A common knowledge of drugs doesn't make one a physician or pharmacist. Most people self medicate to avoid going to see a doctor or due to the cost of visiting a hospital or simply because they still have some drug previously prescribed by their personal physician from, and want to rely on that. The risks of medicines are the possible unexpected effects that might happen to you when you take them. This is why a proper checkup helps in giving a perculiar diagnosis of the illness and prescribe or administer medication appropriately.
“The hospital is the worst place to be when you're sick”, my Aunt would always complain. She hates going to the hospital for reasons we don't really know. At some point, we thought maybe because of financial constraints. But then, we realized she had been holding this misconception about visiting the hospital. She'll rather get drugs at the pharmacy and take them.
One day, she fell so sick that she was rushed to the hospital. That was when she realized that she could have died if she dared to take any drugs that weren't prescribed.
No matter the situation, self medication isn't first aid. Aside from health issues, some people self medicate for some other reasons.
A friend of mine had broken up with her boyfriend, nay, he broke up with her. For months she could come out of the trauma. She stayed indoors most of the time throughout that period. Everyone thought she was going to be fine eventually, but little did we know that she was using a certain drug to cope with the trauma. One evening we didn't see nor hear from her. We decided to go check up on her at her place only to find that the door was locked from inside. We dialed her number but she didn't pick up. We called out her name but there was no answer. So we decided to break the door. When we got inside, behold our friend was lying half dead on the floor. After we found that she was still breathing we rushed her to the hospital. She was revived. The doctor said she had taken too many drugs, probably either for treating headaches or to induce sleep, without proper and adequate feeding, which resulted in too many chemicals in her bloodstream. She was sternly warned not to try to self medicate again.
That was not just a warning to my friend, but to every one of us that was present at the hospital.
There is another scenario of a neighbor who did what we call “stomach flushing” with local herbs. According to him, he wanted to deal with malaria and typhoid. He did about three rounds of full jugs of about 3 liters. Few hours later, he started whining and rolling on the floor. His eyes were also turning. We quickly rushed him to the hospital. Luckily, he was treated, but admitted in the hospital for some days. The doctor said he must have taken an overdose of the native medication. I didn't really bother to know the details, I clearly got the message.
No matter the situation or health challenge, self medication is a dangerous alternative. Make sure you see a doctor for proper medical checkup, drug administration and treatment.
This is my submission on hive learners #weeklyprompts.
(First picture from pixabay and designed using PixelLab. The rest of the pictures are from pixabay)
