Jerky friend

If I haven't mentioned it before, I have tics.  They started about 15-16 years ago when my abdomen jumped, like I was several months pregnant with an active baby.  Highly unlikely since I was in my late 50's at the time and my name is not Elizabeth.

When they began, it would happen every couple of months.  In between times, I would forget about it, sure I would die of humiliation if it ever happened in public.  One day, Bob saw one, and typically male in his thinking, made a very crude remark.  No, I will NOT repeat it. There are some things that are only to be shared between a husband and wife.

Since they began, the tics have now increased in violence and intensity.  Typically, they occur anywhere from 100-500 times a day. Finally, 9 years ago, I found a doctor who said if he couldn't find my problem, he'd find someone in this country who could. He found it on the very first MRI.  I have something known as syrinx.  I've met doctors and nurses who didn't know what I was talking about.  Trouble is, there's no cure.  Not even surgery because with surgery, 33% of the time, the surgery works, 33% of the time it does nothing, and 33% of the time it makes it worse, including paralysis. Too, surgical scarring can cause tics.  Surgery is out unless I have trouble standing or lose control over body functions. Hopefully, I'm old enough I don't have time for those to happen.

Eventually, everyone noticed.  They couldn't help it. A friend smiled as she said she didn't mind having a "Jerky friend."  I appreciate that. If a stranger notices, I smile and say I'm not dangerous, so an ambulance or the police is not needed.

Several medications have been tried over the years.  Trouble is, the medications are for the brain and they do nothing for my spine, or make the situation worse.  That's really what my rant is about today. Medicines, or recreational drugs in particular.


More and more, I hear people younger than myself talk about the lack of  problems caused by recreational drugs.  That's nowhere close to my own observations over years. The first time I had any association with drugs was in Hawaii.  The post commander insisted I observe a burning of marijuana evidence the mp's had stockpiled so I could get a good whiff of it.  One of the mp's was a young, extremely handsome black man.  While the pile burned, I quoted an article by a scientist from the University of Hawaii that stated marijuana is fat soluable and go to the brain and the reproductive organs.  This handsome young man's eyes grew large and round as he said, "Really?" The shock on his face and in his voice made me laugh as I told Bob I think I made a believer out of him.



In Denver, a dad and his daughter had a minor traffic altercation with several young people in another car.  That night, the teens fire bombed the house, killing five of the seven residents in it.  I worked with a woman who knew them and she said yes, they were heavily into marijuana.


In Missouri, three of my son's classmates along with two other teens were doing between 110 and 115 mph, according to police reports.  Worse, they were passing long strings of traffic on a two lane highway in the Ozark mountains.  A girl at that party observed them taking drugs and they were on their way back to town to get more. Five teens and two adults died.  Two young children were critically injured as well as orphaned.

"Anecdotes," will be the dismissal of those who favor recreational drugs. "Where's the statistics?" will be the next remark.  So, what are statistics but compiled anecdotes and is anyone collecting them? The next argument will be that marijuana, in particular, can have wonderful affects on people suffering from pain or seizures.  I agree.  However, go back to what the scientist said about the brain and reproductive organs. He, by the way, said there was a time when he had no objection to it until he noticed his students slipping in their ability to grasp what he was teaching.

Who can say what future generations will suffer because the parents indulged in recreational drugs? Have statistics been compiled? Have studies been done? I have to say it troubles me deeply for more reasons that one.  I have personally experienced what mood altering drugs do to the brain.  It ain't pretty.  I was talking to a woman at the gym in Vero one day.  We were discussing a very troubled young woman.  She remarked that when people go on drugs, everything seems to be OK for a while, then it all falls apart. That's what happened to me. Every time. I would notice my ability to think clearly was slipping.  My tics would increase, my emotions would be out of control.  There were days I couldn't go to work. Days I couldn't get out of bed. And, those drugs were doctor prescribed medications, not something I bought from a dealer.

Let me hasten to add there are people who need drugs.  In fact, my own situation has caused me to wonder if I should pursue marijuana pills with my doctor, but over the years I've learned mind over matter and never remember to pursue it. Marijuana does wonders for children with seizures. I am not opposed to tightly controlled marijuana treatments for children with seizures or those whose pain from cancer is unbearable. Without it, those patient's quality of life would be miserable and worse.  I understand that, but I also know that drugs have side effects.  We just don't know how, when, or how strong they'll be when they kick in. Therefore, why take the risk for "fun?" Or to go along to get along?  Who needs friends like that?

It's been said that saying your bored is an insult to your own intelligence.  That's true in my book with recreational drugs as well.