Minor Side-Effects

Something was always  troubling me about so-called 'minor' side-effects of medications, though I never could clearly verbalize it. Then in the P. Weintraub article (see Statins and More) I read that certain drugs cause

‘…reduced energy and a lack of interest in activity, increased fatigue after exercise, erectile dysfunction…’

It just made me realize that many modern medications, which sole purpose is  ‘to control a condition’, or ‘to improve one’s quality of life’ in fact do nothing of the kind!

For the moment let’s disregard that such drugs are not intended to cure - with this old-fashioned and naïve idea I parted years ago. So, because they are incapable of curing modern drugs are largely focused on alleviating symptoms (see… practically any doctor-related posting of mine).

And though frantically trying to avoid pills myself, I always hesitated criticizing those who were not, as for many people medication might be the only way to manage through the day.   

Regarding possible side-effects I used to think like this:

‘As long as I am generally healthy I naturally do not want to put up with minor discomforts. But if my life were at stake, I might become much more tolerant to such things.‘

When I started reading fine prints more attentively it hit me that side-effects of modern drugs may be much more damaging then they seem.   

For example, when they warn you of ‘possible dizziness’ – it means - you might abandon your regular walks (out of fear to lose balance and fall).  Dizziness is also likely to lower appetite and weaken the determination to follow clean and healthy diet:

This is not easy to do even when you feel OK. Now imagine trying to eat right when you are nauseous and your taste buds are all confused.

When a drug instruction mentions such effects as ‘reduced energy and… increased fatigue after exercise’ – it means that your resolution to exercise regularly would be additionally and powerfully obstructed.  

It all looks like not a big deal, but healthy diet and exercise are exactly the factors that help body to heal: to strengthen its immune system, to increase metabolism, to suppress inflammation. This way diet and exercise contribute to prevention and reduction of practically all modern debilitating diseases!

Well, because of the side-effects of medications, people who need lifestyle changes most are particularly hindered in making these changes!

Quite a paradox.

Have you ever tried working out with an inflammatory back ache? 

Yoga, by the way, is highly beneficial against muscle inflammation. It increases blood circulation and flashes toxins out of your body.

But doing yoga with aching back or shoulder is hard. Almost every asana that you did with mindless ease hundreds of times turns into a pretty painful challenge. And it may take some time (weeks at least) to calm things down.

I know people who discontinued yoga for months in such conditions.

Even a zealous yogi would hesitate to work out while feeling ‘dizzy’ or ‘overly fatigued’ – that is, experiencing the most innocent of the common  medication side-effects.

It would present an even tougher challenge for a sedentary-living person. Would such a person dare to start exercising in these circumstances? I doubt it.

I also wonder how many people around me are driving every day with ‘minor cramps’, or ‘light markers of depression’ and other disregarded attention deficit inducers...

So it looks like the impact of drugs with minor side-effects basically comes to this:

Regular consumption of chemicals without cure

Experiencing all sorts of discomfort and having difficulty performing everyday tasks

Inability to assist natural healing processes

And then there are such effects as ‘lack of sex drive’ and ‘erectile dysfunction’ that do not physically hurt but may impact your life on a fundamental level.  

Who decided that these things are 'minor'?  

Fighting Faucets

There is a popular perception that stress and anxieties are our inevitable companions - so, stop complaining and learn to cope with them instead.

I personally doubt that stress is supposed to be with us on a permanent basis. Otherwise our bodies would not develop such heavy reaction each time it strikes.

We also often forget that life on a modest income and full of hard work can be quite peaceful and dignified, and even promote longevity. Classic literature gives us numerous examples of such lives in well-rooted, though not necessarily most advanced communities.

This is, what I call peaceful

Francoise Duparc (1726-78) Woman Knitting

But abrupt and frequent changes bringing endless uncertainties so eagerly embraced today as signs of progress may be really detrimental to our health.

For many years my major source of stress was, of course, immigration. The whole undertaking can be described as perpetual pressure to absorb new things.  They say kids do it easily. So, here comes an immediate cook-book recommendation:

Embrace childish attitude, and you will be fine.

Well, you probably wouldn’t. Because no matter how hard we try we do not react to novelty at 45 as at 3.

I once saw a TV documentary that may illustrate the point. It was about an elderly deaf couple who decided to get cochlear implants. They were very exited, especially the old lady, your optimistic, enthusiastic type, who could not wait to join her children and grandchildren in their wonderful hearing world.

The results of the surgery were more sad than happy. While her husband eventually gained some hearing ability, though inadequate and overwhelming, the wife developed severe post-operative inflammation and had not improve a thing. She desperately tried to convince herself (and people around her) that she could actually hear, but her daughter - the director of the documentary - saw clearly it was not true.

When you come to a totally different environment in your forties there are very few things you can easily enjoy right away. All others you have to identify, accept, and then, - figure out their appropriate treatment. I mean basic everyday things, like how to write a check, or regulate air conditioner, drive a car,  give a tip in the restaurant, or order a bus ticket by phone…

Did you know that while light switches are mostly the same two-position type all across America, tap faucets are a quintessence of creative variety?

For years I had been finding myself in front of a new one, which operation was a mystery: turn-a-handle type; pull-out-and-turn type; the one where you place your hands under and water runs automatically (photo element!); with undistinguishable cold and warm knobs, etc. 

Please, remember, you find them in public restrooms, the last place you wish to be surprised. 

This is one of them:

 you helplessly look at it and think that all the people around stare at you

Driving… I heard some people start driving in their fifties with no problem whatsoever. I am not one of them. It could be so because I grew up never dreaming of becoming a driver some day. I always thought I would die a passenger.

My first feelings in the driver’s seat were intense. The fact that this big and heavy thing could move at a slight touch of a wheel or gas pedal made my mind freeze and body – perspire.

It took me years to stop being scared behind the wheel. And every time I was going somewhere on my own, my husband, a very good and experienced driver, would comment with a sigh, “I wish I could take you there”, or instructed me "to drive with caution". I was losing confidence just as he was speaking.

Even now, many years later I have not developed back-seat driver’s habits.

As soon as I am in the other seat I immediately switch to passenger mentality, like the lady in the picture above.  

Language… Where do I begin?

On my first Delta flight from Moscow to New York and being totally consumed with thoughts of my mother, I bumped into ridiculous situation. I happened to drop the plastic fork and could not ask for a new one, because I did not remember the English name for the damn thing!

Sitting in front of fettuccini chicken with a stupidest smile on my face, I sincerely regreted that 5^th grade lesson on “dinnerware”. Then I was bored to death by lifeless black and white pictures in my textbook. Now I needed this missing piece of knowledge desperately!

When finally, after my active gesticulation and helpless murmur “I need…, I dropped…” the fork had been handed to me its name was imprinted in my brain for eternity.

In our early days in America I misled many people by using such words as “contradiction” and “criteria”. They expected me to speak well and could not believe that I did not know names of common plants, birds or kitchen utensils.

TV became one of my teachers. At first I thought that news ladies were talking inconceivably fast. The only movie where I managed to recognize some phrases turned out to be British and very old.

Now, by the way, the situation is quite opposite – in the process of mastering American English I completely lost the ear for British and use captioning to watch “Pride and Prejudice”.   

And for years I practiced one trick when could not understand someone. I would keep listening with indefinite smile on my face hoping to catch the meaning later,from the more detailed content. Sometimes I was lucky, and sometimes – totally embarrassed by the need to explain my inadequate reaction.

I think, in our multicultural environment people should be aware of this trick. Many need to work way before they become eloquent English speakers.

Then one day I learned that all this was the easy stuff.