AIR-CLINIC: THE DANGERS OF SELF- MEDICATION

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One woman in my neighbourhood, a mother indeed, was fondly nicknamed ‘Mrs Paracetamol’ for her indiscriminate and flippant prescription of this medicine. The moment a child sneezes harshly for two consecutive moments, what you will hear in the premises is a soprano voice which loudly announces with authoritative emphasis, “Give him two tablets of paracetamol.”

For another household in the busy street, their ordeal is uncontrolled utilization of antibiotics. Any family member that thinks aloud and announces a sensation of pain and discomfort in the throat, chest and abdomen receives a reassuring dose of antibiotics for quick relief. Time may not permit me to talk about reckless use of a set of medicine called nourishing tablets, namely, tablets of multivitamin, B-complex, ferrous, vitamin C, and folic acid. To some persons anything goes as far as taking a tumbler of cool water and swallowing the listed vitamins and iron tablets are concerned. It gives them a sense of wellbeing to swallow pieces of moulded chalk in the name of promoting healing and sustaining good health.

Some villagers have been noted to prepare some concoctions for treatment of common diseases like catarrh, fever, malaria and diarrhoea. It may be surprising to see somebody squeezing in water a mixture of ‘scent’ leaves and bitter leaf and drinking the emerging fluid for cure of malaria, fever and catarrh. How effective this prescription has been cannot be clearly explained. Yet the users derive relief and delight from the practice. Though it may have helped the adherents in one way or another but the consequences in the long run might outweigh the immediate gains.

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Self medication; medication without doctor's prescription or the consent of an authorized medical expert, though taken lightly is a form of DRUG ABUSE.

Self medication may expose vital organs like liver and kidneys to the accumulation of harmful toxins.

It may lead to salicylate poisoning (commonly called aspirin poisoning).

Antibiotic poisoning from excessive and uncontrolled use of antibiotics is disastrous.

According to www.ncbi.nlm.nib.gov self-medication gives rise to: misdiagnosis; delays in seeking medical advice; dangerous drug interactions; and incorrect dosage.

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