To shoot up or not to shoot up, that is the etc. etc.
October 3, 2009
I’m sorry, I know that title is a cheap ploy. But, I have GOT to tell you something I am sure you didn’t know already: the internet is a daaaaangerous place, it is soooo daaaaangerous! It can validate every passing fear you’ve ever had, every paranoia, every cautious tendency…..
I am taking pharmacology this year. And don’t tell me that that class didn’t make YOU never want to put another drug in YOUR body (just like you can’t even try to say that microbiology didn’t make you a wee bit of a hypochondriac).
Every Friday for three hours I get pounded into my head the endless list of: adverse side effects, precautions, therapeutic indexes (I tend to remember the low ones), contraindications, all the fun ways to make an administration error, the paradoxes of effects, dying from primary toxicity, thalidomide babies, thalidomide babies, thalidomide babies! And this is only what they KNOW of drugs. The scariest thing that I’m learning is all they DON’T once a drug is FDA approved (long term effects, drug interactions, contraindications, inter individual variation, ek-set-e-rah, ek-set-e-rah) .
Duh, drugs do great stuff, drugs save peoples’ lives. I do NOT deny that. But here’s something my prof says to us, a light hearted recommendation she suggests we adhere to: don’t be the first to try a drug and don’t be the last. Another favorite line of hers “if _____ happens (insert whatever extreme adverse effect) you’ll be added to the pile of dead bodies” (if i had a penny for every time she said that…).
I DO. I DO understand the reasoning behind why flu shots and swine flu shots are mandatory for health care workers. Dude, it totally makes sense: we serve immuno-compromised populations. We can handle a little piggy flu, a seasonal fever, pain, malaise, but those we work with, for, trying to heal, they wouldn’t fare so well.
But like I said, the internet is a daaaaangerous place. A dangerous, validating, time consuming, educational, addictive, terrifying, I wish-I-never-wanted-to-know place:
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/flu3.html
http://www.thinktwice.com/flu.htm
http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/2009/09/swine-flu-vaccination-injured-subject.html
P.S. Don’t you EVER google “I hate nursing”, don’t….don’t do it….i told you….i warned you…i’m sorry, i’m so sorry.
