Being born African instantly meant I had the trait of self medication in me. Where I come from, self medication is more like a tradition being passed on from generation to generation. I grew up seeing my grandpa prescribe drugs for us all and they worked up until my dad decided to get us a family doctor. Since then, I don’t think we have had much of self prescribed drugs moving around at home.
However, old habits die hard and at some point in my life, I found myself going back to the old ways. One thing I know for sure in this part of my world is that, paracetamol is the most abused drug. Is it headache, toothache or fever? Paracetamol is always available for you. Up until I went to the university to study biochemistry, I didn’t know anything about drugs and their mechanisms of action. I was shocked to the core to find out that overdose of paracetamol can actually kill you. And till today, about 90% of the population around here do not know that.
Recently, we have decided to switch things up a bit and move from paracetamol to gebedol which is the lasted painkiller. Sometime back, I had been battling severe headache for weeks which was affecting my productivity at work. I had changed my diet, exercised , stayed hydrated and made so many changes to my lifestyle but with no positive result. Then, I decided to visit my African trait which led me to purchase a pack of gebedol. For someone with low pain tolerance and patience level, I ended up taking the whole pack of painkillers which had 10 tablets. I could have died that day but I got a second chance to live to give my testimony today.
Looking back, thinking about not only the effects if had on me but also the worry it caused those around me is enough for me to advise anyone against prescribing drugs for themselves. For the start, it might look good but self medication isn’t really the way to go. The best thing to do is to seek medical help and get the right drugs for your diagnosis. Let’s say no to self medication today!
