I'd Rather Feel Pain

I have come to the realization that playing four soccer games in one day is not the greatest of ideas. I had hoped that crossfit workouts and running every other day would have put me in somewhat good enough shape to play a few games, but I was so very wrong. I woke up this morning so utterly sore. My shoulders, my stomach, and especially my back and legs hurt whenever I move. Walking is slow and painful, running - not something I even want to think about. I cannot remember a time when I was ever this sore. And what does soreness make people do? Take pain relievers, that's what soreness makes people do. However, that isn't always the best answer for the situation.

A vast array of pharmaceuticals have been found in over 41 million Americans' drinking water. How did they get there? Well, it happens like this: people take pills, their bodies absorb only a part of the medication, and the rest passes through and gets flushed down the toilet. Water and waste treatment plants are not designed to remove pharmaceuticals so much of the medication remains in the water supply, being treated and pumped back through our faucets. These drugs are having an effect on the environment. Hormones in the water are altering aquatic life, increasing rates of antibiotic resistance among bacteria, and ultimately creating potentially deadly consequences. Granted, approximately 80 percent of the pain reliever acetaminophen is metabolized by the body, but the flip side of this is that 80 percent of the high blood pressure medicine, atenolol, is not used by the body. If one kind of medicine is mostly used by the body, why can't all medicines be like that? Come on scientists, get on the ball with that drug testing.

With all sincerity and a very painful curtsy,

-Trinka