Why is balancing chemical equations so difficult for me? I have an IQ of above 120 at least and I don't get it?

I am just a guy with no intentions of going into medical school or pharmacology, but from home desire to learn chemistry for myself to synthesize my own drugs if they are able to be synthesized from simple materials with the least amount of expensive equipment. I just want to know how to make biological drugs, I am not really interested in anything else that comes out of general or organic chem. Now, I have no further training in any mathematics, but I thought chemistry was just about scientific notation and dimensional analysis which through tricks I completely absorb and makes sense to me. However, I am stuck here, and being a visual learner, it's hard for me to find patterns in balancing chemical equations, it doesn't add up to me. I don't know why, but every tutorial I've watched I can't grasp anything. Do I need an understanding of simple algebra first? Look, all I am interested in is manufacturing drugs for the somatic body. How much chemistry do I need and does the math really matter if I can just use a calculator? Please help! Thanks.