Ever have one of those days when what you thought was a good idea suddenly went terribly wrong??? That is exactly what happened to my sister Debbie and me on this one fateful day...
I was probably around 4 or 5 years old. In that day (not all THAT long ago ... but a while) one kind of children's cold medicine on the market was called Triaminic. It was orange flavored and very syrupy sweet. To our young tastebuds, it was like Kool-aid or candy. Nothing like the put-kids-to-sleep-so-they-can-rest-and-get-well medicine that it actually was. Our Mama had given us Triaminic on occasion, but always in safe, kid-appropriate doses, of course.
Ok, so, I would love to blame this on Debbie, because that is always more fun, but in this case I will have to admit that I was the one who pushed the chair up to the counter and climbed up to the cabinet and got the Triaminic. No child-proof caps in those days...I probably gave them all the reason they needed to show that they are a good idea with this one event. We opened .... ok, ok .... I opened the bottle and took a taste. In the "Adam and Eve" style of sharing a bad thing disguised as a good thing, Debbie, without questioning, had a taste as well.
I guess it was more than a taste (understatement!), because the next thing I remember is the arrival of the #1 Support System for our family. Namely: Monnie! See, what I didn't factor in to my fantastic plan was that Triaminic makes kids sleepy. VERY sleepy. And according to Mama's version of this story, both Debbie and I were falling asleep way too quickly to her liking, so she called Monnie! And Monnie arrived in record time, with Syrup of Ipecac in hand.
Now, if you are not familiar with the results of taking Syrup of Ipecac, you may want to google it to see the list of effects of this particular medication. Let's just say that the Triaminic was removed from our systems in a rapid and unpleasant manner. The story goes that Monnie was taking care of my Ipecac-induced needs in one bathroom, while Mama was doing the same for Debbie in the other bathroom.
Thanks to the heroic efforts of Mama and Monnie (not the first or last of many heroic efforts, I might add...), both Debbie and I survived with no negative effects. At least none that we can directly attribute to our stupidity on that particular day. Now, our stupidity on other days...that's another subject altogether!!
So there it is, in my own words - the story behind why I hate to take medicine to this day! I guess I'm afraid the Ipecac will show up again!
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