I have always been one not to take medication. I was so bad with that, that when my children were sick, I wouldn't even give them medication to take away the common cold. I wanted them to have a strong immune system and have their bodies fight off infection instead of relying on a pill to get them through.

Now, I find myself in a situation that I never dreamed that I would be in. I now have to rely on pills to get me through the day. Who would have thought? I went to the doctor for my Fibromyalgia and was informed that the only drug they have FDA approved, is Lyrica. Well, Lyrica doesn't work on me. For some reason my body is rejecting it. It seems the only thing that I am able to take that will help me with the chronic pain and fatigue and cold symptoms that I live with daily are Loratab, Somas, and Ibuprofen.

I don't care what anybody says, pain medication does not take the pain away, it does however, make it possible to deal with the pain. Being the anti drug person that I was, I found it necessary to inform my doctor that I would not be taking the meds daily because I didn't want to become addicted to them as I have heard so many people have become with pain meds. I was only going to take the meds when I really needed them. I thanked him for his time and being pleased with my theory, I began my day to day life.

After months of battling and trying to figure out how to manage with life, I came to the conclusion that maybe I should finally do as my doctor prescribed? Since I am not much of a medicine person, I am very aware of my body and I realized that while I felt I was trying to save myself from addiction, I was harming myself in the long run. See, the medicine was actually helping me think clearer, giving me more energy and my pain was manageable although it doesn't seem to ever go away. Yet, when I waited until the pain was unbearable, I was doing myself more harm because the pain was so severe and I hadn't had the medication "build up" in my body the way it should have been. My medicine wasn't being taken to "get high" it was being taken to help me manage the pain, therefore bringing normalcy to my life.

You see, when our children are sick, we do what we need to do to make them feel better. Whether it is home remedies, apple juice and saltine crackers or hours of Spongebob because it makes them smile and feel just a little bit better. Yet, when we are sick who reminds us that we are ok?

My husband once informed me of something, I never really thought about before. As parents, we take on the roll of detective, teacher, supervisor, therapist, nurse and "correctional officer". Maybe, just maybe, when it comes to OUR boo boos and illness, we should take on the roll of patient and let the doctor be the doctor.