A large number of people, when they fall sick, do not consult the physician. They either consult a chemist and obtain a medicine from his shelf, or may consult a neighbor who may be having some tablets left over from his previous illness, and readily spares them. May be most of the times nothing untoward happens on following such advice, but it can be dangerous.

Proprietary drugs which are sold over-the-counter include pain relievers, cough remedies, antiallergics, laxatives, vitamins, tonics, antacids and many others. Even dangerous drugs like the antibiotics and the hormones can be procured, somehow or the other, without a valid prescription.

Self-medication usually involves common drugs which are freely available. A study carried out in the United States showed that nearly[b] 2 billion dollars per year[/b] were spent on such remedies. It is questionable whether the benefits outweigh the potential hazards. They account for poisonings, allergy, habituation, addiction, and other adverse reactions. Above all [b]their use often delays proper treatment of the disease.
[/b]
The most misused drugs are the[b] analgesics or pain reliever[/b]s. In fact, age old, ordinary aspirin is as effective, and even safer than any of the modern analgesics like fenamates, oxicams, or Cox-2 inhibitors like rofecoxib and celecoxib.

Similarly cough remedies, antiallergics, laxatives, vitamins, tonics, and antacids can lead to serious side effects. Even lavish use of vitamins, specially the fat-soluble (A,D,E, &K) can cause problems.

finally is the availability of many[b] irrational drug combinations[/b] in the market, which expose the individual to several drugs needlessly, each of which can cause adverse effects. Very few combinations have a legitimate place in modern medicine. Yet irrational combination abound and are being used by some professionals.

Always consult your Physician

@ Poster

Your publication is so informative and educative. I think it will do all the nation a favour (especially the illiterate and the less privilege who may not have access to internet) by sending a copy to Madam Re-branding and Mr. President to orientate the general populace on the DANGER OF SELF MEDICATION.

By so doing, the Fed Govt. must improve on the living condition of the ordinary Nigerian who's only option is resorting to self medication against consulting a physician in time of sick.

The following areas must be given adequate attention;

Extream poverty in the society!

Non availability of some prescribed drugs!

Incompitency on some part of the physicians!

Large circulation of fake drugs!

Weak health institutions!

ABOVE ALL, ATTITUDUNAL CHANGE.

and who says they dont know the dangers of self medication? they do,
infact madam rebranding is a qualified pharmacist herself but the chief main cause of self medication is poverty & ignorance,
i'm only trying to contribute my own 20 kobo to nairalanders

couldnt agree more, the poverty situation of this country is preventing most people to visit the doctors. they'd rather make uneducated guesses and use drugs which can live them in a far worse situation than they were before. . . even if we had a functioning health insurance system, a lot of people wont qualify. the whole thing can be so damn depressing

My dear times are just hard. If i know iv got free medical care even if my ear itches, il go straight to ask what causes the itching. When i have to pay for transport to and fro, pay to see the doctor, pay to buy the drugs,haba?! if my ears itch i would just itch it back or if i try,just walk 2 ask for ear-drop for itching ears. Not like the doctors these days do any good these days. Most dont even know wot exactly they are doing.

Sell Medication's got nothing to do with poverty.

I mean, how many times have pple who've d wherewithals Self Medicated?

It's all down to our orientation and perhaps mindset.

It's gonna take some hard work and massive enlightenment to make pple realise d danger inherent.

tayo_ast:

Sell Medication's got nothing to do with poverty.

I mean, how many times have pple who've d wherewithals Self Medicated?

It's all down to our orientation and perhaps mindset.

It's gonna take some hard work and massive enlightenment to make pple realise d danger inherent.

tayo_ast:

Sell Medication's got nothing to do with poverty.

I mean, how many times have pple who've d wherewithals Self Medicated?

It's all down to our orientation and perhaps mindset.

It's gonna take some hard work and massive enlightenment to make pple realise d danger inherent.

couldnt agree more. the funny thing is most people never bother with hospitals until the case becomes life threatening

This topic struck a chord with me. I've been 'preaching' this same message to my immediate family and friends for some time now but they won't listen. I hope one of them would just happen on this forum or someone else mentions it to them soon.


Nice one there Oxone!!!

Oxone thanks for this,your post addresses people like me, as someone said it has nothing to do with poverty but orientation,I fall sick regularly so I always feel why go to hospital when I know the drugs they'll give me anyway. I've been doing this for a while till recently when I'd been self medicating for months and it turned out to be something else !

Always consult your Physician

Thanks for the information

lozz of life

pple used Self Medication's b'cos of poverty in the country, many pple found it difficult to feed themselves, talk less of buying drug. those pple will prefer to used herb medicine which will cost dem less.

Nice one

In as much as self medication isn't exactly good, it is practically impossible to have all medical cases treated In the hospital or attended to by a qualified health personnel. Nigeria is not even anywhere near the WHO recommendation of health personnel per population ratio.
Even in developed countries, there ore OTC drugs and I think the best practice is to enlighten the public about how to treat the very common diseases. Even a down's person can treat malaria and knows Lonart or Amalar. Paracetamol for basic pain and that way, we'll be just fine.
And yes, I'm a medical doctor.

Read more on the reasons for the practices of self medication from here http://www.edumacro.com/self-medication-substance-abuse/

It's horrible! People don't realize, when they start to self-medicate. My friend had bought strong antibiotics for himself, after that he lost hearing. He was treating bronchitis, but got the deafness, if only he knew about consequences. Recently I've read useful news about treatment, I didn't knew, it's riskily to mix some drugs with each other. I hope it will be helpful for somebody else, think before starting to self-medicate.
If anyone is interested http://www.naij.com/494826-health-alert-5-common-drugs-you-should-never-combine.html
By the way http://www.naij.com/ is very interesting site, there are a lot of useful news about politics, health, society.

Have you come across the BEST HEALTH SITE in Nigeria? https://naturesgist.com/ . They are certainly the best to me. I came across it via Google and I got the information I needed. I used that opportunity to go through some of their articles, and I saw that they are all unique, comprehensive and amazing. These are kinds of sites I love. If the owners are reading this now, Please I will say GOOD STUFF!!!!! You guys make us proud...

A lot of people are propagating the philosophy of loving oneself.
Read this post to find out all the insights and intricacies related to it:
http://www.luvleela.com/learn-to-love-yourself/