I suffer from restless leg syndrome
(RLS). It was diagnosed two years ago and I declined prescription
medication in favor of various “home remedies”. None of them
worked. So last Fall I accepted a prescription for Mirapex. For my
condition, it is a miracle drug. I'm sleeping well for perhaps the
first time in my adult life. I fall asleep quickly at ten in the
evening and I'm awake and ready for the day at five in the morning.
I've got three extra hours in every day.
This drug has some unusual side
effects. I've been warned to look out for compulsive behaviors.
Apparently, it changes some people's behavior and compulsive gambling
or compulsive sex takes over their lives. On starting the drug, I
wondered if I could use the effect intentionally to do good in my
life.
I started a new fitness program last
Fall soon after starting the drug. I consciously tried to acquire a
compulsion to exercise and watch my diet. It worked. I'm driven to
exercise and have been able to stick with it with an unprecedented
ease. I've dropped twenty-six pounds and I'm well on my way to reach
my goal of six pack abs for the first time ever. It's really
wonderful: my self image has spiked upward and I feel great. Perhaps
that can be attributed to getting good sleep, I don't know.
Is my exercising a compulsion? I do
feel very strongly that this is something that I must do. I'm
fifty-two. If I'm going to be fit for the autumn years of my life,
there is no better time than now to do it. It's not going to get
easier when I'm sixty or seventy. If this is a drug induced
compulsion, then I'm going to run with it. It's weird to think that
my determination could have come to me in pill form.
If, in ten years, you see me all muscle
bound and unable to lean over to tie my shoes, then we'll say that
the compulsion has gone too far. Please intervene. However, until
such time, I'll be in the back room lifting weights...
