A Fistful of Pills

These could have been my hands on some mornings.   Actually, most mornings.

Oh, the pills I toss back aren't drugs.  I'm not calling for an intervention.  But, over the years, I simply have absorbed lots of information on vitamins and supplements.  If I pick up a Men's Health and they tell me a new herb or mineral is good for some body part, I'd go out and add it to my morning swallow.  You do this enough and you suddenly find yourself taking 19...count 'em...nineteen different pills every day.

I rationalize that my One-A-Day vitamin only contains the basic minimum of what a body needs.   So I add on and add on and add on.  At the breakfast table, I methodically take three pills, a swig of juice, and swallow.  Three more pills, a swig of juice, and swallow.  Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Full of delusions, I always thought that this was a completely healthy practice to follow.  Until...

You may remember that I wrote recently of some health bumps I have experienced.  Two attacks six weeks apart of severe chest pains for an hour and then a horrific fever for the next hour.  After meeting my $5,000 deductible in a series of MRIs, Cat Scans, and Ultrasounds, it was confirmed by my top-notch internist that I likely had experienced an inflamed liver due to taking three years worth of arthritis medicine Celebrex.  Hell, the commercials on TV list all the side effects.  But who listens?

So, with everything back to seemingly normal and completely rid of Celebrex, I was jolted one evening two weeks ago when I had another attack as described above.   

WTF.

And, hey, I thought this was all about the Celebrex, which I already flushed. 

Back to the doctor and then back to St. John's Hospital for a high-tech nuclear medicine test that I thought was going to make me look like Hiroshima after the blast.  The objective was to see how my liver and gall bladder were functioning.  My doctor was sure that the gall bladder was starting to malfunction like a 2001 Toyota Corolla.  I started to look at the Dodger home schedule to see when I could schedule the removal of said gall bladder.

Much to my surprise, that nuclear test revealed that said body parts are working just fine.

D'oh.

So what caused the third attack?  

My doctor and I are a great investigative team.  We diligently went over anything new that I was doing or ingesting since the beginning of 2015.  And, surprise surprise, we found something.

My terrific and well-meaning trainer had suggested that, for my arthritic knees, I begin taking an Indian spice called turmeric.  Okay, I should have immediately disconnected when I heard it was Indian.  But, hell, I already take 18 other pills in the morning.  What could one more do to me?

Well, see above.

After the third attack, I went to everybody's favorite in-home physician, Dr. Google.  If you look into turmeric, you can read all the positive impact it can have on your body.  But, I should have also checked out the side effects, especially if you're already taking something for arthritis.  The combination of these two can be almost lethal.  And, obviously, it had screwed me up royally.

D'oh again.

I immediately cut out turmeric and actually reduced my morning pills to the following:

One baby aspirin.

One Citrucel fiber tablet.

One CoQ 10.

One fish oil pill.

One probiotic.

One cranberry pill.

That's it.

I have not yet had a fourth attack and, if I do, I will probably jump off the Santa Monica Pier, pulling my doctor in with me.  But I am betting I don't.

So, the moral of this grisly, little story is that even the most healthy of vitamin supplements can hurt you.  Before you ingest a pill of any kind, do your research and make sure it won't mix badly with something else you're taking.

In short, don't let me happen to you.

Dinner last night:  Bacon wrapped hot dog at the Dodger game.