When I was given my first prescription drug at 13, I was indifferent about it. I knew that I needed it and it was fine. Just a couple pills, right? By the time I was in high school, it had changed, but it will still just a couple. I lacked discipline and didn't always take them. It wasn't life or death and if I could go back in time, I don't think I would have changed it.
In my early twenties, the doctor's discovered solutions to some other problems I was having, which added another pill to what I already was taking. Shortly after that came great pain. Extreme enough that it took me into the hospital.
They told me that I had a liver infection and my kidneys were leaking. The reasoning? Seemed that the medications were weakening them. Did I mention my grandpa died because of all the medication he was on, that his liver finally gave out? It's called Drug-Induced Liver disease and it's fairly common when you get older, so we were told.
So here I am, told that because I've been on medication for so long, but body is having a hard time keeping up. The fix? Stay on your meds and add this antibiotic to it.
It scared me for a long time. My kidneys leaked for many years and I didn't take my meds all the time, for fear that I would speed up the leaking and end up with kidney disease.
As it stands right now, I take 8 pills a day. Yes, 8. One is still increasing, so within a couple months, you can make that number 10. Those are just pills. I also take 5 injections a day.
My cupboard looks like a pharmacy. But what can you do? Without the medications I have pain or other complications. And with them I will develop other complications as I get older. I've chosen to life as well as I can now... with all the drugs. I might not live a long life, but at least I'll have actually lived part of it. Not just sat in pain and misery.
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