(no subject)

I've got a photocopy of chapter 4 of From the Poetry of Sumer by Samuel Noah Kramer which I don't need but am loathe to just toss into the recycling. It's called "A Divine Model of the Liberated Woman" and is, of course, all about Inanna. Anyone want it?

Medicine vs Medicine

I take a bucket of medicine every day. Let me explain how one of them works: Questran. The body makes bile to help with digesting fats; like detergent, it breaks them up into small particles, making it easier for your digestive enzymes to work on them. Once bile's task is done, the body reabsorbs it. But in my case, the part of my plumbing that's supposed to reabsorb it doesn't work*. If you can imagine what might happen if you drank a bottle of detergent, you've got an idea of the effect. Anyway, the Questran's job is to grab onto the leftover bile**, preventing it from irritating my innertube.

Now the problem is that Questran grabs onto anything it can get a hold of, including other medications - not every single one, but you're supposed to take other medication an hour before you take Questran, or four hours afterwards, leaving a wide safety margin***.

I have to take Questran as soon as I get up. I've been taking Aropax, my antidepressant, at the same time. I think the Questran has been absorbing some of the Aropax - not all of it, because otherwise I'd have obvious withdrawal symptoms. But just enough depression is leaking through right now for me to notice the change. I even shed tears during Song For Ten while I was on the chest press thing in the gym.

Moving the Aropax from bedtime to the morning has literally changed my life. I'm sleeping properly and remaining awake and alert through the day for the first time in months - years, really. I just need to remember to take the blasted stuff with my elevenses.

* I recently found out my condition is called "idiopathic bile acid malabsorption". House fen will recall the meaning of "idiopathic" :-)

** Questran is cholestyramine, an ion exchange resin. In a way it's pretty crude stuff. Annoyingly, it's dispensed as a powder which must be mixed with water, which means I have to carry a bottle of water and a cup around with me. Some of you will certainly seen me mix it up and drink it.

*** Including The Pill!