I went to the Brooklyn Museum the other day and saw some great exhibits. There were some amazing sculptures and paintings. Amazing in their size. Amazing in their craftsmanship. Amazing in their depictions. If you’re not someone who frequents museums, I’d highly recommend going. It’s a great activity if you have kids or guests in town. It’s relatively inexpensive and often free.
There were some pieces that caught my eye, but one in particular really got me thinking. From afar the piece looked like a depiction of the night sky with stars connected with lines to form some random constellations. But upon further inspection the stars weren’t just stars. They were different pills. Tylenol, Viagra, Avandia, Proventil, Augmentin, Lipitor, Celebrex, Tagamet, Allegra, Prozac… the stars went on and on.
This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “reach for the stars”. But in all seriousness, this is an epidemic. Don’t you find in strange that people nowadays are so much sicker than they were in earlier times. Don’t get me wrong; I’m glad we no longer have droves of people dying of things like small pox and polio, but are things really better?
Instead of dying we’re just delaying death with these pills. People are more interested in feeling better and not actually being better. Do people ever stop and think about what these pills are doing to them?
It’s a vicious cycle. You start taking a pill for one symptom. A few weeks later that symptom is gone, but now you have two other symptoms. Now you need another pill to take care of those. Then you get another symptom…then another… then another. Next thing you know your medicine cabinet is actually full and there’s no room for toothpaste
While there are many pills that are essential to our well being and healing such as antibiotics, a lot of others only treat the symptoms and not the cause of the disease. When you get a headache instead of thinking of stopping the pain, think about what causes the pain in the first place.
I’m not saying don’t take an Advil, I’m saying take the Advil then figure out how you can prevent future headaches. If you continue to pop Tylenol or Advil while your body is telling you there’s something wrong it could be the difference between taking an antibiotic to get rid of a small infection and having surgery to remove damaged tissue or worse.
We’ve got to get out of this over-medicated sleep walking that we, as a society, have embraced so fully. There are so many alternatives to medication. A lot of these ailments we suffer from can be fixed with something as simple as a change in our diets.
Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that doctors were promoting cigarette smoking. You’ve got to take charge of your own health. Don’t become the walking dead when it comes to your well-being.
Until next time, cheers to a better you!
For questions, ideas, comments or concerns feel free to email Onyi at onyi@okeeki.com.