Another sign of aging.

Have just initiated my first, regular medication. Been on it for a week, now.

Yeah, I know being on regularly administered pharmaceuticals is not a sign of old age. Many young folks are on, and have been on, regular pills and medications. Some since the first days of their lives.

And most are probably grateful for the benefits, if not for the hassles.

But taking drugs regularly is new for me. Something I have avoided for a long time. And this is actually optional. I could skip this little, tiny morning pill any time I wanted to. And would not suffer any serious consequences if I did.

But, geez, this is a nice drug.

Have been enduring the effects of gastronomic reflux (acid reflux disease) for quite a few years now, but it didn't really get serious until around Labor Day 2001. Don't know what changed, but something did.

Go back and look at the times for my past entries. Quite a few of those are in the late, late hours, or even early morning hours. Likewise for many of my emails and guestbook entries in other folks' diaries.

I'm not a nightowl, folks.

Just couldn't get to sleep. Or dare to.

Jerking awake with a mouthful of bile and your larynx seized up and sealed shut is not a pleasant experience. Although, I got pretty good at it. Trick is not to panic. To snap awake and immediately accept that you're not going to die if you don't breath in the next minute or so, so quit trying. Relax, swallow or spit the acid, and then cough the burning acid out of your lungs.

Wife was certainly more scared by these attacks than I. Being rudely awoken by a body viciously convulsing next to your own can wreak havoc on sleeping habits, I suppose. Assume she was expecting to wake to a corpse on the other side of the bed some morning.

Also got quite expert at reducing the acid load at bedtime. As I have stated here before, bulimics have nothing on me with technique. I'm just pissed I didn't lose any weight over the procedure.

Pretty pathetic never being able to drink anything after about eight o'clock at night. Lest the extra fluid in your stomach keep you up until five o'clock the next morning.

Suspect the 5,000-8,000 mg of calcium I was ingesting almost everyday in antacids may have had something to do with my trying to pee sand.

But, anyway, that may be a thing of the past.

Got a new drug.

And so far, so good.

Yes, still some evenings of feeling over-full, after dinners of McD's and KFC late at night. But we're doing this on purpose. Gotta test the stuff, you know.

Had Mexican from our local restaurant, as hot and as much as I could eat, just to see what happened.

Nothing. No pain, no gastric eruptions.

Anything with onion, garlic, or peppers, even just a smidgeon, has been an absolute no-no for years.

No more.

Been years since I dared sleep on my stomach, or on my right side. Still haven't, but may try it soon if things keep going as well as they have.

This is really just one step this side of wonderful, you know, folks.

Drugs are good.