Meds

My family doctor put me on a new medication the other day and it definitely has a few side effects. The first is good - I sleep. I sleep really well - no waking up every time I roll over, no lying in bed for twenty minutes fidgeting before going to sleep. I fall asleep almost immediately and I stay asleep.

The other side effect is neither good or bad. It's that I dream. I really dream! Weird, strange, elaborate, complicated and rememberable dreams. Not scarey, just the kind you wake up from and immediately think - Wow! Wonder what that meant. I remember them when I wake up, but as with any useless knowledge that I have no reason to retain - I forget it within ten minutes of waking up. After all, there is limited space in the memory banks and one has to prioritize. Dreams are way down on the list of important things to remember.

But it occurred to me. It's just another sign of getting older - when your meds balance each other out. One med I take makes me fidget a bit (mostly at bedtime) and so shutting down at the end of the day was difficult. And now the next med removes that - in addition to, I hope, doing what it was originally intended to do. I've been lucky that way - I seem to get side effects that are non-dangerous . . . even welcome. This latest med is probably a temporary one (months or years temporary, not days or weeks)so I may go back to my old sleep habits - but until then . . .