As first-time parents, my wife and I were very careful how we handled our daughter. We were inexperienced and naive. First, during the pregnancy stage, I followed her to get registered in a maternity ward for antenatal care. At the maternity ward, we were told that it is safer to register at the general hospital where there are consultants that are on the ground to give professional advice to first-time would-be mothers. Gladly, we turned in at the general hospital where she got registered and delivered our baby.
A few months after the birth of our daughter, Adora, we noticed that she was always secreting mucus (catarrh) from the nose. I got worried and asked my wife to visit the specialist for observation and prescription but she waved it away. To make it worse, one of our neighbours recommended a syrup that would help dry off the catarrh. Unfortunately, it only got worse.
The catarrh persisted until she clocked one year during which she was to be immunised with vitamin A, I think. The public health officer observed the catarrh, this time, it had started to be lemon-green, and advised that we book an appointment with a paediatrician.
When my wife mentioned it lazily to me, I picked it up, and together with our daughter, we went to the general hospital where we got word for poisoning the child. The doctor frowned at our action of administering an unprescribed drug to our child causing her to suffer for the past year. I looked at my wife with disdain. She did not listen to me the first time I asked her to report the medical condition of our lovely daughter to the nurses whenever she went for a check-up at the hospital.
However, Adaora was placed on medication for just two weeks and the catarrh never showed up again. From that time, I understood the essence of seeking professional help when it comes to health matters.
On the other hand, some ailments seem very little that we can self-medicate on. One example is cold. This particular cold must have risen from constant rainfall or cold weather.
The truth is that no excuse is good enough to engage in self-medication. Over the years, one has seen people hide behind some excuses as to why they engage in taking unprescribed drugs.
Cost of Prescription Medication
The cost of drugs in the modern day may be one of the many reasons why people attempt self-medication. Most drugs are expensive these days. As such, sick people would rather use drugs they have been told work for their kind of ailment. Other people follow the content of drug adverts. This is the main reason why people easily self-medicate. We know that drugs with high caffeine help to kill stress.
I remember vividly when my wife was told in the general hospital to take a bottle of Coke whenever she had a headache. Funny enough, each time she felt a headache, she quickly called for a bottle of coke. The thing is that it works for her.
In third-world nations where there is a low rate of usage of medical facilities, citizens use traditional medicine to cure ailments that cannot be cured with orthodox medicine. One such ailment is diabetes. In orthodox medicine, diabetes cannot be cured, it can only be managed but traditional medicine has a cure for it that has not been widely accepted by orthodox medicine professionals. In this area, people who know the worth of traditional medicine would go for it rather than spend a huge sum of money managing it.
Stigma Associated With Seeking Help
We know in part that one of the ethics of the medical profession is secrecy or confidentiality of the patient's health status. Still, most sick people would rather die in silence than seek professional medical assistance. It is even believed that the day you learn about your medical status, you start dying. Hence, they would rather seek other means that are not professional in seeking relief.
Immediate Relief
Truly, since there are different brands of paracetamol, one does not need to seek medical advice to use the tablets when the need arises. We all know what paracetamol is meant for, to relieve pain, hence, we go for it when we need to be relieved of pain in our body.
The case of Adaora made me know the need to always seek professional medical assistance. I have also known that no excuse is food enough to defend self-medication. This is because at least one must know through a proven result from a medical laboratory what the ailment is all about before administering medication.