Some medicines can be bought without a prescription. They can be bought in pharmacies and in most food stores. These medicines are called over the counter medicines, or OTC medicines. OTC medicines are generally not as strong as prescription medicines but OTC medicines can have dangerous side effects if they are used too often, for the wrong reason, or incorrectly.
• People need to read carefully the labels on OTC medicines before buying them. Many labels tell what symptoms the medicines are used to treat. Labels may also warn of dangers of taking the medicine. Some OTC medicines should not be taken if people have certain health conditions, for example, young people with fever from influenza or chicken pox should never take aspirin in them. The aspirin may cause a serious health problem, non-aspirin medicines for fever are available, they may be used in place of aspirin.
• Using a medicine without following the directions exactly is medicine misuse. Suppose the right dosage of a medicine is two pills every four hours, taking three pills at one time would be misuse of the medicine, taking two pills every three hours would also be misuse. Dangerous side effects may come from taking too many pills or taking pills too often. The body Works best to fight off an illness of symptom when it has the proper amount of medicine. Putting too much medicine in the body at one time can be harmful.
• Self-medication can be dangerous to your health. People are often wrong when they think they know what to take for an illness just by observing the symptoms, many different illnesses have the same symptoms. Each illness may require a different medicine. Only with the help of proper tests can a physician identify a person's illness. Then the physician can decide what kind of medicine should be used.
• Medicine abuse can make people ill, it can even cause death. Few people start out intending to harm themselves with medicine. They may just use medicines carelessly. They may think a few mistakes cannot do any harm but regular medicine misuse can lead to medicine abuse.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited