Sunday, March 16, 2014

About That Spoonful of Sugar

You know the saying "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down"? Well, that's been exceedingly true for me the past few weeks.

With all of the antibiotics I've been taking, there's always the caveat of taking it after you've eaten something - or with milk. Well... As much as I like milk, I don't have any of it at work. So for the past few weeks, I've been having to find something to eat for breakfast... and lunch... and late in the evening.

Now, to be honest, the lunch one wasn't that difficult, because I do eat lunch every day - and because the latest antibiotics for my jaw weirdness haven't required a mid-day dose.

The breakfast one also wasn't too bad. The surgery follow-up person was very specific about how I needed to eat breakfast, first, then brush my teeth and swish around a mouth rinse, and then not eat or drink anything for at least half an hour. The pharmacist told me the same thing. I didn't have the heart to tell either of them that I don't eat breakfast until I'm at work, so the brushing and swishing would take place at home - easily at least half an hour before breakfast, which has been immediately followed by antibiotics.

The late-evening dose, though, always gives me trouble. Because, yes, I could just drink a glass of milk - and I often do have milk before bed - but sometimes that's just not enough in the stomach for the pill. So there needs to be some food. But most savory food just doesn't hit the spot at 9 at night. Which is where the spoonful of sugar comes into play. Not a literal spoonful of sugar, mind you, but... well... tonight it was a couple of chocolate chip cookies. Thursday night it was a leftover piece of pie.

As much as these antibiotics can really play havoc with your stomach, I suspect that if I don't get off of them soon the primary havoc they're going to cause will be with my waistline.

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