Hello great minds. I'm so honored to be here with you guys. This is a rare privileged and I don't take it for granted. Welcome back from the little break and make yourself comfortable.
The topic for this edition of week 130 is a very interesting one. Most of us are already victims of self medication in one way or the other. Maybe not all of us but mostly in Nigeria here most parents are doctors and nurses. Hahahaha 🤣🤣. And the worse part of it is that we just do what we see others do. Sometimes it will work out fine and sometimes it will have a negative bounce back on the health of the person directly involved.
Okay, for this edition I will love to share a true life story. I think I have once shared this story with us but not withstanding, some people may still benefit from my story as I run through it again. Just put your seat belt and let's move on.
When I had my first child I learnt alot of things from different mothers especially when it comes to taken care of a new born child and handling their health challenges. Some of these African mothers they know alot that even the instructions of the doctor means nothing to them. After some weeks of welcoming a new child in my family we started noticing that she cries alot. She will just start crying and I have never had that experience before so I was so worried that I started asking some women what could be the cause of the baby's non stop cry. Some women told me that it is because she can't eat well now and the baby is hungry. Another one said that after the fall of the nerval of the child there is going to be serious pains for the baby, but something can be done about it. She introduced me to a local way of treating it. I was asked to take a tea spoon and fetch red oil in it and open the mouth of my little baby girl and make her take the oil. Some how I forget to administer it until my little child slept off, I told myself that she can swallow it even if she is sleeping. Friends this was the beginning of trouble for me. When I gave the sleeping child the red oil she was trying to swallow it and she couldn't. After a little struggle to swallow it I think that the oil went through the wind pipe which made her start crying non stop the crying lasted for more than an hour. She couldn't suck, and she refused to listen to any song I tried to sing to make her stop.
Thanks to a neighbor who stopped us when we were about to take her to the hospital. We waited on till about the second hour before she stopped crying and managed to suck. From that day on I stopped to administer self medication that I am not too sure off. Not that I don't take drugs by myself when I am sick or even the kids, but I became more careful because of another mistake. As a mother I learnt how to be a doctor and a nurse at the same time for the whole family and when I noticed that I can't handle any issue I quickly run to a medical personnel. I made sure to have someone stand by to always guide me and it has always been of great help to me and the family.
In conclusion, self medication is good if one knows what to do at the right time, but if one is not sure, the hospital is the best place to go or any medical personnel around.
This post was inspired by the hive learners community contest for week 130- edition 1: Self medication is important.
