Im so miserable right now that it isn't even funny. I woke up at 3:00 in the morning, realized I'd forgotten to take my make up off and acheing all over. The cold has finally caught up to me, despite my best efforts and loads of medication, I feel like shit.

My skin is extra sensitive, my eyes burn, my bones ache, my muscles ache, and my stomache aches.

And I know now, that takeing all that medicine was only delaying the enevitable, and whats more...if I'd just let myself get sick and get over it, then I'd still be sleeping right now.

So on to the rantings of an exhausted mind who has to be up in 3 hours and needs to spend all of tomorrow cleaning...

What the hell are we thinking? Anymore, we start to sniffle and we run to the drugstore to get drugs that cover sniffles and 40 other symptoms. We don't allow our immune system to build up and fight these common bugs and in the end, we get sick anyway. Usually, at least in my case, miserably so.

Knowing this has lead me to a strange observation about my medication habits...If I start to notice the slightest tickle in my throat, I start popping pills, hopeing to make it to the weekend. Which, if it happens, means that I spend a good portion of my weekends not feeling well.

And to top it off, I'm constantly sick. I wake up everymorning with a runny nose, and a slightly sore throat. Lately heartburn and headaches have added to the ranks. So every morning I do the following...

I wake up, brush my teeth, brush my hair, grab a highly caffinated beverage and take: 2 antacid tablets, 1 vitamin C, 1 HEALTHWISE (or something like that, it's supposed to help boost your immune system when take regularly or before entering someplace that has lots of germs) 2 headache pills with caffine, and an energy booster.

Thats 7 pills a morning. And while they make my day's a bit eaiser, they dont do a whole lot for my general health. They arent fixing the problems, arent cureing my allergies or whatever it is that makes me sick. And yet I continue to take them in the hopes that one day it will.

Whats wrong with me? My grandparents (on my mom's side) didnt take medication unless they were absolutely dieing or it was perscribed to them for a specific illness. My mom is like the middle ground between me and my grandparents. She'll take a pill if it will make her feel better, but she puts it off longer, hopeing her body will deal with it on it's own.

But me? No. I'm a wimp.

I'm not jumping on the Tom Cruse band wagon here, I think all medications have their place. But I think that as a society, were way to dependant on the science of pharmacology. But it speaks of how our world works on a bigger level if you ask me...

For example, a kid starts acting out a bit in class, and parents jump to medicate. To curb the unwanted behavior. But in the process, they curb alot about what the kid IS. Medications made to make children into little adults...little soldiers, mindless. They do what they are told by people in control, and in the process, miss out on all the fun that kids are supposed to have doing things they arent supposed to do.

It also prevents children from learning to deal with their problems. If you "fix" a person by medicateing them, then they never learn to deal with that problem on their own. And all of that just gets bottled up inside until it explodes. Just like me and my 7 pills a day.  No matter how many of them I take, eventually...the bug catches up to me, and all the drugs that made the smaller amount of infection stay at bay, have only made the bug stronger once it is big enough to get at me.

The only difference is that when it explodes, I spend a couple days in bed, whineing to whoever will listen, about being miserable and sleeping most of the day. When kids who are ill-prepared to deal with their issues explode, bigger things happen.

I'm not saying that all children on medication will explode in such a way that hurts others, or that no one needs medication...or even that parents are failing their kids by giving them medication.

The opposite in fact. I think everyone is looking for the quick fix. I think were all doing the best we can to make sure our kids are the best they can be. But I don't think were doing them any favors by solving all their issues for them.

Kids need to learn about consequences. Good and bad ones. Because every choice we make has a consequence, some bigger then others, but if we keep our kids from learning to deal with that early on, then we leave them unprepared for the harsh reality of the real world.

So i'll make one little point, before I get angry notes...

Some kids really and truely need medicated to function with their peers on a daily basis. I understand that. But not every kid who's being medicated is like that.

And kids need the chance to grow up, make mistakes, learn to deal with the consequences of their actions, and hopefully in the process, get a killer immune system too.