Laura

A haiku or two: medication

A variety of colourful pills in blister packs.
Photo by Olga Khabarova on Unsplash

The time has come! As promised, today I’m asking you to share your experiences of heart disease through the fun (if slightly random) format of haiku!

Quick reminder… A haiku has 17 syllables in all: 5 in the first line, 7 in the second, 5 in the third. For our purposes, that’s really all you need to know – just don’t tell the haiku police I said so!

A pile of blister packs - some full and some half empty - with tablets in a variety of shapes and colours.
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash

This week’s theme is MEDICATION – something I’m sure most heart patients have some experience of.

How do you feel about taking medication? How often do you take it? Do you suffer (or enjoy?!) any side-effects? Are you a fan of the weekly organiser or do you pop your pills freestyle? Do you worry about the environmental impact of all those blister packs? Is your local pharmacist your new best friend? Anything you’ve ever thought about your heart medication, I want to hear it!

Below are a selection of medication-inspired haiku I’ve written lately. Hopefully they’ll get your creative juices flowing…and reassure you that what I’m seeking is conversation, not necessarily a masterpiece!

A hand in the process of putting tablets of different colours into a plastic dispenser/organiser with seven segments. An empty blister pack lies in the background.
Photo by Laurynas Mereckas on Unsplash

Feel like a granny

When I fill my tablet box –

Functional, not fun.

Heart meds? If only!

They detour round my body,

Affect everything.

Permanent tiredness

Is medication’s side-effect.

Is it bedtime yet?

A toilet in a state of disrepair, with graffiti on the lid and cistern, crumbling walls, etc.
Photo by Gabor Monori on Unsplash

Water tablet day –

I pee, piss, slash, urinate,

Then I pee some more.

Beta-blockers cause

never-ending grogginess.

Life goes on…and on.

A young woman is hunched over a train table, resting her head on her arm, possibly asleep.
Photo by Abbie Bernet on Unsplash

Yesterday was good.

Forgot to take my tablets,

That’s why. Short-term gains.

Relentless repeat.

Days end and begin and end

And begin again.

I’m a pill-popper!

I mean the organised kind,

Not the exciting.

A little video of me sorting out my tablets for the week. Rock and roll?!

Appearances matter –

Rainbow dispenser cheers up

Pills in shades of beige.

OK, so now it’s your turn… Please (please!) share your thoughts with me and with other blog readers in the comments below. And if you’re more positive about your medication than I appear to be about mine, please feel free to represent that side of things! I’m so looking forward to hearing your thoughts about medication and to getting a conversation going about what it’s like to live with chronic heart disease. And check back soon for another haiku topic 🙂

14 comments

    • I can’t believe how many times I’ve counted and recounted haiku syllables, only to share online and immediately realise an extra syllable has somehow made it through quality control. Glad to see I’m not the only one! And good save 🙂

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  7. The alarm sounds beep
    Everyone shouts pill time Mum
    I keep forgetting

    Why do I forget?
    It’s because I can’t accept
    My heart is broken

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