The dangers of self medication

Serena has a cold. She cannot afford to miss work today because she has an important meeting. She stops at the local pharmacy and asks for a remedy. The salesman at the pharmacy gives her a combination ‘cold tablet’ and an antibiotic. Sunanda has burning and pain when she passes urine. There are some antibiotic tablets left over from when her sister-in-law had similar symptoms so Sunanda takes two of those. This tendency to take ‘a pill for every ill’ is not only dangerous for you but has profound implications for future generations.

Self-medication is an unfortunate tendency which a large number of people fall prey to. When they are sick, they do not consult a physician. They either self-medicate or take the advice of somebody they know. Right from office colleagues to domestic servants, everyone thinks that he or she is a medical authority. If you have a fever, cold, cough, constipation or indigestion, friends or even total strangers will quickly volunteer their favourite remedy, often unasked. Almost everyone you meet has an ‘unbeatable’ cure for whatever ails you!

A pill for every ill

We have become a society which demands a ‘pill for every ill’. With pharma companies investing huge amounts of money into research and development of new medicines, there has been a drug explosion of alarming proportions. Due to the economics involved, drug companies are reaching out to the consumer with direct advertising and the provision of over-the-counter (OTC) remedies. A large number of potent drugs are thus available to the individual for self-medication. Unfortunately, unlike buying a TV or other consumer items, a lay person may not have enough knowledge to judge whether a drug can harm her or cause unwanted side-effects.

The availability of potent and dangerous drugs has increased considerably with economic advancement. This situation is further worsened in our country by the fact that most prescription drugs are available to the lay person without the physician's prescription. As people vary greatly in their sensitivity to drugs, an appropriate dose for one person can be an overdose for another. A drug may also cross-react with another drug that the person is already on. Thus, the lay person is ill-advised in subjecting herself to potentially dangerous self-medication.