Learning the hard way: the risk of unprescribed medication

Self-medication is one thing I have always done, and I never saw it as a bad thing until I had a bad experience with drugs that nearly took my life.

It's not like I love taking drugs, but then when I got to Lagos to live with my sister, I realized that I have to take care of myself because there is no one to ask me how I am doing, so for that reason, I always buy all these drugs called "asa po," or "counting.".

If you are living in Lagos, you will understand and know this counting drug. We who always buy it believe it works for malaria and typhoid, and it works sometimes, but when what is wrong with you is different from what the counting drug works for, then you have to deal with the consequences of it.

The image is mine

Some drugs have given me bad experiences, but then this counting drug gave me the worst experience of my life because I wasn't expecting the bad experience since that was not my first time using it. My mom always bought the counting drugs for me when I was still with her, so I didn't doubt it when I got to Lagos.

It happened when I first moved to Lagos. I got sick after working in a factory for one month, and my sister took me to the woman who sells counting drugs.

She asked how I was feeling, and I explained to her, so she gave me the counting drugs based on what I explained to her.

I got home and used the drugs as prescribed by her. I felt better and resumed back to work, but some hours later at work, I started feeling like vomiting, and I went to the toilet to throw up.

I went back to continue my work, but after some minutes, again, I felt like vomiting. To cut a long story short, I vomited four times, which made me weak, and the supervisor told me to go to the clinic.

When I got to the clinic, the nurse asked what kind of drugs I took, and I told her it was counting; she said I shouldn't have and then gave me another one, which I don't know what it works for. I just used it immediately to get better so that I could work for that day and get paid.

After some minutes, I couldn't tell what was going on around me because I felt weak and dizzy, so I didn't have a choice but to call my sister; she rushed down to the clinic before taking me home.

On our way home, she called our elder sister, who is a nurse, and she told her not to give me anything again until the next day so that all the drugs could stop reacting in my body.

The image is mine

I thought I was going to die that day because I didn't even know how we got home. My eyes were already closed, but I was still breathing. My sister was scared, and she made use of cold water to mop my body all through the night so that I could stay conscious.

I began to sweat around 6 a.m., and after that, I started feeling better; even though I didn't have the strength to do anything, I could talk, and I opened my eyes.

Ever since that day, I stopped taking drugs. I don't know the source or that it wasn't prescribed by a nurse or doctor because I nearly lost my life over some drug reactions. I learned my lesson in a very hard way, and I wouldn't dare to buy such drugs again.