My latest adventure in pharmaceutical-land started this evening, with my first dose of rat poison, otherwise know as warfarin. After my outpatient appointment this morning, it's become clear that this latest medication is going to be a complete pain, both in its initial stages, when it seems that I'm going to have to go to the hospital at least three times a week for blood tests until the anticoagulant clinic staff are satisfied that they've found the right dose for me, and in the longer term, in that warfarin and alcohol don't mix. It's true that I haven't been drinking at all of late, simply because I haven't felt like it, but to be told that I can effectively only have a maximum of one drink a day for at least six months, the minimum course of treatment with warfarin, wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear. I hate sitting in pubs drinking non-alcoholic stuff, but even to go somewhere and just have one drink makes it barely seem worthwhile. So much for the forthcoming beer garden season. I'm sure my liver will benefit from the enforced respite, but I can't see it doing much for my already almost non-existent social life. The balance between quantity and quality of life takes another lurch into the debit column. If taking all these pills is only going to keep me alive long enough to take even more pills, I fail to see the point, really. I already struggle to find the justification to carry on often enough, without losing what few pleasures in life I've been able to retain up to now. Sitting in a small room on your own is bad enough, but to have to do it in a permanent state of sobriety might be a step too far.
Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B
My mother took Coumidin (another blood thinner)for many years. She didn't like it either, though she didn't drink much at all. I do understand your concerns, but honestly, you can go out, have a good time, and not drink. I get the whole small room thing, I sit in a house alone a lot of the time, so at least I have more than one room (though I use nothing more than the loft, the bedroom, and the kitchen). Other than suggesting you find something to do like volunteering for something, to get you out and socializing with someone, I don't know, I wish I could wave my magic fairy wand and figure something out.
ReplyDeletePeace <3
Jay
Hello Jay
DeleteI know what I wrote probably made me sound like a raging alcoholic, but that's never been the issue. It's more of a social lubricant, especially for someone who struggles with 'people stuff' as much as I do. And there is also, as I said in the post, the question of quantity vs quality of life. I'll adapt, no doubt, that's what always seems to happen, even if it leaves you in a position that you might have said was intolerable if you'd thought about it at an earlier point in your life.
Love & best wishes
Sammy B
Beck's Non-Alcoholic beer is pretty decent stuff, and I'm sure there's other European NA brands that are good, too (google 'em.)
ReplyDeleteGetting them in a pub might be another matter.
:-)
-Andy
Hello Andy
DeleteI've tried non-alcoholic beer before, when I've been driving, and it's never quite the same, rather like, to my taste, decaffeinated coffee. And, of course, the disinhibitory effect of the alcohol is missing.
Love & best wishes
Sammy B