Medical doctor is less and less available today. So all that remains is self-treatment, i.e. wise self-care. How to do it so as not to harm yourself? When is it necessary to see a good doctor and when is it possible to self-medicate?

Smartself-medicationhas become a necessity today, from which there is no turning back. Less and less efficient he alth care system, difficult access todoctor , long waiting in line to see a specialist - all this means that we have to take our he alth into our own hands. In many countriesself-medicationis already very developed, we still see it as a fashion resulting from the greater availability of over-the-counter drugs than before, and not as a natural process resulting from caring for he alth.

What is self-healing

Self-treatment means not only taking over-the-counter preparations on your own in the case of a cold, indigestion or headache, but also taking care of your he alth and maintaining good condition in chronic diseases. The doctor recommends a therapy, and whether and how we use it depends on us. How it is? Over 80 percent chronically ill Poles do not follow the recommendations already six months after starting treatment, often accelerating the development of the disease or creating complications. This is largely due to insufficient knowledge of patients about their disease and its treatment. This is how people with hypertension, diabetes, and thyroid diseases act rashly, where the effects of non-compliance with the specialist's recommendations are not immediately visible, but can be felt after some time.

Self-healing benefits

In some countries you can buy over-the-counter remedies not only for colds, pain and indigestion, but also drugs for the treatment of chronic diseases. It seems that after the first prescription, the patient comes to the doctor and then buys the prescribed drug himself at the pharmacy and returns to the check-up every few months. This requires the patient to understand the essence of therapy, responsibility and discipline, but it works perfectly, among others, in the case of allergies, diabetes, hypertension or hormone therapy during menopause. This way, the number of prescription-only medical appointments is reduced, but the doctor and the patient remain in constant contact. Such a system relieves the he alth service and increases the availability of a doctor.

Important

Decalogue of self-healing

  • Read the leaflet carefully. You will learn when and how to take the drug, what are the contraindications.
  • Make sure the drug is for your age group (dose varies).
  • Check the expiry date and storage method.
  • Do not exceed the doses recommended by the manufacturer, this also applies to vitamins and minerals. Most painkillers achieve a ceiling effect, so even after taking a higher dose, the effectiveness does not increase at all.
  • Get to know the composition of the preparations and do not take the same substance in several drugs at once, because it may cause poisoning and increases the risk of side effects. Combining painkillers increases the risk of damage to the mucosa of the digestive tract, kidneys, liver, diuretics - risk of dehydration.
  • Do not take expectorant and cough suppressant syrups at the same time. Take expectorants at least 3-4 hours before bedtime, because they may make it difficult to fall asleep.
  • Observe the times of taking medication to maintain a constant level of active substances in the blood.
  • Inform the doctor what preparations you take without a prescription. Check with him or your pharmacist if you can use the new medication with those you are already taking.
  • Do not take any medications chronically without clear indications. Long-term use of ointments and gels can also cause side effects.
  • Don't take pain lightly. If after 3-4 days of home treatment it does not improve or if it recurs, see your doctor. Pain accompanied by stiffness or swelling in the joints, fever, nausea, vomiting and dizziness require consultation. Immediate medical attention is needed when there is severe pain in the chest, head, acute pain in the eye or abdomen.

Disadvantages of self-healing

Self-treatment, however, is associated with certain dangers. Delaying proper therapy, overdosing or using the wrong drugs, and serious complications burden the state budget more than if you seek medical help right away. But it's hard to run to the clinic these days. Over-the-counter (OTC) medications will help with many ailments. It's just about being treated safely.

Solid education

We are becoming more and more aware of what is good for he alth and what is bad. We pay more and more attention to a he althy lifestyle and prevention. But we still have the so-called Goździkowa syndrome consisting in the fact that when choosing a treatment, we follow the advice of a friend instead of a professional. And after all, what has helped someone can harm us. Before we reach for the drug, for our own good, we need to obtain reliable knowledge about the symptoms and methods of treating ailments. Where to get it?Let's search on medical websites, in books and he alth magazines. It is worth having a guide on over-the-counter drugs, which, apart from information about the specificity, includes knowledge about safe doses and drug interactions. It is also worth using publications, books and internet, e.g. in the monthly magazine Zdrowie and on the portal Poradnikzdrowie.pl, which tell about how our body functions, its individual organs and systems.

Self-observation

Let's learn to observe our body. Try to answer the question of when you have a backache or headache, what foods are not good for you, and avoid situations that are harmful to you. When something hurts you, you take a pill quickly, forgetting that it only reduces the sensation of pain, but does not remove the cause of the ailment, such as an illness or an injury. Therefore, if the pain persists or recurs after emergency treatment, you need to see a doctor to find out its cause and start treatment. This applies to all ailments, including minor colds. If, after a few days, there is no improvement, the help of a specialist is needed - he will check if there has been a bacterial infection or we have not caught the flu, and these infections should not be treated by yourself.

Don't be afraid to ask

The chronically ill are in a difficult situation, because they have to watch over the daily therapy, and for this they need knowledge about the underlying disease, but they should also know what to do in the event of a headache or throat pain. You need to ask your doctor in advance what medications to avoid, because in combination with those that we already take, they can be harmful. A well-prepared pharmacist plays an important role in this process. It will help you choose a preparation, explain how it works and what side effects it has. He should inform you that the drug should not be taken during pregnancy, combined with other drugs with a similar effect, taken in case of hypertension or kidney disease.

Read

However, it is us who make the final decision about purchasing and taking the drug. Therefore, it should be our duty to read the leaflets. Another thing is that they are usually incomprehensible, typed, too long. However, you should always pay attention to contraindications, side effects, and the method of taking the drug. One more thing: let's not treat advertising as medical information. Before we buy the recommended preparation, let's ask the pharmacist for a leaflet and find out more about this drug.

monthly "Zdrowie"

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He alth