when you have a cold, there are two options for how your brain and reality work. Option one is the "out-of-body experience" where you feel like you're observing everything you do as a third person. Option two is where everything slows down. Particularly your brain function. When I have a cold, it's like I'm the last one to get a joke because it takes longer for my responses to kick in. 

I have a cold right now and I'm in the slowed down phase where everything around me is moving far too fast and anyone who talks to me must have had too much caffeine. I know it is the medication, but if I didn't take the medication, I would be spending all my time coughing, hacking and blowing my nose. It's a trade-off. 

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I started taking Zicam, but I didn't like the after-taste and the directions say you have to continue taking it for 48 hours AFTER your symptoms subside. So, I'm taking this homeopathic stuff for a couple of weeks? I'm sure my body would contain so much zinc, I could be mined. I quit the Zicam after 24 hours. 

I hate the way I feel about myself when I have cold. A cold always seems to hit me when I'm supposed to present something to a group. No matter how prepared I am or how fancy the presentation, the moment I stand up to talk, with my kleenex-worn red nose and my raspy voice, I sense all the audience members are either wondering if they have touched anything I've touched or "what a loser."  I'm sure my message gets lost because my audience is distracted by my bulbous red nose.

I don't know how long this cold will last, but everyone is willing to tell me how they have had their cold for two weeks or three weeks or that I'll start to feel better in May. Plus someone told me today that "what's going around" has been morphing into pneumonia, so I should take care. I love being surrounded by optimists.

Pretty, Shiny, Expensive Objects

The iPad 2 goes on sale this Friday and I'm vacillating between "of course, I have to get one" and "it's just peer pressure." When the iPad originally came out I knew right away that I didn't want one. And then, about twenty minutes passed, and everyone I knew was buying one.

About six months into it, I figured that I might as well wait for the second version since everyone says you should never buy the first version of anything. (Those are usually the people who buy the first version, gloat about having the "it" toy, but secretly regret buying it.)

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Let's face it, the iPad is the hippest, most coolest thing around these days. I've heard the talk about looking at the Motorola Xoom instead, but why should I? I go along with the trends instead of bucking them. (unless it is cool to buck the trends) 

I think I go along with the trends because my Zodiac sign is Aries - the ram - which is a sheep and that's what I am. I'm a sheep going to the Apple slaughterhouse where they will take a big chunk of my money. But then I'll be cool and I'll have the newest iPad and an empty savings account. 

The reality of the money brings me back to my vacillating problem. But now it is between "I just want to have the cool new toy" and "so that's what it's like to have a savings account."