Sacrifice (Part 2): Medications

This is part 2 of a multiple-part series addressing some misconceptions about people who are chronically ill or who have specific disabilities.
I am attempting to discuss some of the stigma surrounding the medically ill with some basic (some hypothetical) examples.

Here is part 2 of this series.

Medications

I think we are all painfully aware of the multitude of side effects that can accompany medications. Even taking allergy medications, over-the-counter, can result in reduce cognitive functions. It can impair memory, multi-tasking abilities, and other sensory perceptions.
If we add in common pain relievers, laxatives, sleep aids, antibiotics, or anti-nausea medication, we add in various unexpected side effects.
These side effects can affect many different systems. Our digestive system may be affected, our mental capacity may be altered, we may feel more ill, or have muscle spasms, feel more tired, or require special dietary changes. All of this can affect how we do everything in our daily lives. Even beyond medication, anything that we ingest can have unexpected side effects. Caffeine consumption, essential oils, alternative therapies, natural supplements, these all have effects on our systems (which is why so many people use them). If they have an effect on symptoms, they obviously create changes in the body, which means they can result in unwanted adverse effects.

A person who has a chronic illness is likely on more than one medication, treatment, supplement, or therapy. No matter what the illness is, medications or remedies will have some effects that are unexpected. So their illness is reducing their capacity to function to a certain degree in one section, and then whatever this person takes or does to help ease the symptoms of their illness is likely reducing function in one or more additional sections.

In effect, someone with chronic illness has issues that affect their every day life because of illness AND because of whatever they take for their illness.

Medications/treatments/remedies/therapies RARELY provide solely positive effects. Taking medication for an illness does not usually mean that this person's overall health will automatically be improved. It means that some symptoms may be easier to handle and others may become worse. Finding the balance that is most comfortable and most productive for the individual is the goal. Unless there is a known, all-encompassing, cure, every chronically ill patient will suffer in some capacity for life. They will have to sacrifice one symptom for another, one ability for another, one side effect for another.

Year End Receipts

There are some purchases that we make that are directly for my health. Over-the-counter medications like Gravol, Robaxacet, and Motion Medicine Muscle Cream, then dietary items like Boost (when my intestines are rejecting food), the canes that I use for walking on days when my hips have complete bitched out, as well as parking payments at the hospital for appointments and trips to the Emergency Room.
We always keep these receipts, if nothing more than for our own records.

So, for 2017 (which was a quieter year for appointments overall), we spent about $300 just on parking at Foothills. We spent just under $1k on things like Boost and Gravol, and then another $1k on other health-related items like optometry, medicinal therapies currently not covered, and portions of dental that weren't covered.
A thousand dollars is a LOT of Gravol and Boost.

Now - I am lucky and I have absolutely amazing coverage overall. My pharmaceutical medications are almost always 100% covered. So the amount that we paid out of pocket is a tiny, little, miniscule fraction of what our coverage pays for.
I am more than happy to spend $2k+ and have everything else covered.
Whenever I feel like complaining about coverage, slap me! Because we are very fortunate. Canadians are fortunate. Our system has MANY flaws, the system is broken in various areas (help for the chronically ill and those in chronic pain being one), but I still 100% appreciate the system we DO have in place. Improvements need to be made, absolutely, but not a complete overhaul. We have the base system in place, it just needs some tweaking ;).

I am interested to know what my prescribed medications WOULD HAVE cost us if we did not have coverage. Maybe I will look at that later.