Choices

I mentioned a few days ago that I'd been feeling like, well, crap, for the lack of a better word. Okay, I know there are better words but crap fits the bill here better than anything that comes to mind at the moment. I digress. Anyway, I thought I might be coming down with something. There's that flu bug out there, and I do not subscribe to the idea of taking a shot to avoid what I might not get to begin with. Then there's always the ever lurking cold just waiting to pounce at the slighest opportunity. After a few day when nothing more significant than aches and pains materialized, I realized, I wasn't coming down with anything. I was in withdrawal.
I don't know if I've ever mentioned it or not but I suffer from osteoarthritis. As I'm sure everyone knows by now, the two most powerful drugs for the pain of arthritis, Celebrex and Vioxx have been pulled off the market. On the positive side, I hadn't taken either in several months because I'd been using Aleve. Aleve provided what I thought was maximum pain relief with minimum side affects. Of course I should have known, that was just too good to be true. Now, it appears that the pundits at the FDA have decided that Aleve (naproxen)can also increase your risk for heart disease. Well damn! So, I stopped taking it as well.
After nearly a week of the aching joints and pain from hell, I finally came to the conclusion, I am going to have to choose the lesser of two evils (and it's not even an election year!!). I either endure the pain in my back, legs and knees or I take the Aleve and live with the associated risk. I can't take ibuprofen because it wreaks havoic on my stomach. Same with asprin, even the coated kinds. So, it's Aleve or nothing. The proverbial rock and a hard place.
Here's what I'm thinking. I'll take the Aleve, and chase it with a glass of red wine, which they say decreases your risks of heart disease. Maybe one will offset the other.
Dagnabit, getting old(er) sucks. Then again, when you consider the alternative... Oh well,I've always had a weakness for Strawberry Hill.
Aleve & Boone's Farm it is.