NIGERIAN COLLEGE STUDENT & ADMAP - UNIPORT CHAIR, BARES HER MIND ON DRUG MISUSE

NOT JUST ABOUT TAKING YOUR MEDICATIONS BUT TAKING THEM VERY WELL - By Chikaodili Ochuba 

Ms. Chikaodili Ochuba 

At one point or the other in life, it becomes expedient for some persons to be given certain medications either for the elimination of a disease, its mitigation or prevention as the case maybe.

Since medicines are not foods that can be dished and consumed when the appetite comes calling, it therefore is expected that they be taken in the right quantity or dose, by the right person, at the right time for the right condition.

Tablets are not chocolate bars that one can offer a friend, neither does the severity of the symptoms warrant the patient by discretion to get more generous with his medication consumption in a bid to ''attack'' the symptoms with full force.
Drugs can become harmful if misused, really, the greater the dose, the higher the chances of an increased intensity of adverse effects.

Dumping your medication because you feel a lot better without completing the prescribed dose can be likened to postponing the day of door. For instance in antimicrobial therapy, one may assume that just two capsules of ampiclox is enough to take care of a boil on the eye without adhering strictly to the regimen and completing the dose. This will only empower the microbes to develop resistance to the said medicine and with subsequent treatments later on, the fellow may experience therapeutic failure.

Drugs are not fun stuffs that could be taken concomitantly with any kind of food or drink at will, water remains the best vehicle with which to take tablets to avoid interactions and resultant therapeutic failure. For instance milk drinks should not be taken with tetracycline as there would be formation of chelates between the calcium content of milk and the drug preventing the absorption of the drug.

Orange juice and citrus fruit drinks rich in vitamin C should be avoided during antimalarial therapy using ACT (Antimalaria drugs containing Artemether, Artesunat, Arterolane and dihydroarremisinin) to prevent the counteraction of the effect of the drug by vitamin C which has antioxidant properties thereby permitting the thriving of plasmodium leading to recurrent malaria.

Also, medications are not to be taken whenever their thoughts come to mind neither are they to be taken all at once to abscond from the stress of diligently taking drugs at the right intervals.

A medication (mostly Antibiotics) slated for 3 times daily is best preferred to be taken 8hourly and not like really anytime in the morning, afternoon and night.

Procuring the prescribed medication is a step, taking the drugs is another step but taking the drugs correctly is yet another and the most vital step.
There is more to taking drugs than just swallowing them, your Pharmacist is your friend, do not misuse your drugs, stick to your regimen and stay healthy.

The author OCHUBA, CHIKODILI O. is the Chairperson of  ANTI DRUG MISUSE AND ABUSE         PROGRAM (ADMAP) at University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State of Nigeria.