[Medical Q&A] What are the common misunderstandings about home medication?

Planner: Chinese Medical Association

Reviewer: He Xinhua, Chief Physician, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University

Many people take medicine on their own for some common and chronic diseases. However, there are often many misunderstandings in home medication, which may lead to serious consequences if not paid attention to.

Misunderstanding 1: Improper selection of drugs

A considerable number of patients have the problem of taking inappropriate medications. The reasons are, on the one hand, they are unwilling to go to the hospital due to inconvenience in their legs and feet; on the other hand, some people take medications casually based on experience or a certain symptom. For example, patients with abdominal pain, if they use painkillers at will without a clear diagnosis, will mask some symptoms of acute abdomen, delay the disease, and may cause serious consequences.

Myth 2: Unreasonable repeated medication

Some patients believe that the more types of medicine they take, the faster their condition will improve. Therefore, they will randomly mix and match medicines, only increase the amount of medicine and not reduce it, and fail to adjust the medication in time, resulting in taking more and more medicine. For example, many cold medicines contain acetaminophen. Taking several cold medicines at the same time can easily cause liver damage.

Misconception 3: Superstitious belief in health care drugs and advertised drugs

Many elderly people pay attention to health programs and obtain medication knowledge through radio, television and mobile phones. Excessive media propaganda will cause elderly patients to listen to and believe in medication advertisements, and believe that the latest and most expensive drugs are the best drugs for treating diseases. This will not only affect the treatment of diseases, but also cause a waste of resources.

Myth 4: Abuse of antibiotics

Some patients will randomly choose antibiotics as long as they have a runny nose or sneezing, and their body temperature is just over 37 degrees Celsius, regardless of whether it is a bacterial or viral infection. The abuse of antibiotics often not only has no therapeutic effect, but also has the opposite effect.

Misunderstanding 5: Changing medication too frequently or stopping medication suddenly

Any drug treatment and effect takes time. Many patients often stop taking medicine as soon as their body temperature returns to normal after fever, but they don’t know that the bacteria in the body have not been completely eliminated at this time, which will lead to recurrence of the disease. Others worry that they have not recovered completely, and always want to stabilize the effect, blindly prolong the medication time, and develop drug resistance and adverse reactions. Others think that there is no effect after just 1-2 days of taking it, and repeatedly change or upgrade antibiotics on their own, without following the doctor's instructions. For antihypertensive drugs, anti-epileptic drugs, and antiarrhythmic drugs, stopping the medication at will often aggravates the condition.