Wednesday, March 01, 2006

More on agbo and malaria

Our malaria seems to be s l o w l y abating. Yesterday morning I felt hot and tired, imagining the parasites to be dancing in my bloodstream. But the feeling gradually wore off and spent the rest of the day taking it easy, watching an Eric Rohmer film in the evening. This is the first time I've had malaria and gone the agbo-herbal route.

Rather than feeling bombed out by the drugs, its a slower process, where one is still aware of the cyclical attack patterns of the parasite. We have been taking two types of agbo, a gin-based concotion that you take by the thimbleful, bought from Lagos, as well as a homemade gloup made by boiling various leaves (neem, orange, pawpaw, guava, mango) in water for hours. Both are very bitter to the taste.

Our maid and the drivers all take agbo when they are sick with malaria (they cannot afford the drugs). I wonder if agbo could be formalised/formulated into an official recipe? Our doctor came this morning (he's a malariologist) and gave us B12 jabs. As vegans, we need to have these every 2-3 months anyway. What many people don't know is that when you have malaria and are taking drugs, you should have a B12 jab as well, otherwise the drugs are less effective.

9 comments:

david 6:06 pm  

ah, pele. you are definitely not used to malaria. It is well, you shall soon develop complete immunity from those pests like i did eventually.

Musings 10:43 pm  

Hmm... Agbo. It works. Get well soon.

Chxta 7:20 am  

Looks like this is serious. You haven't been around webside for 2 days. Get off that arse and get well.

Jeremy 2:31 pm  

im well-ish - just busy in Lagos training..

david 4:12 pm  

malaria guy, you have been taged at tag-o-mania.

cheerio, hope u're better now.
http://davidylan.blogspot.com/2006/03/tag-o-mania.html

Akin 7:23 pm  

Glad to know you are feeling a lot better.

I hope the agbo you are taking is dogonyaro (tall boy in Hausa) - suddenly realised, you are quite a tall chap :-)

I tasted it once at 6 and I immediately felt well, it was so bitter the fear of another dose of medication did the job.

Your journal is bereft of current affairs - buckle up! Only kidding!

Anonymous,  4:15 am  

You're blog has been an interesting read. Naijapundit, an anonymous new blog has just gone online.

Chxta 3:39 pm  

Lagos? Where in Lagos are you?

Crystal 6:24 am  

This is a bit of a shock, to know that you can get Malaria so easy! I'm planning a trip to East Africa and am having trouble securing cheap bills, it's $4.60/pill in U.S.! I was considering winging-out without the pills but after reading the bit on your blog I've decided NOT to do that. It's gotta suck being ill while abroad.

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