Keeping the drug habit.

We joke about growing old as being a painful process, and although it's mean half in irony, half as an observation about the emotional slings and arrows we suffer, there seems to be a physical side too.

For about 10 years now we have been using Glucosamine to keep our joints in reasonable order, and that has been beneficial. I also take Cetirizine Hydrochloride to control an allergy that's been developing for a long time (I remember having days of streaming noses even as a small kid, but they are more frequent) and iron + vitamin supplements just because.

But most recently I've found a magic sleeping tablet - Ibuprofen.

For some years I've been woken in the small hours with joint and nerve pains - you may have seen me mention here several times that my bed is 'not my friend' because of the discomfort laying still for long hours causes. Well, Ibuprofen has helped enormously and I can now sleep until 4 or 5 in the morning - sometimes even as late as 6am without waking.

The one downside is that I now seem to be popping far too many pills (in my own view - anyone who's had a serious heart condition might be envious) and that I'd like to take fewer. The problem is, I can't see any way of cutting down without it hurting one way or another, and quite possibly speeding me to even more premature immobility. So for now I'll keep active and keep taking the drugs, but I wish my body didn't feel so 'worn out' - considering that I'm not quite 50 - when I don't use them.