Self-Medication

Self medication involves the use of drugs without the advice of a qualified medical practitioner or doctor.

A lot of us are guilty of this. Once we start feeling funny we go, 

"I have malaria, I'll take procold" 

We may go as far as prescribing a cocktail of different antimalarial medications for our ailments. 

Last week, I heard someone say he has used different antimalarial medication within a week and yet he doesn't feel better . WTH! (is this illiteracy or ignorance?).

Although there are so many pharmaceutical stores with certified pharmacist that ask questions before selling drugs, some of us would rather buy from a road side chemist that knows nothing and wont bother to carry out any medical test. All he cares about is  to make sales .  

The issue here is that a lot of us don't go for checks such as blood pressure, blood level , etc when we begin to notice certain symptoms. A symptom may be a pointer that something bigger is going on inside us: when we self medicate in a situation like this, we end up treating the symptom and not the illness. Symptoms like headache or nausea may be common to many other ailments. 

It is always advisable to visit our doctors when we begin to develop certain symptoms that we are not comfortable with. 

Failure to complete the Doctors recommended dosage may also lead to self medication. This is because, once a patient begins to feel he/ she is getting better before completion of the dosage, he stops taking the drug entirely. By the time the ailment returns again, he feels the drug he took must not have worked. The solution to him would be to either double the dosage or self prescribe an entirely different drug. 

I think Vitamin C and  Pain relievers are the most abused drugs. Common pain relievers such as Ibuprofen / and paracetamol should not be abused because that can cause complications (for example, some cold medication can raise the blood pressure). People consider the orange flavored Vitamin C a sweet rather than a drug. 

The dangers in self medication are numerous and can be fatal, if not now, maybe on the long run. 

A few are:

Drug addiction: Many people have become addicted to some drugs such as cough syrups, anti-allergy drugs ,antacids  ,pain relievers. They find themselves unable to do without these medications.

Severe allergic reactions can even occur by taking strong antibiotics and many more dangers .

Your life and health are very important so think twice before attempting to self-medicate. 

The inherent dangers in self-medicating are numerous and can be fatal, if not now, then in the long run. These include:

Habituation: This refers generally to a psychological dependence on the continued use of a drug to maintain a sense of well-being, which can result in drug addiction. Many folks have become addicted to prescription drugs such as cough syrups, anti-allergy drugs, antacids, pain relievers or tonics and as such, find themselves unable to do without these medications.

Allergic reactions that may be severe or even fatal can occur. Antibiotics like Penicillin or Sulpha drugs can cause very severe reactions.

Irrational drug combinations are available in the market. Nobody tells the full truth about the products they sell and this goes for medicines as well. Some of them may be dangerous especially if taken with alcohol or other substances. Even food supplements and tonics can sometimes be harmful.

Under-dosage may not cure the symptom. Over-dosage can produce collateral damage to heart, kidneys or other organs. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics through wrong dosage or inadequate duration may lead to resistance or sudden allergic reactions. As a result, when there is need for an antibiotic, it may be ineffective.

Vitamins- Vitamin C in particular seems to me to be one of the most abused drugs. As a matter of fact, people consider it to be more of a sweet than a drug. However, even an overdose of vitamins may have an adverse result, especially fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K.

- See more at: http://connectnigeria.com/articles/2012/11/07/the-dangers-of-self-medication/#sthash.ibb8kaMf.dpuf

The inherent dangers in self-medicating are numerous and can be fatal, if not now, then in the long run. These include:

Habituation: This refers generally to a psychological dependence on the continued use of a drug to maintain a sense of well-being, which can result in drug addiction. Many folks have become addicted to prescription drugs such as cough syrups, anti-allergy drugs, antacids, pain relievers or tonics and as such, find themselves unable to do without these medications.

Allergic reactions that may be severe or even fatal can occur. Antibiotics like Penicillin or Sulpha drugs can cause very severe reactions.

Irrational drug combinations are available in the market. Nobody tells the full truth about the products they sell and this goes for medicines as well. Some of them may be dangerous especially if taken with alcohol or other substances. Even food supplements and tonics can sometimes be harmful.

Under-dosage may not cure the symptom. Over-dosage can produce collateral damage to heart, kidneys or other organs. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics through wrong dosage or inadequate duration may lead to resistance or sudden allergic reactions. As a result, when there is need for an antibiotic, it may be ineffective.

Vitamins- Vitamin C in particular seems to me to be one of the most abused drugs. As a matter of fact, people consider it to be more of a sweet than a drug. However, even an overdose of vitamins may have an adverse result, especially fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K.

- See more at: http://connectnigeria.com/articles/2012/11/07/the-dangers-of-self-medication/#sthash.ibb8kaMf.dpuf

Several reasons are behind people’s decisions to self-medicate today. For some people it’s just a lack of time to go see a doctor. It is no news that seeing a doctor often times is time consuming and there are situations where for an ailment which you consider as minor, a long list of tests get prescribed for you by the doctor. This always comes with a lot of financial commitment which brings me to the next reason why people pop pills. Adequate health care these days is costly and thus, people will much rather opt for the less expensive over-the-counter (OTC) remedies. Other times, it’s the prescriptions from a previous illness people use after considering that the symptoms then, look the same now.Yet another reason is the sea of information available on the internet. Finding the cure to your ailment has become as easy as just a search away from the internet it (or at least, so it seems). - See more at: http://connectnigeria.com/articles/2012/11/07/the-dangers-of-self-medication/#sthash.ibb8kaMf.dpuf

Several reasons are behind people’s decisions to self-medicate today. For some people it’s just a lack of time to go see a doctor. It is no news that seeing a doctor often times is time consuming and there are situations where for an ailment which you consider as minor, a long list of tests get prescribed for you by the doctor. This always comes with a lot of financial commitment which brings me to the next reason why people pop pills. Adequate health care these days is costly and thus, people will much rather opt for the less expensive over-the-counter (OTC) remedies. Other times, it’s the prescriptions from a previous illness people use after considering that the symptoms then, look the same now.Yet another reason is the sea of information available on the internet. Finding the cure to your ailment has become as easy as just a search away from the internet it (or at least, so it seems). - See more at: http://connectnigeria.com/articles/2012/11/07/the-dangers-of-self-medication/#sthash.ibb8kaMf.dpuf