I have an aversion to life altering side effects. For example, I got prescribed ketaconazol shampoo for my dandruff. Finally had dandruff free hair for the fi

I have an aversion to life altering side effects. For example, I got prescribed ketaconazol shampoo for my dandruff. Finally had dandruff free hair for the first time in 20 years of struggling with it. Then I developed permanent and severe tinnitus and hearing loss - one of the side effects of ketaconazol. I've lived with a piercing 11.5khz tone for 5 years now. For the first two years I frequently could not sleep, at times the ringing was so bad I was suicidal. In the last 3 years my life has changed thanks to working with red and brown noise, which I blast on speaker to let me sleep I'll struggle with the hearing loss and tinnitus forever. And the dandruff is back, maybe forever. Today I treat the dandruff and the tinnitus like old friends and part of me, because thinking of them as enemies that have defeated me is too heartbreaking. These weigh loss meds also have stories of life altering side effects. I think it's important to understand that the desire to avoid these effects is valid. I sincerely hope you don't need to experience a disabling or life threatening side effect from a seemingly innocuous drug. But every new drug you take carries are risk that it will irrevocably alter your life. It's worth having compassion for those reluctant to take meds, and acknowledge that there are risks that you are discounting. With risky conditions like obesity, it's easy to judge people and assume the obesity rush is greater than taking some meds. But that fails to truly connect with the utter terror of trying to fix one body system, only to cause utterly permanent damage to some other system. It's one of the scariest things I've faced. It's important to realize that is what we're asking others to face when we take meds side effects for granted. And it's human to acknowledge and support those for whom the risk feels too great.