THE FASTEST MAN-EATING DISEASE

A dreadful disease is making its rounds in Africa, Nigeria in particular. It is combing the territory and sweeping people up! The old and young, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, male, female or hermaphrodite. Let’s just say everyone!

Let’s play a guessing game here – Is it Diabetes, HIV, Hepatitis, High blood pressure, Cancer, Malaria, Typhoid fever, Cholera, Meningitis, Asthma, Stroke, Paralysis, Swine flu, Bird flu, Ebola virus, Zika virus and so on. The list is endless!

Funny…but so far, it’s none of the above and yet it’s such a killer that most obituaries state it as the cause of death.

Did I hear you ask for statistics? Well, I have got none but considering the effect of the fastest killing disease, an evidence of statistics is highly irrelevant I dare say.

I bet you will nod your head in agreement when you discover what it is.

What is it called?

Here goes – BRIEF OR PROTRACTED ILLNESS!

That!... You say? Oh yes. Vague but powerfully dangerous.

Think about it.

Are you wondering what causes it? Anything can lead to it. It is either a short lived or battled-over-a-period-of-time illness which leads to the ultimate end – DEATH.

It is interesting that the source and type of illness is always shrouded in mystery and even after the demise of a loved one, cause(s) of death is speculated.

Is this the popular practice – yes!

Is it the proper practice – definitely NOT!

But it’s about time we start talking about it because when we do, we are creating awareness for others so that they make lifestyle adjustments to help them avoid such ‘diseases’. The truth is that ‘brief or protracted’ illness is usually a long manifested illness that was either not discovered or attended to early enough.

First things first, we all need to develop the CHECK-UP culture. Especially men.

Our lives are a fast paced, cut throat, struggle oriented, do or die affair to make ends meet.

We never take time out for a breather. Our vacations end up being more stressful than our work life.

A typical vacation is- travel to the village, have endless meetings with only two items on the agenda. Problems and more problems in your ‘constituency’. When all your money is exhausted, you pack up and leave.

An ideal vacation instead should be-eat balanced diet, minimize the office phone calls (the irony is that they are doing FINE without you!).

Ensure to see the doctor for all those little things that have been bugging you- headaches, backaches, stiff neck, blurred vision, leg cramps and so on. And prostrate check! It may be uncomfortable, but necessary.

Engage in stress relieving recreation- sleep, laugh, dance, sing, talk, take walks, have sex, and anything that brings back the adrenaline rush your childhood gave you. Also, plan for retirement.

Secondly, we have to make a lot of lifestyle changes. A lot of us feel that we are invincible but no one is. Let’s lead a healthy life. Quit the smoking drinking alcohol, soda, excessive junk and fatty foods laden with cholesterol.

I’m not a fan of longevity so I’ll draw this to a close and let you think.

There are two types of obituaries:

• With deep regret……
• With gratitude to God for a life well spent………

Which of the two would you like yours to be?

I’ve chosen mine. What about you? 

Written by Kaseina Dashe