A Word To The Wise - For Whatever It's Worth.... Poem by James B. Earley

Double checking...Doctors
….Perusing them close
Overmedicated patients...
That frequent overdose

…Helpless…you think…
Formidable your clout
Check with the Pharmacist
…With matters of doubt

Once clinically informed
...Allow the body dictate
A medical path forward
….Above all…concentrate

Double checking prescriptions
…..Perusing…..them close
‘Tis the unsuspecting malady
….That critical…..overdose

Author's Note:
I awakened one morning, feeling quite well. After ingesting my regular dosage of prescribed medications, I went downstairs to prepare the day’s breakfast. As I opened the refrigerator door, I was stricken with an enormous pounding throughout my forehead, accompanied by an intense sensation of fire within my nostrils. Struggling to maintain consciousness, I made my way through the dining area, supported by furniture, to the living room sofa. A raging coldness spread throughout my body, along with accute spasms of quivering and shaking. Once on the sofa, I had no physical strength to get up. I literally thought that I was in the initial throes of dying.

Transported to the Hospital by ambulance, I was evaluated throughout the day, and well into the evening; was sent home with the admonition that “should the symptoms reoccur, return immediately.” I felt fine though the night, and initially into the morning. Soon after taking my prescribed medications, I began feeling semblances of sensations from the previous day. I immediately returned to Emergency. Again, a day of vigorous testing, and well into the evening, I was admitted to the Hospital.

After five days hospitalization, and untold hours of meticulous evaluation, the Chief of Medical Services paid me a surprise visit, saying “under the circumstances, you’re a fortunate man, we’ve determined your life-threatening issue arose from the fact that you were critically over-medicated.”