Given that there are now thousands of types of drugs, especially the product manuals of foreign pharmaceutical giants are often several pages long, and Chinese patients do not have much general medical knowledge and get dizzy when they pick up the manual, the fear of some patients is initially just a spark that becomes a prairie fire once it is verified. Some patients simply reduce the dosage on their own, or even stop using it. Some of the patients who have little knowledge of medicine are partial to some folk remedies that “do not have any toxic side effects”. The consequences are very serious, you know! For this reason, the author decided to use the most common language to talk about the side effects of drugs.
A. What are the side effects of drugs?
The so-called side effects, in fact, is the normal dose, deviating from the purpose of the treatment of pharmacological effects. That is to say, I obviously just want to take some painkillers to cure headache, but the result is no more headache, but there is a stomach pain, or even stomach bleeding; eat some antihypertensive drugs, the result is a cough or impotence and other annoying things. It seems to linger, but also to abandon; indeed, it is impossible to prevent, and annoying!
Second, how to scientifically understand the side effects of drugs?
Although China has long had the folk proverb “medicine is three parts poison”, but still can not solve the knot in the hearts of many patients, the national people’s desire and worship of the “panacea” and “ancestral secret recipe” really It can be said that the desire and worship of “elixir” and “ancestral recipes” is like a torrent of water, stretching endlessly. Since ancient times, from the emperor to the people, all do so! Even in the modern era of scientific leaps and bounds, it is still difficult to eliminate, some false advertising and unscrupulous media is the role of this collective masturbation is fueled.
The so-called scientific understanding of something only requires objectivity and impartiality. If we consider a drug as a person, it is not difficult to understand the side effects of the drug. In fact, the object of a drug is precisely a person, and the complexity, versatility and variability of people are well known. The following points should belong to the consensus.
1, no one has only strengths and no weaknesses, even great people, even Lei Feng.
This truth applies to drugs as well. Therefore, patients are advised not to demand that doctors only prescribe drugs that have a therapeutic effect on you, not to open any drugs with side effects, because people have shortcomings, all drugs have side effects, just how many.
2, good people and bad people are relative, even if they are villains, even if they are heroes.
A drug may have an immediate “miraculous” effect on patients with certain diseases, but other patients with the same disease may have half the merits and demerits, or even more than the merits. You may be a recognized dutiful son in your family circle, but you may be a mediocre employee in your professional circle.
Therefore, there are circles of people and drugs. Take the most common cold medicine for example, the reason why so many varieties exist on the market is because some people take this cold medicine very effectively, but for others it may not work at all. Each one exists for a reason!
3, good and bad can appear in the same person (medicine) at the same time, as long as it is a person or a medicine!
Just as there is no perfection in this world, the biggest difference between happiness and suffering is only the ability to find and use beauty. Drugs, like the food we eat daily, may provide us with nutrition as well as create toxicity and garbage. Therefore, any drug, whether it is a tablet or an injection, whether it is taken internally or externally, whether it is a brand-name product or an unknown product, whether it is expensive or inexpensive, is sure to have both therapeutic “good” effects and non-therapeutic side effects. The doctor’s greatest responsibility is actually to maximize the use of the good side of the drug, and the bad side of the drug as much as possible to control the patient acceptable, the doctor can control the level.
4, good and bad, in fact, can be converted to each other, as long as the use of good, as long as you patience!
In our side, there is no shortage of successful examples of the prodigal son returning, there are also many cases of young mediocrity, middle-aged glory. Patients also need such a world view when it comes to medications. Therefore, one should not conclude that a drug is bad just because it has side effects, and one certainly should not ignore the harmful effects of a drug just because it solves one’s ailment. As a patient, you should first trust your doctor’s expertise and wait patiently for its therapeutic effects as long as the side effects are within the range that your doctor has informed you that you can tolerate.
In fact, the majority of regular hospital doctors who have undergone 5-8 years of medical school training and long professional training not only have adequate knowledge of pharmacology, but also sometimes use the “bad effects” of a drug to treat a patient’s illness. The most classic example is Lu Xun’s opium, some of the recognized drugs in the past through the modern process of refining, processing, has been widely used to treat a variety of pain, diarrhea and other symptoms and diseases.
5. Each person has more than one mask, and each drug has more than one effect.
Even a simple person, even a dementia patient, will have to “wear multiple masks” because he or she has multiple social roles. In fact, the higher the IQ, the higher the social status, and the more capable the person, the more social faces he or she has. This is not exactly a hypocrisy, but in a way, it is also a civilization and progress. The same is true of drugs. When a foreign drug enters our body in various ways, it is either upsetting or maintaining some sophisticated balance in our body.
Some patients may use the excuse that they don’t understand medicine and use it to blame the doctor for all the side effects of the drug, so I will use a certain food (watermelon) as an example to explain this “multi-effect” of the drug: when we eat watermelon in summer to quench our thirst, the various ingredients contained in the watermelon will enter our body through the intestine. Quenching our thirst is the original reason for eating watermelon (therapeutic effect), but eating watermelon can also bring about bloating, excessive urination, increased blood sugar, and a lot of energy. For most people, this is not a big problem, but for some people with poor gastrointestinal function, cold body, obesity and diabetes, these become side effects in addition to quenching thirst.
Third, how should patients treat the side effects of drugs rationally?
First of all, you should go to a regular hospital to see a regular doctor. Do not believe in charlatans and false advertisements, and do not take your own medicine, change or increase or decrease the type and dosage of drugs.
Secondly, trust the professional knowledge and ethics of doctors. Although there may be black sheep in every line of work, the vast majority of doctors in regular hospitals still want to cure their patients.
Third, once the side effects of drugs appear, do not panic, not to mention unwarranted suspicion. You can first check the expiration date of the drug in use, the packaging and appearance of the drug to see if it meets the regulations. Then carefully read and compare the description of the side effects in the instruction manual. If you find that your symptoms are on the list, it means that your side effects are “expected” adverse reactions. If they are not, it is best to talk to your primary care physician as soon as possible, who will routinely activate the drug’s side effect monitoring mechanism and tell you what to do next.
Fourth, if the side effects are significant and the pain caused is unbearable, it is recommended that the drug be discontinued immediately and reported to the primary care physician as soon as possible. However, if the side effects are mild and are among those listed in the instructions, it is recommended that you do not take the liberty of taking actions that may interfere with your doctor’s treatment and observations!
Fifth, any treatment, including medication, should be approached with the right mindset, neither with high expectations nor with hasty treatment of the doctor’s prescription. The sensible thing to do is to respect the doctor’s work, listen carefully and follow the doctor’s instructions including diet, lifestyle adjustment, time and dosage of medication, etc., and use the medication in full and on time in strict accordance with the prescription.
In conclusion, drugs are only one way to treat diseases, and like people, they have good and bad sides. What doctors can do is to comprehensively evaluate the benefits and harms of drugs for patients, maximize the therapeutic value of drugs, and avoid the chance of adverse reactions. The patient, on the other hand, should be in the right frame of mind and cooperate as much as possible with the doctor’s drug and non-drug prescriptions.