It really is a good idea to check drug interactions, even if the product you’re about to take is over-the-counter. I learned that the hard way a while back. It was suggested by my doctor that I take Mucinex because I was coughing and practically drowning in my own mucus. (TMI?)
Anyway, it definitely dried me out, but it also made me even more loopy than usual. I felt like I was floating two feet off the ground. If I turned my head, there was this lag in the rest of the world. I was dizzy, and I couldn’t think straight. I’m pretty sure everyone around me thought I was being melodramatic, but, seriously, I couldn’t function in polite society. (Or even in impolite society.)
Finally, I had the presence of mind to look up drug interactions, between giggles, and I discovered that one of the main ingredients in Mucinex is dextromethorphan, and one of my prescription drugs urges you not to take it with dextromethorphan. About a day after I stopped taking Mucinex, I became balanced and coherent again. Mind you, my thoughts were a lot less creative, but at least I was functional, in my own special dysfunctional way.
The cough lingered for another 6 months, but I was capable of operating heavy equipment again. You don’t realize what a handy skill that is until you’ve lost it. You’ll have to trust me on that.
During what I’m now calling my lost week, I wrote a lot of interesting notes in my “Blog Ideas” list. Some of them I couldn’t figure out after returning to the land of the lucid. But there is one that makes me smile to this day.
I wrote, “Graffiti. It’s ORGANIC!”
Dude.
I remember thinking, “Has anyone ever actually seen someone tagging a building or an overpass? I certainly haven’t. And I’ve been places, and stuff. And I’m kinda old.”
Graffiti seems to appear overnight, fully formed, like mushrooms. Like freakin’ mushrooms, man! So maybe (and bear with me on this), just maybe they grow on their own. Really. Think about it.
Most of the time the words written are illegible and make no sense. That would add up if they weren’t created by a human being. Maybe it’s an entity of its own, and it is trying to communicate with us, but it’s not sophisticated enough.
Maybe graffiti are fungi. Yeah. They grow overnight in various shapes and colors. They don’t move on their own. The plot thickens.
According to this article, the cost of graffiti removal in America alone is about 12 billion dollars annually. (That’s billion with a b.) Maybe we’re going about this all wrong.
If graffiti is a fungus, and according to this article, lots of fungi help us produce helpful medicines (for example, we would not have penicillin were it not for a fungus called Penicillium), then we could be overlooking a valuable resource, here! That abandoned alleyway in the warehouse district might be covered from top to bottom with medical breakthroughs! Yeah! Graffiti might be the cure-all that some believe marijuana to be. (Another substance I should avoid while seeking out blog fodder.)
The bottom line is that graffiti could save the world someday. Remember: You heard it here first.
No more dextromethorphan for me.
Like the way my weird mind works? Then you’ll enjoy my book! http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5
The View from a Drawbridge 
There was the day, quite some years back, that I took what I thought was 3 Tylenols and it was actually 3 Hydrocodones. I lazed around that aft, and resolved to label all my drug containers more clearly.
Yikes! I’d probably STILL be asleep. Or constipated. Or both.
Many ears ago, after taking a Sudafed and falling asleep on a stool I fell off and awoke just inches from a flight of stairs.
I TRY to never take anything stronger than a tums or asprinI. I know that a head ache couldn’t hurts as much as a 16 stair fall.
I wrote this over 50 years ago, I always wanted to write it in a wall somewhere. But My Dad always said : “Never fold, spindle or mutilate something that is not yours. So excuse me Dear Fiend for using your wall.
WE HEAR the colors, WE SEE the sounds, Love and beauty we’re Free. Flowers for all, Hear our love call. And pass the POT if you please.
My wall is always open to you, dear friend. And yes, it sounds like you should definitely avoid the Sudafed.
Doctors should consult your current prescriptions before recommending an OTC. They shouldn’t expect the average patient to catch these things. Sadly, the lax attitude towards medication safety by the medical profession has done much harm to trusting patients. The opioid crisis never would have happened if doctors had kept their oaths to do no harm. It’s been common knowledge how addictive they are since the 1770’s, when first legalized in the U.S., and doctor’s knew pharmaceutical companies weren’t to be trusted outright. Glad you were able to catch your doctor’s mistake before more damage was done. That said… is this ‘Organic Graffiti’ nongmo and gluten free? Does this mean Banksy is a fraud taking credit for natures artistry? 🙂
I suggest to everyone I know to watch “Dopesick” on Netflix. BethMacy book on the Opioid crisis from the beginning and Purdue Pharma. I am fortunate to go to an event Feb. 17 With the Author, The Doctor, and many specialist in the medical and pharmaceutical community. All proceeds goto the “The Gateway” facility The only one in Knoxville, Their seems to be great success . Another note, Look at the elderly in DRs. waiting rooms and their bags of pills. Drs are so eager to prescribe, but never seem to cancel any.
That’s my fear, Carole, because I’m already on a boatload of pills and I’m only 57. Where will I be 20 years from now?
And I’ll ad Dopesick to my list of things to watch. Thanks!
And, not that this is any excuse, but the doctor in question was one at a walk-in clinic, not my family doctor. I think the doctors at those clinics are a lot more likely to treat you as the next customer in line, rather than as a whole person, and that is dangerous.
I can’t speak to the gluten, it probably depends on the graffiti’s message. But I’m sure all of them are nongmo. And I’d be willing to bet that Banksy is the fungi’s first attempt at becoming a mammal. If so, they’ve done a wonderful job!