MY HOME PHARMACY—

I am beginning to feel like an hypochondriac.

Two more prescriptions arrived from my Veteran’s Administration Rx supplier recently. One is a gooey substance called Triamcinolone. The other is a shampoo with the repulsive name beginning with Soborrheic Derma-something or other.

Both are intended to combat a scabby-leaky growth that has appeared on my scalp. Yuk.

They are now on the counter beside some stuff called Flunisolide. This is a little squirt bottle of nasal spray I use twice a day to assist in keeping my nose and sinus passages clear. It helps satisfy that instinct to breathe regularly.

Then there are the little pills called Hydrochlorothiazide. One of those each day helps with my mildly disobedient blood pressure.

Finally, there is another pill called Simvastatin. I get by with ½ of one of them each day and like to think of them as allowing me to consume an abundant supply of ice cream without worrying too much about failing grades on my cholesterol tests.

By the way, don’t ever, ever read the cautionary literature that accompanies this stuff. If folks ever suffered from a fraction of the side effects they sputter about, population control would cease to be an issue.

Mercy! I remember when I considered a couple of aspirin in a year’s time perilously close to a medicinal overdose.