Smitty Two wrote:
Not at all a joke, and perfectly appropriate. Someone who is terrified
of ladders is orders of magnitude safer on one, with steady nerves.
I'm talking 1/4 milligram, not five grams.

You are supposed to be afraid of heights, it keeps you alive. The way to
overcome that fear is through gradual exposure, developing the confidence
and the motor pathways which enable you to safely reach the heights you need
to reach.

Circumventing this by taking a drug which reduces the anxiety only places
you in a situation which your brain has not been trained to deal with, with
a higher likelihood of making a mistake and falling. This is exacerbated by
the reduction of inhibitions caused by the drug, which, even in small doses,
cause you not to fully realize the danger you are in.

Ask your doctor if he thinks your advice is sound, but you already know what
he is going to tell you.

Falling off of a ladder isn't a matter of twisting your ankle, it often
involves damaging the spine, or worse, the cervical vertebrae, leading to
various forms of paralysis. Sometimes you get lucky and just can't lift
more than five pounds for the rest of your life. I know several guys this
has happened to over my lifetime, and it just isn't worth it.

If you are unable to train yourself to climb a ladder safely, and with
confidence, hire a gutter cleaning service.

Jon