When My Body Outgrew My Drugs

I remember the time I used to take medications with confidence. I became my own doctor, and once I notice any of the same kind of regular symptoms, I will rush to get the usual drugs for it simply because it has worked for me in the past.

In fact, if you come to my kitchen cabinet, I use one of the shelves specifically for empty cartons of used drugs. There are varieties of drugs you must see there: the antibiotics, the malaria drugs, even vitabiotics, cough syrups, etc., like you will think I have a mini pharmacy store in my house. 🤦

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Once it's the same sickness, it becomes the same drug of the past for me instead of going to the hospital to face the protocols of paying a consultation fee, doing a lab test, and then getting treated...that's too lengthy. I usually said, "The hospital is too far; I can quickly use those drugs they usually give me in the hospital," simple.

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That was a lifestyle I lived for many years, and don't look at me anyhow, lol; most people are victims of this up till now and without realizing that there is something called drug resistance.

Tolerance can really be a threat. In all of those same drugs and dosages I was using, at a point, instead of getting relief after taking the meds, it seemed that there was no significant change. The drugs gradually became ineffective in my body system, something that worked effortlessly in the past. In fact, in those days I used to fan myself for being a great doctor for myself after treating myself with those same drugs, and I feel better. I never knew I was piling up consequences for my unprofessional habit. That particular experience forced me to pause and really think deeply about the happening. Could it be that my body has adapted to the same drug? Has my body learned the drug too? I had to put a call across to my uncle, who is a doctor, while shivering because the illness was holding me still without relief after two days of taking the same drugs.

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It was that time our doctor opened my eyes to the way I have been misusing drugs. Did I tell you that in the past, I could take those drugs for two days, and once I felt better, I wouldn't complete the dosage? All of these bad habits contributed to the drug resistance in my body, and thus, I was facing the dark side of the evolution.

Our doctor uncle continued to educate me that when I take drugs for a long time, my body wouldn't stay passive, but rather it would adjust and build tolerance, and over time, those medications I take would lose power, not because they're now fake but because my body has outgrown them. Like, how? Those explanations sounded strange to me since I am not a pharmacist nor a doctor, lol. He also said that illnesses evolve too, so those infections, fungi, and bacteria are not as simple as they used to be; all of that treatment is being faced with resistance.

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A lot of people take antibiotics like they're painkillers; once they notice a cough, whether it's due to a viral load or an infection, they don't know but will take antibiotics. People increase drug dosage on their own for faster response, we don't complete our drug dosage once we feel better, and there are many more ways we usually misuse drugs. Why wouldn't it be resistance when we trained our bodies to be so?

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A once effective medication can lose its activeness when misused or overused, and this brings us to the big question: what happens if illnesses continue to evolve beyond treatment? Well, the answer to me is to stay responsible with your use of drugs. Stick to every medical guidance, and know that our body is liable to change, so you can't continue to depend on particular meds forever and expect the same result.

Evolution has a dark side for sure, but it calls for remaining sensitive to our bodies. If illnesses are taking a U-turn, then our approach to their treatment should change as well. This whole evolution requires that we become wiser.

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