Fake asthma medication

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Some weeks ago, I landed on a post of a grieving mother who had lost her son to an Asthma attack. I kid you not, even though I have gotten a major life-threatening asthma attack before, for a minute, I forgot that asthma kills. I remember muttering “oh shit”.

I’ve known my medication from as early as 7. I’d be out in the compound playing soccer with my mates, I’d feel something, and I’d run to the intercom and call Mom and ask if I should take a specific drug for what I was feeling. She would confirm. For context, we lived in doctors’ and nurses’ hostels that had telephones on every floor keeping everyone in reach when at home and at work.

By the time I went to boarding school, I could tell the nurses what medication I use.

There is a specific medication that I grew to dislike in my teenage years. That small tablet would leave me weak with tremors and palpitations. The body would only calm down after a couple of hours but on many occasions, my lungs would respond very well.

When I left the university, I decided to just go back to it. I had been getting attacks more often than “usual”. I knew Ventolin would be of great help but after a few buys, the medicine stopped responding. I feared my body could have grown resistant to the drug. I kept refilling even when I took it and remained with an asthma attack that only responded to a certain drug combo in inhalers.

One day, mom brought the same medicine and my body felt like there was a light earthquake. That’s when it hit me that I’ve been buying fake medicine. I’ve tried different pharmacies, but that one time I got the working strip was just a view once. It’s been years and I’ve not landed on “working” Ventolin. It’s worse that I have not seen its variations in countries. I hoped that maybe landing on a UK one would save the day but there seems to be one brand on the market.

The same applies to prednisolone but I found a more expensive variation that works.

While in Kenya, I got the 2 drugs. I was confident that I was going to get legit medicine. Same story.

When you have a chronic illness, you should pray that people’s desire to make profits doesn’t outweigh your access to proper medication.

Written by

Nabuguzi. Kiwanuka

Lawyer. Founder, Director, CEO at Equate Foundation. Podcaster - Hash Time with Nabuguzi Kiwanuka. Drawer. Dance lover. Music lover. Risk-taker. Daily learner.

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