forcing it down

When I was a young gal, and I happened to get sick with the sickness of sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, aching, stuffyhead, fever, my parents would have to chase me around and hogtie me down just to give me that crappy concoction that suspends all those symptoms and allows a nighttime of sleep without waking up. 


I hate liquid Nyquil and any of its generic counterparts. When they came out with liquid gel-caps, all was well in the world of medicine again. The last time I sent my husband out to by drugs from the grocery store, he made the mistake of getting the liquid stuff. By the time he got home with it, I didn't care, I just wanted some relief.


Since Friday evening, I have again been battling the sickness of sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, aching, stuffyhead, fever. It's manageable during the day, but when eventide creeps up, so do the symptoms. Saturday, I had no choice but to give into my foe of pharmaceuticals and drink that stuff. Yes, I could have bought the gel-caps, but when the $100 bottle of medicine is sitting in my cupboard, my cheap self is forced to use it up.


Just the thought of taking it makes my stomach turn and I can feel the dry heaves fighting their way out. I have to work myself up, just to throw back the two tablespoons worth of meds. I also have to have at the ready, a chaser to follow it down. Sunday night, it was a glass of water, followed by a few tortilla chips and fun size Snickers bars, followed by another glass of water. All the while, my fingers are tightly clamped on my nostrils to further prevent even the faint taste of it on my tongue. After it's securely in my stomach, I spend the next half hour with the feeling of it involuntarily coming back up. But then the magic of chemistry happens in my body and the drugs do their stuff and I'm able to sleep without the sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, aching, stuffyhead, fever...


...so I can rest medicine.