I have a list of medicines, some homeopathic, and others chemical based that I consume every day. Most of the time, they are scattered all over my room but I’ve never known why I need to rely on them. No matter how absurd it might sound, I actually don’t know why. I stand in front of my dressing table, and my eyes shift to the reflection of a medical gel. I find myself staring at it. It’s not easy for me to avoid all the medicines that I have lying in every corner of my room. 

Frustrated, no matter how many times I step out of my room, I come back and swallow them even when I don’t want to. I try to fight, but the drugs always win because my strength depends on them. Also, going against the doctor’s prescriptions would only cause more worries to my family.

I had never imagined that I would end up like this. While visiting the doctor to complain about some health complications, the doctor ran a series of tests on me. The next day arrived, and so did the doctor with my test results. The stare the doctor gave to the report in his hand was baffling. As I waited to hear the verdict, the pace of my heart sped. I had thousands of questions in my mind. Finally, I asked, “Do I have some serious illness?” 
He replied, “No!”  And that was it. 

Then he started writing all the name of drugs. Confused, I asked the again “Is something wrong?” 

Finally, the doctor spoke up. I had an illness with a complicated pronunciation. It’s been quite some time and I am yet to learn to annunciate it properly. He said, “I have it all written down for you, don’t worry just follow them and you will be fine in no time.” I took the prescription and walked out of his office. By the time I was out of the pharmacy, it felt like I was carrying a mountain of medicines along with me.

A lot of questions were still left unanswered. So, I logged into Google to search for answers and understand what the doctor was saying. I tried searching the name of the illness, started checking some symptoms, what could be the causes, their outcomes, and precautions. My heart skipped a beat when I saw ‘death’ in the list of outcomes. I thought my coming to its end.  I saw the desperate need to follow the doctor’s orders strictly. 

But so far, I have learned that drugs are not enough. I have spent several hours on the internet trying to learn a little more about the illness and to search for home remedies. And I realized, patients have a hard time when doctors fails to brief or counsel them properly. Doctors spend years learning how to treat patients, but it is also their job to speak to the patients, clarify every detail. If not anything, calm them down and ensure them of the treatment.