Substance Abuse

I'm afraid to take paracetamol... I still do sometimes when I have a fever, but I have to be forced to take it. Reason for it is I used to be addicted to the stuff. It's readily available over the counter, so no problems there. Worse part was I didn't even realise I was addicted. I just 'assumed I had a fever every single day'.

Why am I talking about this? Well, I was watching CSI last night and there was a character which drank so much until she was only semi-concious and then was raped. She just didn't realise she had too much and should have stopped drinking for her own safety.

People who have never gone through a 'substance abuse stage' would say that it was avoidable. But I feel that it's only avoidable if you know that it's happening. You have to actually realise that what you are doing will have adverse effects.

For me, I totally didn't realise what I was doing... the whole habit fit snugly into my life. I used to just walk into a drug store to 'stock' up like it was something totally normal. I took 3-4 doses a day, each time 'checking my temperature' first to make sure, yes, I had a fever.

I was considered lucky. One day I realised what I was doing and stopped. Amazingly the fevers also stopped!! :D I'm lucky it wasn't something really addictive like hard drugs.

There are other things I did when I was 'younger'... up to a point where I have 'blank spots' in my memory... problem is, because I don't remember what I did to cause the 'blank spots', there's no way for me to learn my lesson and avoid it!! That's kind of crappy, don't you think! :P

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, you should look at what you do in your life. There may be things that you do that are harmful to you but you just don't realise it. For me, it didn't have any permanent damage (that I know of). But better be safe than sorry.