For those of you who don't know, I was born with Spina Bifida. It's the most prevalent birth defect in the world and effects different people in different ways. I'm pretty lucky, my developed nerves end in my mid-thigh. Some people are born in a vegetative state while others, such as former MLB pitcher Orel Herschiser and tragic country songwriter Hank Williams, are barely effected.

When I was born in 1969 Spina Bifida was real mystery to most physicians. Treatments and surgeries were in their literal infancies. Many things that were done to me as a child would never been done today. I was a guinea pig for SB and I'm proud of that.

One of the mysteries of my youth was a twitching leg. It seemed that the nerves weren't very well developed but they were constantly sending out impulses. Throughout my pre-teen years the doctors tried all kinds of drugs to control it. Nothing seemed to work really well until they tried a drug that was usually used as, of all things, a really heavy-duty decongestant. It worked like a charm and, as far as my family knew, had very little side effects. This was, of course, in the days before those handy printouts that come with your prescriptions and long before RXList. The medication? Ephederine.

That's right. As a kid I was on straight ephederine for several years and took lots of it. I don't know if that should serve as evidence that the risks are being blown out of proportion these days by the media or the naivety of doctors in the 1980's. Somehow I think I was probably pretty lucky that I suffered no ill effects.