Thursday, October 19, 2006

Placebo laughter. Real drug

In one of my classes at Uni the other day, we started to learn about administering drugs to patients and dosages etc. After the initial classroom work we were sent into the labs to take turns at the drug trolleys. All of the drug containers were filled with placebos of course, but the point was to prepare the drug and calculate the dosage.
The girl who I was paired with seemed to be having fun with the exercise and rummaged through the trolley looking for the most original drug she could to give me.
"Here you go love," she said smirking and shoving a medicine cup in my face containing 2 small green capsules.
Our tutor came over then willing to be included in the joke.
"What did you give her?"
"Prozac!" She laughed.
Our tutor laughed.
The class laughed.
My facade laughed too - but inside I was lethally cut.

It seemed that everyone in that classroom found the drug a joke - why? Is it the taboos of what it is associated to? What taking it means?
As everyone in that classroom laughed, all I could think about were the tears that I had shed taking the real deal only the year before. I felt that my pain was being sold out over those sherbet filled capsules.
Perhaps I was over-reacting a touch - but just thinking of that drug hurt as much as taking it did; even without the guffaws from the lab.
Why? That I do not know...
Because I'd taken the drug before?
Or because sometimes I think I still should?
Because it's prescribed, but never un-prescribed?
Or maybe, just maybe, it's because it still haunts me...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

::HUG::