A Pill-Popping Culture

Aside from the time when I had strep throat in second grade and when I got an outer ear infection in late October 2008¹, I can’t remember the last time I was on any type of medication/drugs, whether it be over the counter or prescription. Other than the two aforementioned occasions, my life has pretty much been drug-free.

If you think about it, shying away from over the counter drugs like Tylenol, Aspirin, Benadryl, Mucinex, and other related drugs is quite a feat in the pill-popping culture we live in. Never have I depended on drugs or wished I had medicine to get me through whatever I was sick with². I grew up in a household that didn’t see medication as necessary. Have a fever? Stay in bed, sleep, and drink some chicken soup. Have a cold? Get rest, carry around a packet of tissues with you, and suck it up. Headache? Drink lots of water and take a nap. Sore throat? Drink some honey lemon tea and stay away from fried or greasy foods. Can’t sleep? Wait it out for a few days, sleep will come back eventually.

Each time I was sick, I recovered from whatever was bothering me just fine with a some rest, vitamins, and hot tea, without help from any type of medicine/drug. I am a firm believer in the fact that our bodies were designed to be able to heal themselves³ without help from modern medicine. The human body has had the same “design” since before modern medicine was invented/discovered, and the body was able to heal itself long before over the counter medicine became popular. Taking medicine for things like headaches or colds aren’t necessary; our bodies know how to take care of themselves and will do so in due time. Yes, it might take a little longer to recover than if you popped a few Tylenol or Aspirin. But you still end up recovering just as well, with the added bonus of not having to dump chemicals into your system just to get better.

Some people claim that they “need” to take medicine to get rid of a cold, or to recover from a headache. Perhaps they need it now, but did they need the medicine when they first started taking it? Or is needing to take medicine something that had been borne out of wanting a quick fix for discomfort rather than letting the body do its own thing, which resulted in a dependency on the drug? Maybe any alleged “dependency” on medicine for simple ailments is psychological, and your body has been conditioned to think that it needs medication when it really doesn’t.

It’s ridiculous to think of people that depend on medication for basic functions in addition to recovering from minor ailments, such as sleeping, because sleep is one of the most basic things the human body does, yet people are resorting to popping pills left and right to try and catch some shut eye. Whenever I personally have trouble sleeping⁴, I usually end up getting a few hours of sleep for a few nights in a row, but it usually works itself out of my system in a few days and then everything goes back to normal. I’ll take a few sleepless nights every now and then over turning my body into a walking pharmaceutical company. Exhaustion is natural; medication isn’t.

The thought of creating a dependency on unnecessary medication scares me. A cold is a cold, a fever is a fever no matter who suffers from it, and I am sure there are countless people that see Benadryl or Mucinex as necessities and their body suffers as a result. Not only is there the risk of a dependency on the medicine, but it also prevents your immune system from fighting the bacteria that it should, and needs, to fight in order to keep you healthy. And unless I (God forbid) am diagnosed with a serious illness/disease, I am going to continue letting my body take care of itself in a way that only it knows how (with bed rest and vitamins, of course!) rather than pop pills at the alarming rate that seems to be a societal norm.

1. I had gotten my second ear piercings and I was allergic to the metal used in the earring, so the piercings got infected really, really badly and even though I wasn’t really comfortable with the idea, I had to go on antibiotics to prevent the infection from spreading to other parts of my body. The holes had to close up too, which was a bummer. [↩]
2. When I use the term “sick” in this entry, I mean ailments such as fever, cold, sore throat, etc. I do not mean serious illnesses such as pneumonia, bronchitis, respiratory infection, or other illnesses, nor do I mean diseases such as cancer, hepatitis, or diabetes. I am fully aware that serious illnesses and disease often do require drugs and medication, and without it, people can die. [↩]
3. Again, this is only about minor ailments and not serious illnesses/diseases. See this footnote for more details. [↩]
4. My opinion about sleeping issues does not cover insomnia, it only covers poor sleep quality. I’m not well-informed enough about insomnia, nor have I experienced it, to make a judgment about it. [↩]

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.