MysteryShrink in Real Life
Every year I do at least one tribute to people who are willing to take medication to deal with all sorts of disorders, particularly depression. No one wants to take medication. Certainly no one wants the side effects. Those who are willing are heroes and heroines of mine.
Over the last two weeks my husband has not been his usual jolly-even-when-it’s-not-Christmas self. Napping all day and not much enthusiasm for anything. After a particularly unpleasant afternoon I asked if maybe he was taking any new medication. He mentioned that his balance doctor had added one to perhaps help with his intermittent restless legs.
Oh, dear, I said. I asked if perhaps he’d been prescribed a certain medicine he had been prescribed before with disastrous results. He didn’t recall and handed me a plastic bottle. The script was indeed for the medication that he’d been given before and quit because achy legs in the middle of the night beat life in a coma.
Why am I telling you this? Because like most people in my profession, I have and will continue to recommend similar medications—because those compounds are the best we have to offer. It’s important to say that the medication my husband was prescribed was at a lower level than what the dose is for depression- and still made a big difference. It’s also important to point out that medication for depression can be quite helpful for some people. Sometimes a particular antidepressant can be helpful for all members of a family for several generations–which speaks to biological differences.
I’m not saying stop taking medication. Of course not. That’s crazy. What I’m saying is that in real life, side effects are not to be taken lightly. Fortunately my husband’s pain can be mostly fixed with aspirin. Not so for depression. Please, everyone, take advantage of every little piece of help we have available in this very imperfect profession. And appreciate the willingness of others to keep trying to find relief even when the side effects are unpleasant.
