When I ride my bike (and it’s been warm enough to ride my bike!) I often cycle past a chiropractic center. More than once, I’ve noticed messages on their marquee that are rather anti-medication. And every time, I get very snarky inside.
This week, their marquee reads, “Pain and sickness is not a drug deficiency.” Except sometimes, it really is.
I work with people who have epilepsy, and missing a single dose of medication can cause a seizure. In fact, that is one of the biggest seizure triggers — missed medication. That means that when people don’t take medication, they can have medical experiences that disrupt their lives, like losing the ability to drive. It can lead to injury. It can even lead to death.
So yes, sometimes sickness is a drug deficiency.
And I find all of this to add to stigma. To point to one example of that, there is a tremendous amount of mental health stigma in our culture already. If we add suspicion to medication, it may lead to someone never finding an important tool that can help them. It may lead to people abruptly stopping their medication, and that, too can create more emotional pain, relational stress, and medical emergencies.
So yes, sometimes pain is a drug deficiency.
I don’t think medications are people’s only tools to health and wellbeing. But for some people, they are life-changing, and even life-saving.
So stop it, already.
Smuggling Grace 