Self-Medication Risks

"My head is pounding," she mutters, reaching for a box of medicine and swallowing a Flexon tablet. "It feels like my temperature is going up," she says next, taking a paracetamol to cool it down. "My stomach is burning—must be gastritis," she decides, opting for Pantop. This habit of using medications, herbal remedies, or home treatments without consulting a doctor or based on someone else's advice is what we call self-medication. 

In Nepal, allopathic drugs are classified as “a,” “b,” or “c,” with respective subcategories. Category “a” consists of narcotic and poisonous drugs; category “b” consists of antibiotics, hormones, etc. that require a prescription for dispensing from pharmacies; and category “c” usually consists of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. The prevalence rates of self-medication in Nepal are much higher in comparison to developed nations due to limited access to appropriate and affordable medication and healthcare facilities. This encourages people to practice self-medication to manage the majority of diseases. Similarly, increased availability of drug and disease information, particularly on the Internet, along with increased interest in one’s health, has led to the higher demand for more direct involvement of patients in decision-making. Additionally, it has been observed that many medications requiring a prescription in developed countries are available over-the-counter (OTC) in developing nations.

The most frequent causes of self-medication are prior illness experience, a lack of accurate information about the condition, difficulty affording medical care, a lack of time, and easy access to medications. Self-medication has advantages such as active patient choice in product use, immediate and direct access to self-care and treatment, convenience, and lower hospital visitation costs. 

The potential drawbacks of self-medication are delaying treatment or receiving the wrong diagnosis, increasing the risk of abuse, misuse, overdosage, adverse events, or interactions with other drugs.

Self-medication is an alarming concept. This article focuses on the self-medication of allopathic drugs, their safety, and the reasons behind their self-administration. While self-medication can be safe if individuals have adequate knowledge about the correct dosage, timing, and potential side effects of overdosing, the lack of such information often leads to serious consequences, including antibiotic resistance, skin issues, hypersensitivity, and allergic reactions.

(Pant is a lecturer of Pharmacy and Ranjit is studying Bachelor in Public Health at CiST College.)