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Health & Fitness

Ridding Myself of Another Med Not Wanted, Needed or Expired

If I want to stay away from potential depression, I can simply avoid the evening news and not read the front sections of newspapers. Those create worries that are huge but I can do very little to stop the giant locomotive of life from trudging along.

It seems wildly ironic to me when a seemingly simple concern grows right under my nose into a major one so consuming that you cannot sleep and therefore takes over your whole life. Like snoring.

Last night, I fell asleep mid-sentence at 9:15.  Naturally, I awoke at 4:30 am completely rested. When this happens, I think. I wonder. I ponder. I plan. And, usually, like now, I get up and write. It donned on me that hubby and I have been sinking down a hole as we both try to sleep with each other. We both snore. 

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I can honestly say that I have now studied snoring. We are aging (my husband would deny this) and human tissues loose elasticity and tone. There really aren’t ways to exercise your nasal passages. Besides, during the day, we both exercise and breathe fine. You kind of forget you have a problem during the day. Then, night falls, and you’re so tired from work, exercise, or reading that falling asleep is not too hard.

Slowly, over the last couple years, we’ve experimented with sleeping in different rooms, which are on different levels of the house. Then I fear if I have a heart attack, he won’t be there to save me; plus, I miss him and I’m cold. We’ve tried those nose-thingies that are supposed to open your nasal passages but they don’t work very well and leave red lines on my face the next day. We’ve tried rolling each other over so we don’t wake each other up completely—but apparently, that doesn’t work either.

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It’s also ironic that he snores like a lawn mower that has a bad carburetor but it doesn’t seem to bother me. I think that is because I grew up with a Dad who snored loudly and got used to it.

We default with cuddling in each other’s arms because that is such a lovely place to be, and falling asleep. When a night goes well, we are both rested and cheery. It usually isn’t until I’ve had a couple of days where I can’t explain a dark-cloud-over-my-head mood—or my falling asleep at 9:15 in mid-sentence—that I realize it has happened again. Suggestions welcome.

And, that leads me to the subject of unwanted or expired medications—since I’ve tried that route as well and now have a small bag of pills I do not take or want. I challenge all of you to go to your medicine cabinet and clean out expired drugs and dark bottles that you don’t remember why you have.

On Saturday, April 26—and only on that day—from 10 am to 2 pm, Solano County in conjunction with the Dixon Police Department will host a Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. Yay!

For the rest of the county, sites are: Police Departments in Benicia, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Vacaville and Vallejo. Other sites are Travis Air Force Base BX Pharmacy and the Solano County Sheriff Coroner’s Ofice.

I cannot over-emphasize marking this date as I have tried for six full months to get rid of a bag of medications. I took them to CVS, the Safeway pharmacy, Walmart, Kaiser, and the Dixon Police Department trying to discard them safely as we all know, these are the kinds of things that ultimately pollute our drinking water as well as our lands if not handled properly. Not one would take them.

I’ve had to keep a hawk’s eye on this small bag whenever grandchildren were around. If I hid them away, I might forget where I put them. I actually got on a mailing list through the state to be notified when there would be an opportunity somewhere sometime again as the recyclers-that-be only do this about twice a year. Go to http://Recycle.SolanoCounty.com for more info. Mark your calendars and here’s wishing all a sweet sleep! TTFN

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