How Lil Wayne could have saved my Life.

Ok, so this might be a little like the 6 Degrees of Separation game, but follow along anyway. :-)

This past weekend, while painting, I was listening to E!'s biography on Lil Wayne in the background. I was actually amazed at his life, ambition, and his talent as a rapper. Often we only see the outside appearance of a person, what they allow us to see, or the news stories where they are caught behaving badly. We don't really see the full person. I equate this to how little we really know our aquaintances....or, let's face it, our Facebook 'friends'.

On the show, I learned that he started rapping at 8...yes, I said 8! And he was signed to a label at 12! He was in the gifted program in school, until he dropped out at 14. Despite dropping out of school, he eventually earned his GED and enrolled at the University of Houston in 2005, earning high grades and majoring in Political Science. I was also surprised to learn that he was the original person to coined the term "bling" while recording one of his albums.

So, what does all of this have to do with me? During the interview he was asked about his rumored drug use. He noted that he uses marijuana recreationally, but that he was no longer addicted to the "purple juice". The narrator explained that "purple juice" was a reference to his addiction to cough syrup. This actually perked my ears up. I had studied many drugs in my Criminology classes, but had never heard of anyone being addicted to cough syrup. I was also interested because I often treat my allergies with Nyquil (it is a cheaper alternative to allergy medicine since it has an antihistimine in it).

After researching addiction to cough syrup online, I found out that the addiction is to the codeine in the cough syrup. It is cheaper than most drugs, and legal. One thing I also found during my research was that certain common medications can be deadly when taken in conjunction with cough syrup. One of those being another over-the-counter allergy medications I often take! Cough syrup taken in conjunction with Claritin can be deadly. I can't tell you how many times I have taken this combination.

I used to be on allergy shots when we were on military health insurance, but since switching to the Corporate world, I now have United Health Care. I pay $1,000 per month for premiums, and since the deductible is $5,000, I end up paying for 100% of my own doctor visits, medicines, xrays, etc. After getting the bill for my first month of allergy shots ($500), I stopped getting the shots and started self treating with over-the-counter medication. I usually take Sudafed when stopped up during the day, Claritin as a preventative measure, and NyQuil at night because of the antihistimine it contains. I can't tell you how many times I have often taken them all together, when I am suffering really bad from allergies. Thanks to Lil Wayne, I now know how dangerous that is, and how lucky I am to still be alive.

Thanks Lil Wayne for saving my life!