Hard painful lessons learned when sick

PAIN is a good teacher. When we experience something bad and feel some pain as a consequence, we remember better than if we were told a number of times about something.
And if we are good, we will try not to repeat what we did with the painful consequence following.
As an educated person reading this item, you must learn to take care of yourself to avoid getting sick.
The health department advises us on many things to do to maintain our health.
I had a number of painful experiences and have since been careful about myself, as well as advising others about some diseases.
When I was studying at the university I became very sick for a week. It was tragic because there was an ongoing student strike and my roommate was living off campus during the time.
I fell sick on a Sunday and on Monday I went to the clinic and was given treatment for malaria because I had a fever and lost my appetite.
I could not sleep in the nights, from Monday to Thursday.
My body, especially my chest and back, ached and suddenly I would sweat. After about 15 minutes, I would grow cold again.
This routine continued throughout the night.
I had to drag myself to the mess three times a day to eat and walk back, shower and lay down in bed.
On Friday morning, after the four nights of pain, I went to the clinic and told the sister that I must get some other medicine because the pain was unbearable.
She gave me an injection and I went back to the room. I slept much better that night.
I continued my treatment over the weekend and recovered from the sickness.
When I looked at my clinic book I saw that the sister had treated me for pneumonia, a disease that was unknown to me.
That experience helped me save the life of a relative a year later when he was hurting with strong chest pains in the night.
We brought him to the hospital, he was given antibiotics and he recovered.
I learned a vital lesson.
Pneumonia, a deadly disease, is not cured by taking Panadol tablets or Chloroquine. 
Antibiotics are needed.
We can catch pneumonia if we are out in the cold for a long time or when we breathe in dust.
Always confirm with your doctor for the right treatment when you have continuous chest pains.
I also had painful experiences with food poisoning and having a painful tooth ache.
I have since changed some of my habits.
You should do too.
I will share more on those next week.        

l Next week: Learning from a toothache and others