The Real Cost Of Ill Health

Well I'm 3 days into my Sertraline cold turkey and to put it as politely as possible I feel like s**t . Last week when I was taking a half-dose every other day wasn't so bad but on Saturday it was time for me to drop it completely. Saturday wasn't so bad as I have occasionally missed doses of medication so I'm used to it. Yesterday and today have been a whole different story, I wake up fine but by 11am I'm getting a bit woozy. It then progresses to full blown dizziness, sickness and headache and oddly an almost tearful feeling (which to someone who doesn't ever cry is quite odd). Yesterday wasn't so bad as I was able to have a nap but I doubt my work colleagues will appreciate me laying my head down on my desk!

Needless to say I'm not being particularly productive at work today when I can only seem to look at my computer screen for 5 minutes at a time before my eyes decide to un-focus leaving me blinking in a slightly dim manner at the screen. It's lead me to wonder how many other people in various workforces across the country are also struggling in silence with medication (or lack thereof) side effects. People with health problems, mental or physical, are always assumed as being unfit to work and it really grates with me as a huge percentage of us do hold down jobs (That is not to say that people who aren't in work are skivvers or scroungers, people who use these terms need to spend a day in their shoes!).

The media is quick to paint people suffering from illness as a drain on the NHS and economy but I wonder if they consider what a personal cost it is to be ill? Take myself as an example, I have an NHS Pe-Paid Prescription card that I pay £10 a month for as I have at least 3 prescriptions a week. If I didn't have this card I would be paying £24 per month on medications. I wear glasses and my annual eye-test is £25, ditto with contact lense appointments another £25. My contact lense cost £33.50 a pack luckily I can stretch these out over about 5 months as I don't wear them every day. I've also just been told I need new glasses which will cost at least £100. That's without the cost of any dental treatment I may require which starts at £18 a check-up! What concerns me is the amount of people who may be in low-paid jobs struggling to make ends meet having to decide between their health and feeding the kids. I myself am having to put buying new glasses off for financial reasons and all I have to feed are two greedy bunnies!

Let me know what you think.

Love Jen

XXX
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