Peter Pan and Pharmaceutical Fanfare

What can you buy for eighteen American cents in Brazzaville?

Eighteen American cents or .27 CFA (Central African Francs) buys one 10 mg tablet of Roche Valium over the counter with no prescription necessary at the Pharmacie Mavre in downtown Brazzaville. Pfizer”s Celebrex, on the other hand, is two American dollars a pop for one 200 mg capsule. I discovered this pharmaceutical fact when the left side of my neck decided to stiffen up like the legs of the dead cockroach I left belly up overnight on my kitchen floor.

I prefer the 180-degree freedom of a flexible neck so I can- for one important reason- negotiate the pedestrian perils of Brazzaville’s hazardous streets since I am sans my Mazda. When my peripheral vision is impaired, the risk of getting struck by oversized SUVs populating Brazza’s streets skyrockets, so the pain cramping my neck and shoulder had to be eliminated. The first drug cocktail of Valium and Celebrex took me by surprise because I did not realize I should have split the 10 mg tablet down the middle and swallowed only half of its blue magic. Because it was the early hour of the start of my weekend, and I had no place to go, I watched my feet sloppily crisscross a crooked path down the straight-line highway of the cool white tile blocks below. Foggily listing possibilities for the day’s activities, I ruled out operating a motor vehicle or swimming laps in the Villa Washington pool. My mental abilities were resisting the idea of order and responsibility when I began to read the instructional insert in the box of Valium. Under the heading Effets Indésirables Possibles de Valium Roche 10 mg, I discovered this side effect:

Difficulté à coordonner certains mouvements and remembered the pharmacist stressing two words, cinq milligrammes, emphatic in her articulation when she instructed me on the dosage of the drug.

Reading the package insert induced drowsiness, so I decided to hug my favorite overstuffed pillow with its paisley blue flowers decorating my dreams and visit Never Land for several hours of unobstructed deceleration of life.

Later in the week during a lunchtime conversation with my Congolese coworkers, they informed me that in Brazzaville, we are responsible for our own bodies in the pharmaceutical sense. Self-prescribing medication for ailments, fevers, aches, chills and/or shoulder pain replaces the tightly controlled physicians’ prescription system in the States. As long as customers at the pharmacy can pay for their treatment, they are afforded the option of picking and choosing drug cocktails that they personally feel will cure them. Before slapping down the money at Pharmacie Mavre, I did; however, read about Valium in a medical manual I found at work, so I knew its ups and downs. Celebrex was a drug I had encountered previously and was aware that it could destroy my stomach lining or increase my risk of a heart attack.

Despite stumbling on the actual dosage for the first time around- ten milligrams is simply too much for my nervous system to absorb- my shoulder pain has disappeared and the 180-degree sweep of my neck is back in action. The risk of getting struck by an SUV has decreased and life moves forward.