Healthy life: Avoid self-medication

Self-medication practice (SMP) is an important part of daily self-care and it’s among of the vital issues of health care systems. Self-medication is a serious health problem throughout the world, with so many different over-the-counter medicines.

The pattern of self-treatment varies in different communities and is affected by several factors such as age, sex, income, expenses, the urge to self-care, feeling sympathy for the family members during illness, lack of health care services, poverty, ignorance, misconceptions, self-care orientation, education level, medical knowledge, satisfaction and people’s perception of disease, extensive advertisements on drugs and the availability of drugs in places other than pharmacies

 Given the current global economic downturn and due to the difficulties to meet the health care needs people now practice self-medication using different types of materials, roots and herbs so as to meet their medical needs

Why you should avoid self-medication

Taking medicine to treat ongoing symptoms without seeing a doctor could mean that you are letting underlying condition go undiagnosed. Symptoms like persistent fever, headaches and rash could be associated with underlying medical conditions that require diagnosis to be effectively treated.

Self-medication can be life threatening when you take multiple medications on your own, you run the risk of taking medications that should not be used together and this could trigger an unknown symptom, because some medication can affect the potency of other drugs when mixed together. 

When you estimate your own dosage you are at risk for taking enough to result in an accidental overdose, the practice of self-medication can and does often result to death. So it’s important you visit a doctor and communicate your concerns, to prevent serious complications.

Ejeh ifeyinwa Angela,

University of Maiduguri

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