A Pill for Every Occasion

One of the perks of having a father who is a pharmacist whose best friend is a doctor is that medications are readily available. My father feels there is a pill for every occasion. Last night as I was taking my nightly medications for my mental illness, I told him of not being able to sleep for months. He gave me two Librium and I slept like a baby through the whole night for the first time in the longest time.

“Don’t take both of them at once,” he told me knowing me all too well.

I walked home and took both of them before bed anyway.

My mother is on a plethora of medications for her schizophrenia. They cause her to sleep around the clock - severely reducing the quality of her life. Personally, I would rather be crazy than live such a life, but I would never dare tell my father that. My mother is complacently medicated much to my father’s relief. It is all rather sad if you think about it.

At one point in my life, I was on the same medications as my mother. I slept all the time and could barely hold down a job. My then wife would grow so exasperated with me.

“Something’s wrong in that you need to sleep all the time,” she told me.

“It’s my Zyprexa for my schizophrenia,” I replied.

Rachel didn’t believe me so I talked her into taking one pill just to prove a point. She slept for twenty four hours straight and never again gave me a hard time about sleeping due to my medications.