My Codeine Syrup and Me

It all started out with a cough. I had a nasty cough that wouldn't go away. I was in my 1^st year at the School of Pharmacy in Kumasi, Ghana and it had been quite hectic dealing with the culture shock, the course schedule and all.

I walked into a drug store on campus and bought myself a bottle of codeine based cough syrup and would  take it only at bedtime due to the side effect (drowsiness).

After a while,  the cough improved but I went on to use the drug because I observed that I slept better when I used it became a daily ritual. I would take the normal therapeutic dose for cough about 10ml, and have the best sleep.

Then it started. One morning I woke up at about 6:00am and my roommate Theresa Undadi (alias) (also a Nigerian pharmacy student) complained that I acted strange at night. She said she had been in the study room and she came in at about midnight. She said as she opened the door, I got up from the bed yelling and asking who she was and it was only after the third or fourth response that I went back to bed. I laughed really hard and told her she must have been studying too hard.

The semester ended and I went back home after so many repeated episodes of sleep walking and yelling. I went to see a doctor who explained that I might have been having seizures.

In my case, I was not drinking bottles full of the codeine based syrup but I had been on the drug for way longer than I should have. Fortunately, in my case, all I had to do was relax and avoid over exerting myself ans slowly reduce the quantity of the drug by medically tapering (gradual dose reduction) 

I was advised to stay off any such medication and today I can say that I’m much better. I still have strange episodes of sleep walking but now it only happens once in a blue moon.

I am grateful to God that things are not worse than they are right now. In subsequent posts we’ll bring you stories of people who have suffered addiction and overcome them in order that you may learn from their experiences and be a winner yourself.

Drug abuse is way too common in Nigeria, in my practice, I've seen too many cases of individuals who cannot seem to help themselves. Therefore, the next post would be about getting off a drug of addiction. Setting yourself free.

If you're addicted to any medication or have friends and family who may be addicted to any compound, you should watch out for the next post on this subject  which will come up soon. See the counsel of your pharmacist or healthcare professional prior to the use of any medicines.

The great apothecary (modern day pharmacist) Paracelsus once said, and I quote,

““All things are poison, and nothing is without poison, only the dose permits something to not be poisonous.”

Advisory note: Stick to the dose given to you by your doctors.

                Ask your pharmacist if you are confused about your medication.           

Have a healthy rest of your day,

Yours Truly,

Aunty Nurse

Next post: The Big "Bumbum" pill? Does it really work?