I am at a pharmacy in my neighbourhood, chatting with the pharmacist when a young man enters. He asks the pharmacist if she has blue. "Unayo blue?"
"Blue?" queries a vividly surprised pharmacist. I am surprised too because the blue that I know is not sold in pharmacies. "You mean the blue used for clothes?" she probes the customer.
"Yes." The young man replies sheepishly. She tells him to go and look for that in the shops. The young man then mentions a name that I had never heard of and which I can not recall today, as my suspicion heightens.
"Oh oh! So you mean that one. We don't have exactly that but we do have something similar. What we have here is 100mg but you can use half of it and keep the other half for another day," she tells him.
Seemingly relieved, the young man agrees quickly. He will take that one. The pharmacist disappears into another room and returns with a box in her hand. I pretend not to be interested in the transaction so as to make the young man feel at ease. I suspect something. He pays and puts the medicine away in his pocket, thanks the pharmacist and walks out.
I make sure he is gone before asking my pharmacist friend if the young man was asking for Viagra. Without hesitation, she says yes. According to her, she sells the medicine to so many people in a day. And most of her customers are young men. Know what? They usually don't come with a doctor's prescription.
Young people I spoke to admitted 'young men' are using Viagra these days. None of those I spoke to admitted to be using the drugs themselves.
"Using Viagra is like fashion today. But I think the problem is young men these days have erection issues," says Ali, a bajaj driver at Sinza. He believes a lot of factors contribute to this, saying things were different in the past.
Viagra use on the rise
He says the food we eat today and the fact that some young men masturbate a lot at some point in their lives is what leads to their decreased sex drive.
Oscar, a shop attendant at Mwenge says some young men don't take Viagra to get an erection but a longer one. He says some use it just to show their girlfriends that they are man enough.
Although Viagra is meant to be taken only by men who have erectile dysfunction, most of those taking it today are those who don't need the therapy. Most of the users are young people who might not be in need of it given their age. However, even those who have issues and need to use the drugs under an expert's supervision are self-prescribing the medicine.
Dr Julius Twoli of Mwananyamala Hospital agrees that the use of Viagra is on the increase though he does not have statistics. He says although the medicine has been in the market for about a decade now, it's use seems to be perceived as illegal while it is not. He says people shun consulting professionals on such matters, hence end up using the drugs sans prescription and without knowing the side effects.
The danger in self-prescribing the drugs include taking the wrong dose, taking the drugs unnecessarily and even buying the wrong, fake or even expired drugs.
Fiona's* husband of eight years, Philip, is one such person (who self-prescribe medicines).
His wife noticed some change in her husband's sex drive recently that she could not understand. His sexual demand had increased all of a sudden. Before the change, the couple used to have sex about two to three times in a month. About two months ago, the couple started having intercourse up to four times a week.
Although Fiona did not ask her husband what the magic was, she could not stop wondering what was going on. But it did not take her long before she discovered her husband's little secret.
A little secret
As a monthly routine, Fiona was cleaning their bedroom one day when she noticed a white envelope in one of her husband's jacket's pocket in the wardrobe. Curious, she decided to find out what was in the envelope. And voila! There were some blue pills in it. Wondering why he would hide medicine that far while they had a medicine kit, Fiona dropped everything she was doing to see her doctor friend so he would tell her what the drugs were for.
"I froze when the doctor said it was Viagra," says Fiona. She could not believe her husband had a problem and had decided to keep mum. How could she have never realised he had a problem? She wondered.
"I was really angry with him. The doctor advised me to give him a chance to explain what made him use Viagra," says Fiona.
The doctor wanted Fiona to convince her husband to go to the hospital for consultation.
When Philip returned home that evening, he was shocked to find his little secret on their bed game. He grabbed the envelope and admitted he had made a mistake by using the drugs without informing his wife.
He blamed misunderstandings among them for making him fail to get an erection most of the time. This, he said was what led him into taking the drugs without first consulting a physician. He did not want his wife to cheat on him because of the problem.
Dr Twoli says although Viagra has been in the market for about ten years, the ministry of Health and Social Welfare has never given any guidelines on its usage. He says given that Viagra use is increasing by the day, it is high time the government issued guidelines on the medicine's application.
The drugs go for between Sh1,500 and Sh15,000 per tablet depending on the brand. Brands available in the market in Tanzania are cupid, vega and eretor.
Dr Twoli says because of the silence on the drugs, very few doctors have the expertise on their usage and how they work. Most of them just sell the medicine in their pharmacies to make money.
Because of this, the doctor sees danger in selling expired drugs since the majority of pharmacies don't put them in the open.
Sold underground
"Of all the pharmacies I have visited, especially in places like Tandika, Magomeni,Kinondoni, Tabata and Sinza, they don't put this medication in the open. When a buyer enters the pharmacy to buy Viagra, the pharmacist usually packs the drugs from another room and hands them in a way that the rest of the customers can not tell what the drugs are for," says Twoli.
He concedes that the majority of the users have no erectile dysfunction problems. He says they have issues at times due to their inability to handle pressure. Things like managing temper, stress, sadness and as a result they find themselves having low libido or even failing to have a long lasting erection.
Dr Twoli says such problems can be easily solved by consulting health experts and using proper food.
Erectile dysfunction risk factors include older age, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
Neema Omary, 27, a pharmacy attendant at Tabata Mawenzi says young men are the major buyers of Viagra at her pharmacy. She sells more Viagra during the weekends. Although she directs her customers on how to use the medication, Neema, who is just a Form Four leaver with no training in medicine says she does not know the medicine's side effects.
"I have been working here for almost five years now. My uncle is a doctor so he directs me how to dispense the drugs. I usually call him for more directions whenever the need arises before I give the drugs to a patient," says Neema.
Samuel Isaya, 37, a banker knows a number of young men who are popping the pill but says none will admit it in the open. He thinks social pressure is to blame for erection problems among men.
He says no man would like to look useless in front of a woman especially where sex is involved. They will go the extra mile to show them they are man enough without thinking twice of the dangers they could be putting themselves into.
"However, the majority of young men don't use Viagra to get an erection, but to get a longer one so as to earn respect from their women. I think there is a need for the medical personnel to educate the public on the dangers of misusing the drugs," says Isaya.
Viagra abuse can result in drug dependency. Men who use it to have longer erections could end up developing erectile dysfunction without the drugs.
* Names have been changed.
Email: sgregory@tz.nationmedia.com
Send Emails to wanabidii@googlegroups.com
Kujiondoa Tuma Email kwenda
wanabidii+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com Utapata Email ya kudhibitisha ukishatuma
Disclaimer:
Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Wanabidii" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to wanabidii+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
0 Comments