About 10 years ago, I was renting a house that had a bad flea infestation. My three dachsies were going crazy with the scratching. My dad gave me some of the veterinary clinic grade flea bombs to clear out my house but the damn nuisances kept coming back. He told me I was going to have to spray my backyard to get them gone for good. I called him a couple of days later and said, “That was great advice! I sprayed the yard with diazepam and haven’t seen a flea since.” He chuckled and said, “I guess the fleas just don’t care enough to jump on the dogs?” I get those two fancy words mixed up: diazanon is the insecticide; diazepam is the Valium. I sprayed the yard with diazanon, not diazepam. I better add that to the “My Lowe’s” website list of preferred products.
I first tried Valium when I had my four wisdom teeth cut out at the tender age of 32. It’s the only drug I’ve ever taken that made me think, “Hey, I’d like to get to know you BETTER!” Wisely, the oral surgeon only gave me two. I liked it because I didn’t feel loopy–I just didn’t give a shit. That surgery was right around the time that Fartbuster told me about his pregnant girlfriend. He was still trying to be Mr. Nice Guy, so he volunteered to drive me back and forth to the doctor and take care of me while I was recovering. So you can see why it was attractive to have a little pill that made me not give a rat’s ass about anything.
My doctor gave me 15 Valium a couple of weeks before Richard died because I couldn’t sleep. So I’ve had a total of 17 of the little wonders in my 44 years. Which is probably why I found this next story so darn funny when it happened.
One Christmas at the grandparents’ house, my sister–The Doctor–volunteered to check over all the medications that Grandmama and Pop had in the bathroom cabinet. She spread them out on the kitchen table and began her inventory. When she came across a prescription bottle filled with Valium, she held it up with a giggle and asked, “Grandmama? What are you doing with these?”
Grandmama said, “Oh, I just take a couple when you kids are coming over!” and went right on wiping down the countertops.
The Doctor replied, “You really shouldn’t be taking them. They can be habit forming.”
Grandmama waved her hand in dismissal. “Pshhh. My doctor told me that when he first wrote the prescription, but I’ve been taking them for 30 years and never had a problem!”
Come to think of it, that might have been the year she told me what to do if I ever walked out of my panties. This explains a lot.
LOVE THIS! I think that was a lot more common than we think back in the day….I was shocked out of my skin when my mom once confessed she used to take Ativan (a similar drug to Valium) before big university events. REALLY?! I think of that stuff as addictive and classified, and she talked about it like she was popping Tylenol…
Yep. Uppers were a lot more common back when we were babies. And we worry about too much caffeine!
In defense of Grandmama Irene, she has been on the same dosage of valium forever. She does not take them every day. There have been times, when I have told her that if she doesn’t take one, I am going to do so. If I have ever had one, it has been in the hospital.
Yeah, I find it funny that all those holidays were hosted by the CHILL version!
Substitute martini for valium and you have my family. At least part of it. We all have our little secrets. 🙂
Oh, there’s plenty of that…but not at Grandmama’s house! I have started bringing wine and our generation drinks out in the driveway.
Booze and bonding. Sounds familiar…
I think spraying fleas with Valium may be more effective these days given the resistance they’ve developed to most poisons. Get the little critters so looped that they can only leap 1/32″ and can’t reach the dog.
I saw my MD with anxiety-induced chest pains during a time when job really sucked. She gave me a prescription for 20 with dosage instructions to “take one 30 minutes before management team meeting.” I love her!
Got new job three weeks later. Think I still have 17 decaying pills in my dresser drawer, away from heat, light and moisture. Just in case…..
hahaha….I hung on to my last Valium for my solo trip to Paris, nine months after Richard died. It was the perfect solution for a long flight.
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