Ok, I'm going to sort of combine posts here, because I take medications that cause both of these subjects to be of great concern to me...
Michael Jackson's is the second recent celebrity death that I can think of where someone was having a problem with insomnia. At first, I thought that was something that just got worse with age, but Heath Ledger was like...what 28? Michael Jackson was 50. I just turned 36. I'm thinking a person's medical background has a lot to do with whether or not they turn into an insomniac and also their personalities or how they handle/cope with stress. I know because of the hours I work, I do not like to take my prescribed sleep aids, because not only is it difficult to wake up, but if you don't get in that full 8 hours of sleep, the medication makes you feel...weird. I just don't feel like myself at all and I don't like the feeling. No one has ever pulled me aside and said anything, but still. It's food for thought.
As far as the acetaminophen...I know it got my mother through for the longest time. She had rheumatoid arthritis. I have rheumatoid markers in my blood, but I only have fibromyalgia. I'm hoping if I stay active, it won't go very badly for me. My doctor has prescribed me Ultracet/Tramadol. The little tablets are 37.5mg. I need to tell my doctor that the regular dosage is still doing squat. He prescribed Lidocaine patches to see if they helped, they do nothing. If this proposed crackdown goes through...they're talking about lowering dosages...all that's going to do is cause more people to self medicate, which ultimately will cause more harm than good in the long run. At least that's the way I see it. I live it every day, so I know. I'm not just guessing. As far as the trial and error that goes along with trying to find a new medication...I lost $40 on the Lidocaine already. I have a move to plan, long-term care I'm trying to set up, not to mention my regular bills. I don't need this and I'm sure a lot of other people out there don't either. Plus, I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in the fact that once I take a medication for a long period of time, I build up a tolerance for it, sometimes it seems like within months...When that happens, it takes more pills to do the same thing. To crack down on acetaminophen at this point in time would really truly be a step backward...This is another news headline I will definitely be keeping an eye on.
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