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May 09, 2009 |
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Maximum Allowed Dosage
FOUND by Christopher Dickens
in Greensboro, NC
During my first year in graduate school for writing, I found this card in the grass along Market St. One of my classes had just been discussing first person narrators and the notion that they are all unreliable to some extent, so this card seemed especially appropriate. Did Jen really take herself off her medication despite an intense 3-day withdrawal, all without calling her mother or a camp leader noticing? It's tough to believe, but her motive in saying so is both clear and heartbreaking.
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We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework,
to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles -
anything that gives a glimpse into someone
else's life. Anything goes...
She must have had a helluva hard time showing the campers how to weave lanyards.
I wonder what she was taking. It's never a good idea to go off of meds like that. I wish Jen would see this so she could tell us what happened.
oh, wow.
Brought tears to my eyes--she sounds so desperate for and deprived of normalcy. Good thing she had camp to escape to.
Now, see? If any Find needed a lil confidentiality, this one does.
Oh this is a great fonud and good remineder of those camping times and the food that just sucks
who hasn't taken themselves off meds? can't say I was young enough to be a camp counselor though...
Real story here: her campers were so rowdy one rainy day she handed out her "adult strength" meds, half a dose each, to quiet them down. Therefore she ran out of meds way before she could get back to civilization to renew the scrip. The camp admin put her shakes, sweats and high, nervous voice down to dealing with the campers through a week of solid rain. Now the sun has come out, they can renew outdoor activities and Jen doesn't have to be with them 24/7, she feels so much better she figures she can live without the meds.
Good luck, Jen.
Dear Mom,
Things are good here at camp. I swam twice in the lake. And we found a rattlesnake on the path. Lunch at the mess hall is mystery meat and bug juice. I really like my bunkmates. Oh yea, for the first three days our cabin counselor had the shakes, and stayed in bed with the blanket up over her head moaning. Now, she seems cool and talks all the time, all night. She's real energetic. I don't think she ever sleeps. She told us some cool stories though. Give Frisky a kiss. Luv, Brittany
Either that or she sold them. Sounds like she needs the cash more than she needs the meds. But I do hope that she's right about not needing her medication anymore...
maximum dosage for an adult since 11... i'm not surprised but it still breaks my heart. good for her.
r so it seemed until three days later when they found her naked and jabbering incoherently in the bushes behind the cam
Jen had been taking a little more than the maximum dosage ever since she met Brenda, the camp manager. Brenda would appear and start yelling at you for random things. "You didn't put the port-a-pot seat down!" "Did you just dump some water on the ground?" Jen was a nervous wreck, so she started abusing her medication to make it stop. Then she was hospitalized, or at least put in the infirmary (she didn't really remember), so she decided to stop taking the medication.
P.S. Purple monkey dishwasher!
LOL at LMA!
This is my favourite find in a while. I think I'll believe it's real just because I want to believe it.
This is a great find. The mystery of it is pretty beautiful. I can attest that summer camp is a good place to make decisions like these. Away from your parents, out in the comfort of nature, life just seems a little bit easier and one day you realize you don't need to pill pop as much as you thought.
@ Baby Basil, Grab Bag and LMA - Excellent!
I want to know how the note got dropped - Did Jen drop it when she died (she stopped taking her Insulin?) and Mom never got it? - Or - Mom read the note and was WTF frantic and dropped it running to the car to get the camp to get Jen back on her Meds...
I'm pretty certain she was on antidepressants or maybe something for ADHD...the line about slowly gaining confidence is what gives it away. Um, really hoping it wasn't an antipsychotic she took herself off of, or camp could be about to become way too exciting for all involved. Anyway, terribly foolish thing to do on her own but I really do wish her the best.
ok..all day, no one has typed this..BOOYA!
"Hello Mudda hello Fadda,
Here I am at Camp Granada.
Camp is very entertaining,
And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining."
I was director of a camp last summer and the first few days we had no camp nurse. Guess who had to give out the meds?
I am so glad some of these kids had them to take, or else camp would have been more hellish than it already was.
20 bodies were found. Some could not be identified.
Okay, you can keep calling it "camp" if it makes you feel better. Just don't keep getting upset when the rest of it refer to it as "the state medium security prison."
@ fooch ... I know that song! Memorized the whole album back in the day.
Unfortunately the upbeat tone of this letter may be exposing a symptom, euphoria can be a warning sign. My heart goes out to our mystery author, the line 'I feel I can truly begin to live my life now' is so very bittersweet. I hope it worked for her. And while doing what she did may be 'dangerous' the one thing I am sure of it that it was very courageous.
Maybe I'm horrible, but she sounds like she's just trying to get attention, to me, after coming off her Ritalin or whatever. Her mom probably didn't need to be told the big all-caps story about the dosage, for one thing. And the "truly begin to live my life now" thing sounds pretty dramallama too. Jen, dear, if you're at camp, your life can't be THAT oppressed. Unless it's, like, chemo camp.
First.
said card...
but yay for greensboro!
If this was found on Market in Greensboro and you are in college then you probably go to UNCG or Greensboro College and were near either campuses. I am a Greensboro native and really liked seeing a note submitted from my hometown. About the subject matter... I have been living with ADHD my whole life. When I was 6 years old they called it "Hyperactive" and told me to stop drinking chocolate milke, stop eating sugary things especially Twizzlers, and take meds. I tried Ritalin for one day and broke out in hives all over my body. The Drs. tried giving alternatives which were sub-par at best. I have dealt with this "condition" my entire life without viable meds. I could be on Adderal or something like that if I wanted to but after adjusting my behaviors to the way the world works I am OK with how life is. I am married, I have a job, I pay my bills, and I get by. When I read that someone else took themselves off of their meds at first I was concerned but then I thought "who better to heal than one's own self?". Sometimes dealing in your own is really the best medicine, I'm living proof.
---C
@ sarah
i think it's terribly disturbing that you call the author a drama queen. or almost disgusting. have you ever been on medication, have you ever experienced feelings, have you ever been a teenager? guess not.