Self-medication is life-threatening
Unfortunately, there is no statistics on how many people ruined their health and loved ones by self-medication. There is a saying: "Everyone knows how to play football and how to treat diseases." Doctors rightly believe that it would be better for amateur medics to direct their attention to football than to self-medication, since its consequences for life can be tragic.
The main reason a person self-medicates is a lack of education combined with overconfidence. It is not difficult for an ordinary person to go online, enter the name of the disease in a search engine, and the diagnosis is often made independently, on the grounds that the great-uncle of my mother's friend had exactly the same symptoms, then treatment is selected.
A wonderful scheme, and you do not need to go to the doctor or undergo diagnostics, beauty is both cheaper and faster. But the disease usually does not go away for some reason. “Well, not a problem,” the “self-medicator” thinks. “It won't work, then I'll go to the doctor. In fact, the problem is quite serious. Any doctor will say that it is many times more difficult to treat a disease that has passed into an advanced stage, and sometimes (with cancer, for example) it may be too late. What, with an early manifestation, could be cured in a week, in the chronic stage can be treated for months, or even years. This is the consequence of self-medication.
In addition, inept self-medication with potent drugs, and all medications without exception are them, in itself undermines health. There are no pharmaceuticals that have no side effects. Therefore, when prescribing any medicine by a doctor, individual characteristics must be taken into account, in accordance with which the dosage is selected. To eliminate the side effect of one drug, it is often necessary to prescribe a drug that neutralizes the effect or supports the functioning of the organ that is most harmed by the drug. People do not take this into account when they self-medicate.
Self-medication with antibiotics is especially dangerous. Pharmacists say that the most stupid and, alas, one of the most frequent requests in a pharmacy is to suggest "some harmless antibiotic." There are no harmless antibiotics, just like harmless drugs in general, and even seemingly harmless vitamins can cause serious consequences (allergies, liver and kidney damage) if taken thoughtlessly.
In the vast majority of cases, self-medication turns into self-mutilation.
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