Mohamed H. Dahir (Chairman, Pharmaceutical Association of Somaliland)
I don’t want to be an alarmist, since there already is an overabundance of people proclaiming disaster around every corner, but I do intend to make people aware of the properties of some of the things we consume so casually. I am definitely not a food freak or on a puritan trip suggesting that you stop smoking or chewing Qat or drinking. However, I want you to be aware of what you expect when your doctor gives you something to take.
Because people today, as well as their doctors, are so cavalier about consuming many different agents simultaneously without the awareness that they are in fact consuming "drugs" it is important to talk about interactions between these agents. By now everyone is probably aware of the potentially lethal interaction of alcohol and barbiturates or tranquilizers. In this case the simultaneous consumption of alcohol and a few tranquilizers can together produce an additive effect greater than either one alone. The result can be an unintentional suicide. They can just as easily happen between something in the diet or in environment. However, there are many reactions, which can be severe and at times life-threatening. Your doctor may not be aware of the various medications you are taking simultaneously, so you will have to guard against potentially dangerous combinations very carefully.
The ability of a drug to effect a cure or relieve a symptom is often a mystical process. Part of the process is a direct scientific cause-and-effect relationship, but much of medicine relies on your own body to do the job. Antibiotics, for example, often only slow down the invading bugs, allowing the body’s own defense mechanism to take over and get a better hold on the little devils. In many cases, drugs can only provide symptomatic relief rather than actually produce a cure; they can decrease the intensity of diarrhea, peptic ulcer, or angina pectoris without actually curing the underlying problem. Thus your own body, and especially your psychological state, can profoundly modify the manner in which a drug exerts its curative powers. If a person wants to believe that the medicine he buys will help him go to sleep, it will. If someone thinks he is taking a powerful pain remedy, it will help alleviate his suffering. And if he has to pay through the nose for medication, the chances are that it will "work" that much better.
Although we have been taught to scorn anything "mental", it is important to recognize that the role of our heads play in our attitude to and recovery from disease is probably tremendous. There are countless examples from disabling infirmities under the guidance of a friendly radio preacher, or at various miracle cure locations. Even though modern medicine refutes such cures, it is often unable to determine the role of the placebo effect in its own practices. A visit to your white-coated doctor provides significant psychological support for any cure.
To be continues next week
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