SELF-
MEDICATION: A CURE OR A KILLER
Today we live in a world of fast foods, fast cars and fast cures. This has impacted the very human thought process today due to which people like to control everything around them including the disease causing bacteria’s and viruses. When the world is growing at a rapid pace neglecting the pros and cons of development, it has seen a rise in various types of pollution like water, air and land. The rising number of
diseases in his
body reflects the effects of the rising pollution’s on the human body today. With the rising diseases and the rising levels of awareness backed by the advertisements in the media of various types of
drugs available across the counter, people themselves treat their diseases even before understanding what is the cause of the disease or what exactly is their disease, and this type of treating the symptomatic signs of a disease is better known as
SELF medication.
The media today has ads beaming across the various channels of it, propagating cures for various common ailments like cold, fever, headache, sleeplessness and stomach upsets. At times there are ads on drugs and tonics that would bring about a general well being if its patrons consume it regularly. The effect of these ads on the viewers is that when people find a slights hint of a symptom the drugs propose to cure in them, they would rush to the nearest chemist shop to buy the drug in the process neglecting the side effects the drug would cause in their body. It is commonly known that there are
certain drugs for certain common diseases for e.g.: perinom for vomiting, ventorlin for wheezing, proxyvon for pain, norflox for stomach upset, nimulid for fever, ciprofloxacin for diarrhea, pain killers for headache and anti-depressants for stress bursting.
The reasons why people prefer self-medication is the lack of time and the costs involved in diagnosing diseases today. People live a fast life and are prone to get ill, but they don't like to be ill due to constrains of deadlines at their workplaces or the reluctance to acknowledge they are sick. Besides that if people go to a doctor there is a cost involved in terms of money and time. Every doctor today charges a consultation fee and also asks the patient’s to go in for expensive tests in expensive labs or hospitals. The result people prefer self medication learned from the media or by experience.
The effects of self medication on a human body is very drastic as is proved in several instances for example: a
person taking antacids for indigestion or gastric problems without proper consultation with a doctor overtime may be diagnosed of a neglected cancer. A person taking painkillers for headache may be suffering from a hidden hypertension. A person taking a drug for stomach pain may be suppressing a peptic ulcer and a dose of ciprofloxacin for an undiagnosed diarrhea may be a fertile ground for typhoid germs.
This only proves that self-medication for certain symptoms with no scientific diagnosis or analysis of what is the cause of the symptoms only suppresses the actual disease while creating a resistance for a certain drugs in the body. Which is proved by the fact that ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin are not effective anti-bacterial drugs today. The other serious effect of self-medication is that malignant and life-threatening disease that could have been cured at the bud is neglected till it becomes fatal and incurable.
There is several N.G.O’S trying to force the government to bring about a ban in selling drugs which have phenly propanolanmine, since these drugs cause haemorrhagic stroke, and it is commonly used in cough, cold and flu drugs. There is also several moves by certain groups to create awareness among people to desist from self-medication as they may be creating a cycle of medical problems in their body for instances a simple recurring cold, fever and throat pain or diarrhea may be an infection of the lymph glands or the white blood cells producingnodes in the body. The result of symptomatic treatment for the superficial infections while neglecting the actual infection could be a double-edged sword for the person. One is that over a period of time the person could develop cancer of the lymph nodes and his body becomes resistant to all the drugs he took to treat the symptomatic minor infections.
The conclusion is self-medication is a killer over a period of time.
Manoj G.Varghese B’lore India
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