Be Wise With Medicines

Every year in America, about 80,000 people are admitted to hospital because of problems associated with the use of medicines. This figure includes adverse reactions and side effects, and it also includes problems that occur when too much or too little medication is taken.

These problems rarely occur because of deliberate misuse of medicine – much more often it’s simply a lack of understanding about how the medicines should best be used.

Of course, problems don’t only occur with prescribed medicines. Since the beginnings of recorded history, self medication has always been popular. Over the years, drugs derived from naturally occurring substances have been particularly popular, especially for their effect on mood or the mind. Opium products, cocaine, caffeine, nicotine and alcohol all fall into this category.

However, surveys have shown most people use medicines in a responsible way. In response to this, and because safer alternatives to older medicines are now available, more and more effective products can be supplied without prescription.

Recent regulations have also been introduced to allow for the general advertising of some medicines that previously could be advertised in medical journals only. Products in this group include new non-sedating antihistamines, nicotine patches, preparations for heartburn and creams for thrush and fungal infections.

Nevertheless, all medicines, natural or synthetic, can cause adverse effects if not used properly. The wise use of medicines involves you, your doctor and your pharmacist working together to decide the best way to use your medicine to ensure it does the most good.

Medicines are certainly not like supermarket items, but when visiting the doctor it’s not a bad idea to take along a ‘shopping list’ of questions. And whether you are taking a prescription medicine or a product you have purchased without prescription, make sure you get all the information you need from your pharmacist.

What should I do if I miss a dose? Are any side effects likely? Is it better to take this medicine with food or on an empty stomach? Should I finish the course if my condition improves? Will this herbal medicine interact with what my doctor has prescribed? Is drinking or smoking likely to alter the effect of this medicine? These are just some of the questions you may need to ask.

In America, we are fortunate in that we can get information and advice from a qualified health professional simply by walking into our local community pharmacy. Statistics indicate that each American visits a pharmacy, on average, 14 times a year. That’s 200 million occasions when we have the opportunity to access the best possible advice on medicines from the network of nearly 5,000 pharmacies around the nation.