JUST READ AND CARRY ON

by: Archimedes O. Bayquen, RPh, MPH Pharmacology is the study of drugs or in laymen’s term more commonly referred to as medications. Drugs are any substances that can alter the physiological functioning of the body. The official and more complete definition of drugs can be found in United States Pharmacopeia. Brief History Drugs are beneficial to the society. As old as man himself, drugs were used a very long time ago. During the very early times, incantations/ prayers by shamans and spiritual healers were employed as treatment of disease. In the ancient civilization, herbs, plant extracts, natural chemicals, biologic products were used by the Egyptians, Sumerians, Chinese and many others. Paracelsus, the Father of Pharmacology is recognized for his many contributions in the field. Many personalities like Galen and Dioscorides, Alexander Fleming, Paul Erhlich, Jenner, etc have also contributed much to the field of pharmacology from herbal formulation of ointments, creams to...

We take things for granted nowadays. The shelter we live, the water   supply we have, the electricity that powers are home, the road we travel every day, the air we breathe, the relationships we have, the love of God, the present moment—a lovely Gift, precious yet precocious. We fail to be grateful for having a family despite its imperfection. We fail to thank the people who nurtured us for reaching this far. Everyone who has a role in maintaining the society is important and needs to be appreciated. How many of us have shown appreciation to the driver who delivered us to our destination safely? A simple “thank you” or a simple act of kindness in the form of respect will do. How many of us have thanked our teachers for dedicating their time and effort to educate us? Instead, we complained for they are giving us a lot of projects, quizzes, exams and academic demands that are too burdensome. How many of us have shown our deepest regard to our parents for bringing us on Earth, a...

Up to this day and age, I have asked God to bring me a father figure who will be there to guide me. Nearing 28 th , I still haven’t found one. The biggest challenge to my life has always been a lack of fatherly love. I might seem happy and jolly on the outside but deep inside there is a scar so big (a chronic granulomatous wound if you want it medical) that can’t be filled by worldy materials, success nor money. That is looking for a strong man who can love you as his son. Someone strong enough to care for you in public and in private, a shoulder to lean on in times of stress and difficulties, a crying posts whenever you have problems, when you need advice someone to talk to. I have turned to my Divine Father to fulfill all of the roles of flesh-and-blood father but it still seems different. I need a person with a heartbeat, a living being to connect with. Someone who listens and replies just like a father. It is rather funny that a mature, adult individual in his 28 th is s...

As a 27 year old man with a receding frontal lobe hairline, I find this thing unsightly. I am frustrated for I have been using a lot of hair products, including herbals. In fact, I even exhausted our Aloe vera plant at home and yet have not seen any significant growth. Genetics may be a major contributor to this. But I look at my siblings who have very wonderful hair, healthy and numerous; I just died of envy. This thing has been going on starting in my 24’s to which I haven’t paid much attention to. I attributed it to stress and wasn’t alarm but on reaching my 26 th the red flag is irreversibly continuing to proliferate. Time bomb is ticking away with every hair follicle waiting to die and never regenerate. I started using every product I know, and some of which are really expensive. I haven’t enough savings to buy but I still bought anyway via credit. And still to no avail, hair growth has not been clinically, significantly visible. I should just probably have to live ...

With exam week fast approaching, I find myself paralyzed. Overwhelmed by the voluminous material to memorize and learn, my spirit is crushing. My agony is beyond description, as my anxiety level rises to its maximum degree. For normal people with strong support, adaptation is not a problem. But for emotionally-unstable person like me, these seem a lot. I wonder if my professors in medicine have felt this way too. How were they when they were like us? How did they make it? In awe, I bow for them with nobility and great respect. Many times with the clutters of information needed to learn and digest, time is of the essence. Learning to manage the limited resource of 24 hours daily is a struggle most of us have to juggle with. Given my limited memory capacity there is only so much I can store. I am neither imbecile nor incapable; I am just human with limitations. I can’t do all of these stuff in one sitting, I have to read and re-read materials over and over until it becomes clear an...