On random drug use

I’m a proponent of using as many drugs as necessary to allow you to function normally. If God had intended us to feel pain he would have given us painkillers. I can hear the comments now, ‘oh no! Pain is your body’s way of telling you it’s not healthy.’ No kidding! I’m happy to let my body tell me something’s wrong but then I want to be able to tell it to shut-up. That’s where drug use comes in. To me there is no reason to justify experiencing pain if you don’t have to. I write all this because I’ve just had a whopping dose of muscle relaxant shot into my bum (which might also explain why this incoherent rambling is posted on the blog).

I had a raging head and neck ache all day and by 1pm couldn’t take it any longer so went to the UNMIS clinic where the doctor told me that it’s either stress or driving on the roads and that a shot of muscle relaxant would do the trick. Unless, of course, it’s malaria, he says by way of parting and that I should come back if it doesn’t go away. Unconvinced, but happy to be feeling less pain, I go see some doctor friends at another NGO. ‘Hmmm,’ she says. ‘Could be spinal menegitis but we can’t tell because the symptoms will be disguised by the muscle relaxant. Come back if you’re not feeling better.

This is all bad news. Why can’t doctors say things like, ‘oh, you’ve got a headache, no worries. You’ll be fine. Here’s some drugs.’ Instead, they give you the worst case scenario in a chipper tone and send you on your way. And in Sudan you’ve got plenty of worst-cases to choose from. Whatever happened to bedside manner anyway?

P.S. Security meetings are a whole heck of a lot interesting when on muscle relaxants.