This is a totally unscientific gross generalization, but it seems like

everyone is taking some sort of medication. Now I’m not into any kind

of industry-wide conspiracy theory — my guess is, we as consumers

have driven this because we want easy answers for our problems, and

pills seem like little miracles. But earlier in the week, Viagra was

linked to blindness, and now a Parkinson’s drug is linked to gambling,

of all things. (Thanks, e-mailer Kevin.)

Lipitor made my wife’s feet go numb, though her doctor wouldn’t

acknowledge it. He said she wore out her feet exercising. To prove

him wrong, she dropped the Lipitor and ran a marathon three months

later. And to be fair, I take Lipitor without any problems, except

that I now consider myself impervious to cardiovascular harm and eat

three steaks a week (grass-fed beef, of course). And anyone with

children knows about the staggering (and sad) number of medicated

kids, many of whom suffer from wild behavioral swings as their

multi-med dosages get adjusted.

So at what point do we start taking drugs to counteract the side

effects of our drugs?