Yagana Babakolo
U14MM1119
The truth is that in Nigeria when you have body pains, fever and loss of apatite the first thing that comes to mind is malaria . I remembered quite vividly what happened to Hadiza a student in secondary school ,a program was going on in school that she had to attend . Sitting in program her whole body started aching ,her stomach felt likes its being lit on burning torches ,she informed me about it and i suggested that we should go home , I can remember walking with her to the gate to hail a cab and feeling like she was going to collapse. Fortunately, we reached home successfully ,explaining her predicament to her cousin who aided in giving her medicine for common cold as she was shivering ,but her body wasn't responding to the medicine . she was finally taken to the hospital where a series of tests were being run and they concluded that It's malaria. She was given anti malarial and we were asked to go back home . That night she couldn't sleep due to the pains she was experiencing ,the next day we went back to the hospital where the doctors decided to keep her in. She was feeling sever pains on her legs ,she felt like her legs will benefit her more if its being cut out ,all the joints in her body were on hold ,as she couldn't feel them anymore . The doctors kept insisting that she was suffering from malaria ,she refused putting up arguments upon arguments about how what she's experiencing is totally different from the symptoms of malaria .Although quite alright she have malaria but there was more to it than just malaria. I remember them scolding her and asking her "what do you know ?" As they are the doctors and she's a mere patient who knows nothing about health . Her aunt who is a pharmacist speaks through experience how she doesn't think what she's experiencing is malaria but again the doctors shrugged it off with "we know what we are doing " and refused to do more diagnosis. The medication they render on her proves fail as its not doing anything to improve her health ,she was feeling serious pain on her joints that couldn't be imagined. Her aunt whom is a consultant in one of the hospitals in the UK ,insisted to talk to the doctors and they still replied with "we know what we are doing. Everything got worse as it reaches a point where she can't work unless being aided ,her aunts decided to take her to a different hospital and they suffered to get a rheumatologist who specializes in joints/bones problem . It wasn't easy finding that doctor because there is only one rheumatologist in Abuja and only eleven in the whole of Nigeria . The rheumatologist gave a series of tests and after diagnoses he concluded that she has lupus. Lupus is an inflammatory disease caused by the immune system attacking its own tissues. It has no cure ,it only have medication which puts it on track ,shes still undergoing medications ,seeing her doctor every two months and always taking her medication ,if she misses two days without taking her medication then she will pay for it with a week of intense pains . She still breaks down ,once in a while . Imagine someone in the local villages being diagnose with malaria where as it might be a different thing even though the malaria is there, without that person knowing anything about disease and not literate enough to challenge the doctors . If not for her aunties who are experience in the medical field she would have died with the indication that she has malaria whereas it was lupus. The Nigeria government need to work more on health and diseases and the youths of Nigeria need to pay more attention to careers needed i.e rheumatologists and not rush into a certain career because its more popular .We need more rheumatologists in Nigeria. This is her journey to lupus.
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