When you are disabled or chronically ill, sometimes you need medication to manage your health condition. Some people in your life know that medication sometimes is necessary for improved health and will not shame you for not taking medication, but unfortunately, not everyone sees the good in medication and sometimes will tell you to stop taking it. My medication is not the reason for my pain, and it’s because of my medication that I have fewer hospitalizations and am able to have a somewhat normal life. It can be dangerous to tell a disabled person to stop taking their meds if you are not someone’s doctor because you don’t know the reason that medication was prescribed, and could cost someone their life by giving them such horrible advice. I am not currently taking a lot of medication, but the ones I do take are medically necessary, and I would not be able to function the way I do if I stopped taking them. What would happen if I stopped taking my medication without my doctor’s approval? In this post, I am going to share what would happen if I stopped taking my medication.
I would need surgery– My vesicostomy, which is the stoma I have that is connected to my bladder, secretes a lot of mucus that rolls around in my bladder and can turn into stones. I have a history of bladder stones, and in 2008, I started to get bladder stones and had several surgeries to remove them. Bladder stones can develop very quickly, and until my doctor found a medication that dissolves stones that allows me to easily pass them through my catheter, I was having surgery every six weeks. Sometimes we were able to catch the stones when they were small, and they were able to be removed with a laser that did not require an incision, but a lot of the time they were too big to do that, and it was big surgery. Small stones had a much quicker recovery time, but it still required me to have surgery, where I had to be put under anesthesia, which no one ever wants to have to do unnecessarily. My bladder stones would come back if I stopped taking my medication because there is no cure for stones, and medication is the solution.
I would get debilitating migraine pain often- Migraine and headache disorders can happen to anyone, but when you have Hydrocephalus, you are more susceptible to headache disorders. Some people with Hydrocephalus do not struggle with frequent headaches and only get them occasionally, and I have not always struggled with headaches, but within the last couple of years, I developed chronic migraine. Before I started taking a preventative medication for migraine, everything caused me pain, and I struggled to get out of bed, and didn’t want to do anything because of the pain. My medication does not completely take away my migraine pain, and we need a cure for Hydrocephalus for that to happen, but I have the quality of life I do because of my meds. I am able to watch TV, hang out with friends, and write a blog post with minimal pain most of the time, which would not be the case without my meds. Preventive medication for migraine is not a cure by any means, but it does give me more pain-free days and is the reason I am able to have a life. Some people with migraine are able to manage without medication but diet changes alone don’t help everyone and sometimes medication is needed. I would get debilitating migraine pain every single day if it weren’t for my medication.
I wouldn’t be able to function half the month – I was recently diagnosed with endometriosis, which is a painful chronic condition where the tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside of the uterus in places it does not belong. Endometriosis is a full-body disease, and despite what some people believe, it’s not just a bad period and can affect any major organ in your body, causing damage that cannot be repaired, which is why it’s so difficult to manage. People with endometriosis have more painful periods than someone without the condition, but you can experience painful bloating and pelvic pain when you are not on your period because it’s not a period disease that only affects reproductive organs. Many people with endometriosis have to take pain medication or birth control to improve pain because sometimes the pain gets so severe that you can’t stand or walk. I started taking pain medication, and if it wasn’t for my meds, I wouldn’t be able to leave my home when I was on my period, about to get it, or any other time my pain worsened for no reason. I wish that there was another way to manage
Medication is not necessary for all disabled people because not everyone with a disability has health conditions that require medication, but it’s necessary for some people. It is okay if you don’t understand why I need pain to take medication, but you should never tell someone that they should stop taking their medication because it’s not going to cure and will only cause someone to get sicker. Medication improves your quality of life, and it can be very dangerous to tell someone that they don’t need their meds and the only person who should be telling someone to stop taking their meds is their doctor. Please stop shaming people for taking medication because there is nothing wrong with taking medication. People who tell you to stop taking your meds without medical knowledge are the real problem, and you shouldn’t listen to anyone who tells you that. Listen to your doctor’s recommendations and ignore the trolls who tell you that your medication is the problem. Medication is the solution for pain, and it is not making us sick; not taking our meds is what makes us sick. What would happen if you stopped taking your medication? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
Subscribe And Never Miss A Post
My Rockin Disabled Life 