Yes there is a pill for that

Driving to work the other morning I was shocked at the commercial that came over the air ways. I was shocked enough that I said out loud with me being the only person in the van “You have GOT to be kidding me!” As a nurse who has worked shift work for 21 1/2 years I experienced many sleepless days and super tired nights and know the feeling all too well of not feeling your best most of the time.

I drank lots of caffeine – took ephedra when it was legal and crashed hard when I slept. After working 13 hour night shift I still had a 35 mile drive to get home, arriving home some days missing part of the drive either from staring into space or not fully conscience from exhaustion.

The commercial spoke about a “shift work disorder” (Nuvigil) that now has a pill to help with the symptoms. I could not believe they were calling “shift work” a disorder. Yes people who work odd shifts do not feel as good as someone who sleeps in a normal night schedule, but to call it a disorder was shocking to me.

Our nation is full of prescriptions and most people expect to leave the doctor’s office with  a prescription in hand for whatever aliment they have.

We have pills to stay away
We have pills to go to sleep
We have pills to have sex
We have pills to lower sex drive
We have pills for anxiety, depression.
We have pills to make us eat
We have pills to make us stop eating so much
We have pills to stop us from smoking

We have a pill for that!People are under the impression that if they have a prescription for a pill it makes it safe with no side effects. Rarely will people take the time to look at the side effects if they have a prescription prior to taking it. After a period of time when they are not better instead of looking at the effects of the medications they go back for yet another pill to add to the one they are taking. There are so many things that people do not need a pill for but to be able to work through in life with a clear mind. Working with people in the mental health industry I have seen over the years many people who have self medicated with drugs and alcohol to mask – not fix – their problems and it begins to snow ball in their body until they become out of control. They become addicted, make bad choices, and life for them changes. I am not saying I am against medication because I have seen in many situations medications have stabilized a person to be able to live a normal, functioning life. 

I wished I would have known about natural methods for sleep early in my days of shift work. The gentle non-addictive (other than addicted to a good deep sleep) I have never been a person who would run to the doctor for each and every ache and pain that I have -instead I used my nursing skills that I would use on my clients to heal my body and give my body a safer approach to sleep and a lift in energy.

I can not imagine flooding my body with narcotics or prescriptions that has side effects similar to these: Mental (psychiatric) symptoms, including: depression, feeling anxious, sensing things that is not really there, extreme increase in activity (mania), thoughts of suicide, aggression, or other mental problems. Symptoms of a heart problem, including: chest pain, abnormal heart beat, and trouble breathing. Common side effects of are headache, nausea, dizziness, and trouble sleeping. These are not all the side effects of listed. A prescription will not solve your problems; it may help for a little while but there are always the possibly of more side effects than you bargained for.

Essential oils can be diffused in the air, applied to the skin, Crown of head, Temples, Behind ears, Neck, Upper back, Abdomen, Over vital organs, Soles and top of feet. It is your health – make the right choices for you and ones that have fewer side effects than the problem you already want to fix.