THE NIGERIAN PHARMACIST BLOG

  So today in the Pharmacy, a lady came in with a written note to buy the following antibiotics. Perfloxacin 2 "Cipro infusion" 6 "Ciproxin tablets" 2 Rocephin 6. On seeing the note I wasn't comfortable, I asked her who the drugs were meant for, she said it's for herself, I then asked her who prescribed it and she said a nurse, I asked her to call the nurse that I want to speak with her to know why she wants to give all these antibiotics to one person, maybe all the bacteria in the world are having a conference in the lady's body. Not that the the one she wrote "Ciproxin" is ciprofloxacin and Cipro infusion is also ciprofloxacin but meant for intravenous use (these nurses usually call it Ciproxin or Cipro), Ciprofloxacin and Perfloxacin are the same class of drugs with similar mechanism of action, (same Pharmacology) just some differences in their chemical structures, so basically this "nurse" wants to give one drug in two different f...

 1. Antibiotics dry up blood when you take them and so it must be taken with blood supplements. This is very wrong, antibiotics do not dry blood, ask your doctor or pharmacist whatever you need to know when taking antibiotics. 2. The white vitamin C works better than the coloured one. The difference between the coloured and white vitamin C are the colourants and sweeteners used to manufacture the latter, ordinarily vitamin C does not have a sweet taste but sweeteners and colourants  are incorporated into the active drug during compounding/manufacture to improve the taste and aesthetics, that's all. The sour or sweet taste is not associated with efficacy. 3. Anti helminthics (worm expellers) should be taken after taking sugar or sugary food. Some people say this is done to entice the worm to come out and eat the sugary food so that the drugs can act on it. This is one of the most hilarious stuff I've ever heard as a pharmacist, however it is not true, just take your worm expell...

 This article is based on my daily  observations of drug use in Nigeria as a community Pharmacist. I will not be talking about substance abuse which involves the use of psychoactive substances but rather drug misuse. Nigeria has a chequered history of drug delivery and usage, almost all drug types could be bought over the counter in Nigeria,  before I go further drugs in the Pharmacy are classified into Over The Counter (OTC) drugs and Prescription Only Medications (POM). OTC drugs are medications that could be bought without a doctor's prescription while POM are medications that you can only buy with a valid prescription by a medical, dental or veterinary practitioners. In Nigeria, virtually all drugs are sold as OTC, you can simply walk into any pharmacy or drug store and purchase the most ethical drug without any prescription and this has resulted in a lot of drug misuse in the society today with a lot of implications. Another factor is that once an average Nigerian ta...

  So today I took the first jab of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine and here's my experience. I registered today and I still took the vaccine today, the registration was so simple, easy and seamless, you can register here  https://nphcda.vaccination.gov.ng/ After registration, you will receive a message indicating the vaccination time, date and centre. Luckily for me, the vaccination centre is very close to where I work, on getting there, there was no crowd, as a matter of fact I was the only one coming to take the vaccine as at that time, so I walked up to a nurse and made enquiries, she directed me to the people in charge, they asked wether I've registered I answered in affirmative, they checked my name in their system and confirmed my registration, after the manual registration, I was shown the health worker in charge of the vaccination, the woman was just nice and straight to the point, I received the vaccine and was asked to sit for 10-15 minutes so that they can observe ...

Patient: I have this severe body pain and headache that won't let me do anything, please give me a good pain killer. Me: (proceeds to get the "best" analgesic), you have to take this one tablet every 12 hours for 3 days. Patient: how much is it? Me: ₦1,000 Patient: Ah, why is it too expensive naa, just ordinary pain killer, please give me paracetamol. Me: (speaking in my mind) why you no just walk in tell me say paracetamol you wan buy. 2nd scenario: Patient: Pharm please I want the best antimalarial. Me: This one is ₦1800 Patient: That's too expensive, give me the one of a lesser price. Me (proceeds to bring another one) This one is ₦1,600. Patient: You don't have the one that the price is lesser than these two. Me: (brings the cheapest) this one is "dozismartem", it's ₦250. Patient: Are you sure this one will work, please give me that first one you said it's ₦1,800. Me: (speaking to myself) What is the colour of your problem this morning?. I al...