Sleeping was an issue for me one time. Nothing in particular was the problem. It just didn't come naturally. So I thought to opt in for sleeping tablets. The nearest pharmacy gave me these blue pills—eight of them in one packet, I think—and they worked like magic. Then I used them wrongly one time and didn't like myself for hours and hours.
We had just finished the semester exams, and I had barely had good sleep in days. My eyes were twitching, but I still couldn't bring myself to sleep proper, having gotten used to forcing myself to stay awake. I was feeling even more restless by the minute, and so I thought the blue pills would save me.
I couldn't have been more wrong that day.
Two pills—that was the regular dose. I did take just two, but I don't know how it was so different this time. The opposite happened.
I could not sleep. It was like I took caffeine pills instead. It was so horrible. My eyes were bloodshot. I felt my blood pressure rising, as well as my temperature. I felt even more restless. And I was just there for hours, begging for sleep to fall upon me so I could rest.
I don't think I could have wished that even for my enemy. It was horrible. No one could have prepared me for such an experience.
Somehow, the whole thing wore off, and I finally found sleep. When everything was over, no one had to tell me to dump the blue pills and never use them again.
And that's the thing about self-medicating. You most likely don't know enough about your body—at least most of the time—to attend to it properly. It can be dangerous, even deadly.
For me, I only know three types of illness. Or, rather, I classify everything that is doing me in this life under three categories. It's either a cold, malaria, or diarrhoea that is my problem. And really, it could be something far different from those three, but because there are certain medications that worked in the past, I would go get them again.
So if it's cold, that's the problem; procold is the way. If it's a headache, paracetamol or panadol do the magic. If it is malaria, I can't even count the number of available medications for that here; I would just go get one straight up.
Many times, self-medication is often trial-and-error for me. And one time, I did so poorly, guessing what was wrong with me.
I thought headache was the issue, so I did the "normal thing" and went to get one at the nearest pharmacy. For some time, I felt relieved. Then it began to surface not long after. Of course, I took another dose, thinking that would solve it. After the third dose at the end of the day, I realised that it was more than just the headache.
Since I was beginning to shiver when it was barely cold, I thought cold was the issue. So, you already know what I did. I went to buy medications for a cold. The first dose made me feel like I was on track. Then it got worse.
Then again, I concluded that it was malaria as its symptoms became more evident. I then started with malaria medications.
Eventually, I had to visit the hospital and really know what was going on. It turned out that I was pregnant. Two weeks pregnant! Can you imagine?? Who would have known?
But then, the doctor looked one more time and realised he read the machine upsidedown. It was actually malaria, but I was using the wrong medications. The right ones were then prescribed to me. And lo and behold, I recovered way faster than I got sick. I just wasted money, time, and three days of good food.
This self-medication thing is really wrong most of the time, yet many of us still do it. I have had a very big share of health issues this year alone to underestimate any sickness at this point. My only challenge is getting to health centres quickly enough. However, it's better safe than sorry.
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