ALL THE DRUGS ARE NOT WORKING ANYMORE & HERE’S WHY
Prior to 2023, everyone in the world loved drugs. We pop pills every time. Over-the-counter drugs, Iya Wakili Chemist Shop recommendations, neighbour’s drug recommendations, real doctor prescription…
But what if I tell you that 2023 is the year you should take less drugs. I mean, what if I tell you that this year is the time to start actively monitoring your pharmaceutical consumption.
Why? It’s just two very technical words; Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).
Let me tell you a short story…
Imagine that you have malaria, you then decided to get antimalarial from the pharmacy. The first drug you bought, it costs N1200 and you used it for two days but there was no improvement in your health. Then you go again, bought another “correct malaria drug” for N4000, used it for three days but your condition which slightly improved on the first day you started using the 4K drug worsened. It was so bad that after nursing malaria at home for four days and spending about N7000, you landed in the hospital where you had to be placed on a cocktail of antibiotics, and a decreased liver functionality, and a bill of N50,000. End of story.
Tell me? Do you think this story above is possible? Have you ever fallen sick before that it looked like all the medications you were using were ineffective? Have you seen people who had to treat themselves with exorbitant amounts for the same illness you practically spent just N1000 and small body discomfort on?
What causes diseases are microorganisms or for short, microbes. They are living things, very small, can’t be seen with the naked eyes except with microscopes, and are everywhere. Majority of all known microorganisms are harmless, so in their natural state, they can’t do you shit.
However, some of them are very harmful. Toxically dangerous. We call those ones pathogenic microbes, and they are the ones that cause diseases. So there are different microbes capable of doing different things.
Now, when this microbes enter our body, they try to colonise it and make it their home and in that process they cause harm to our cells. How do we fight against these harmful microbes trying to own our bodies? We use drugs. Yes, drugs. So you can see that drugs are very good chemical substances.
However these pathogenic microbes, which we regard as the enemy are living things (remember I said that just three paragraphs above), so they try to do what every living thing does, which is fight back. As a human being if someone walks up to you and tries to kill you, I can imagine what you’d try to do to the person just to ensure that he/she doesn’t succeed in killing you.
That’s exactly what these microbes do, too. When they attack our body trying to colonize it, we use drugs so that we can counter them, these drugs tries to kill the microbes as expected, but somehow these drugs fail because the microbes have learnt new ways of making the drugs fail at their one job.
And that is where Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) comes in
So in simple definition, AMR is a condition whereby a particular drug which has always been effective against a particular microbe is no longer effective and at such can’t do the job of killing that microbe any longer.
How did we get here?
Well, it is a series of factors that pushed us here. It is like going from Ikeja to Agege, I mean, if you keep up that journey, you’d most likely end up at Oshodi.
Several things play a part to AMR
One. Naturally, these microbes evolved. Yeah, they are living things too, their genomes (DNA) experience changes just as we humans do. In the science world, we call it mutation. Some of these changes empower them to become more audacious and resistant to drugs.
Two. Human activities helps too. There are a couple of things we humans do that are harmful to us on the long run.
Incomplete/wrong dosage. When you were asked by your doctor to use a drug for seven days but because you’re already feeling healthy by day four, you stopped using the drug. And what did they say about the ram that shook bumbum and walked back… it went to gather more power. (agbo to tadi meyin, agbara lo fe lo mu wa). So what really happened is that the drug was working, killing the microbes, and that was why you were feeling better but when you stopped using the drug on day 4 instead of using it all till day 7, it means that the drug did not finish killing all the microbes, and the ones that did not die gets another chance to not only live but learn about what drug you used, how it affected them, and possible ways for them to ensure that when next you used such drug, it doesn’t affect them anymore.
Careless medication when you use drug anyhow. Okay, small headache five days ago, you’ve used two antimalarial tablet; small increase in your body temperature today and you’re popping another antimalarial; another small cough next tomorrow and you are going to pop malaria drugs again. Haba! Stop it. Every time you use antimalarial drugs without confirm diagnosis that you truly have malaria, what you’re doing is teaching the microbes to learn so that it can avoid the next time you pop another malaria drug. When you finally do have malaria, you may notice that the antimalarial did not work because the microbes already learnt about the drug and can now evade it.
But how is that a problem? If one drug stopped working, we human beings are smart people, we’d just create another type that works…
Well, that is the main problem. We human beings are truly smart asses but we can’t create new drugs. Different drugs belong to different families, and some groups of drugs all belong to the same family.
Imagine that Ayo, Bola, and Tobi are drug names and they are all children of Adeola drug family. Ayo is now ineffective against malaria, so the next option is Bola. However, because Bola and Ayo come from the same family, even though Bola is effective against malaria, it won’t take long for the microbes causing malaria to figure that Ayo and Bola are from the same place and devise a way to be resistant to Bola too.
So like that, drugs that worked against malaria in the past are no longer effective. One by one scientists are running out of drug options. One by one almost all the drugs are not working; becoming useless. The last time a new kind of antibiotics was discovered is several years ago. It is as if there is something coming to kill your chickens one by one and there is nothing you can do about it.
The solution? Well, they are quite simple too.
One. Complete your medication dosage; don’t abuse drugs – use them only when it is deemed necessary; try to supplement taking drugs with other alternatives. For example, instead of taking Panadol for that mild headache, why don’t you take a cold shower and sleep? That mild headache will not kill you…well, except it is a burst aneurysm or symptom of stroke and that’s dangerous.
Two. Talk to others about the dangers of drug abuse; live in a healthy environment such that you reduce the chances of pathogenic microbes getting a hold of you in the first place; be a fan of preventative medicine.
Lastly, don’t date Yoruba men. They are the junior brother to most microorganisms.
Nonetheless, doctors are updated about which drugs are effective and which ones are not. They also know a great deal about which kind of drug would work best for you. So to end this newsletter, visit your doctor or have a doctor you can visit and talk to them not only when you’re sick.
Complex stuff in simple and interesting way, Niceeee 😊
The last point is most important! Another fascinating read, Ololade Edun. I particularly like how you make such educating piece into an interesting one. ✨