Ulcer? I hardly know 'er!

And the #1 sign you are too high-strung to live? Chasing your aspirin with a hearty slug of Pepto.

One of these days I'm going to have to learn to relax ... Or at least not keep my stress in my stomach, shoulders and neck ... My parents have been screaming at me for YEARS to lighten up ... That I was going to give myself an ulcer by the age of 30. Unfortunately ... I just don't know how. So often people act as if the terminally high-strung just enjoy nausea, nosebleeds, chronic headaches and back pain. My favorite ... those couple of months (spread over two separate incidents) when I "forgot" how to swallow. How weird is THAT? I am not saying my throat or mouth were sore or swollen ... it is not an issue of painful swallowing ... I just couldn't. I would chew and chew but I couldn't make the muscles in my throat move in that distinctive swallowing reflex.

So with poverty bearing down on me and still jobless ... and still having nightmares about my time in California ... I find my self drinking Pepto as a beverage and swallowing headache medicine like candy. *Sigh*