The curse - Of a side effect

When I first came to the Land of Liberty, I came with all my preconditioning of my  conservative small town, Indian upbringing. My entire view of the world was to be adjusted to alarmingly new perspectives and Advertising was one of those culture shocks I faced. Growing up, I saw the Indian media take very politically correct jibes at the competitors and exaggeration was a way of the sales pitch. Tall claims could be made without legal repercussions. When I first saw a print Ad of a seasonal allergy medication in one of the magazines here in the US, I had to pause and notice. The said Ad had graphics from the competitor's label and made a substantiated claim about a clinical study wherein they performed better than the opponent. "Interesting" I thought to myself. There are probably reasons why the first world remains the first world. They have made their evolution through things. The other thing that caught my attention was the disclaimer labels - often noting allergy information, manufacturing plant information and a list of side effects for all the drugs.  The info would read "Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, weight gain, loss of appetite, liver dysfunction etc etc etc..." I was amazed at the transparency of the information that is provided to a consumer.

Well, I am into the second paragraph and really didn't start scratching the surface of my ponder yet - Focus dear child, focus! So back on track, I did experience a ironic side effect to a medication that was supposed to combat flu while aiding a good night's sleep. My usual go to Advil was tossed aside in favor of Nyquil. The bug needed a strong contender and I was half dreaming about the blissful sleep I'd be lulled into as I washed in the sharp tasting potion down the throat. Half an hour passes, nothing happens, except I feel a little hazy, like one might feel under influence. An hour, and then two. No sleep in sight. I probably counted sheep till I could name my count in the infinite selection and focused on my breath to a point where I got super alert. But sleep eluded me like water in a desert. Then I faintly remember relating every tale I ever wanted to relate to, to the significant other that was kept force awaken to give me company. Poor thing complied to the sickness and health vow by and large. After a while, I realized I cannot hold 'not resisting sleep' against a soul that slogged his backside off for near 15 hrs during the day.

It was wee hours, like 3 Am perhaps, and I was still thinking up all remedies I ever heard of that could convince the slumber fairies to bestow their grace upon me. Then suddenly, I remembered the poem "The dark night of the soul" - now if you, by chance are a spiritual connoisseur, you probably heard a thing or two about that poem and the interpretation and about the deep set meaning it has into awakening the soul to some sort of ascension. That godforsaken NyQuil did induce some side effects for sure,  the most unthought ones for sure, as I was in some sort of spiritual ego trip envisioning going through my very own "Dark night of the soul" - My previous night's google search history even claims that I looked up for the many available poetic and spiritual interpretations of the said work.

Now, I'll cut the chase for you. Cause it's been a solid three days ago and the strain of the good ole Flu still lingers around like a strong fragrance used by a fashionista with a brazen sense of style and Moi feels the bug as intensely as the day I got hit by it. So, I did wake around 9 am the next morning presuming I fell asleep around sunrise. The first thing I did upon opening my eyes was the zombie float to my laptop to search up NyQuil side effects.

Down under all side effects I spot "Insomnia" - Holy Ravioli, guacamole, puranpoli....who would have thunk??

And thus, I first hand, experience the dark night of the side effect.

All hail the ironies of life!