WHY YOU MUST NOT MISUSE YOUR DRUGS ANY MORE by Pharm. (Dr) Nwako, CNN & Ebirim, Joseph O

Pharm. (Dr.) Nwako, CNN - Chief Pharmacist

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Drug misuse can be defined as the use of a (medicinal) substance for a purpose not consistent with legal or medical guidelines. In other words, drug misuse is the wrong use of a drug for a purpose and in a way different from how it ought to be used at that time.

Here, the user in majority of the cases doesn’t obtain a prescription from a physician. For example, the use of a pain reliever (analgesic) like Ibuprofen in pain associated with stomach ulcer. The ibuprofen may worsen the ulcer pain.

Alternatively, drug misuse can be looked at as the use of the right drug in the right disease condition without the proper drug information. Here, the user uses the right drug for the right disease but may apply it at the wrong time, through the wrong route, etc. In this case, the right prescription from the physician is made, but the patient fails to consult the pharmacist for the proper counselling and drug information. For example, an antiulcer drug Omeprazole may have been prescribed for a patient but the patient chooses to take the drug after meals instead of before meal when it will give better value. Also, the use of diuretics such as Frusemide and Hydrochlorothiazide at night is usually associated with sleep disturbances and is often discouraged. All these and many other cases amount to drug misuse and the patient suffers the consequences of drug misuse.

There is therefore the greatest and compulsive need that every drug user must get the prescription from the doctor as well as obtain and receive the proper drug information and counselling from the Pharmacist. It is a bitter truth to say that avoiding both your doctor and pharmacist or any of them is tantamount to drug misuse in all drug related issues.

Drug abuse, on the other hand, is the misuse of any drug or substance that has the dependence or addiction property. Such drugs include Bromazepam, Diazepam, Flunitrazepam, Marijuana, Indian hemp, Pentazocine, etc. Here, the continuous use of such drug results in family and social dysfunction in addition to health breakdown. The drug user often requires progressively higher doses in order to achieve the same effect. This also comes with increasing adverse effects of the drug, thus more harm to the body (by adding more work for the liver and kidneys and in some cases the heart until these life-dependent organs fail cutting life short).

Self-medication is the application or use of a drug without the physician’s prescription as well as the pharmacist’s counsel. Here the patient assumes both the roles of the physician and the pharmacist. Those who self-medicate always misuse their drugs.

It is very important to add that when drug is misused or abused, it is the drug user who has spent money to purchase these drugs that suffers first and NOT THE DOCTOR OR PHARMACIST. 

Some of the consequences of drug misuse include:

1. Longer stay in the hospital because treatment takes longer time to be achieved.
2. Complications arise because disease is not halted on time. Drug misuse in Diabetes can lead to blindness, amputation, infertility and loss of libido, hypertension and stroke and hypoglycaemic shock and can lead to death. Acquiring nosocomial (also known as hospital-acquired) infections can be a consequence of longer stay in the hospital due to misuse of drugs.
3. Increased financial expenses because of longer stay in the hospital leads to higher hospital admission fee, higher drug bills and if there are complications, more bills on surgery or other interventions where applicable. 
4. Increased discomfort – surely, because no one wishes to live in the hospital because of disease condition. 
5. Increased psychological trauma for relatives and loved ones – there is always a level of tension when a loved one or relative is ill or hospitalized and this is worse when the ill person is depended on by many people. 
6. Loss of productive and useful hours – quality time spent at home with family or at work is lost due to illness and this can often lead to loss of employment, poor management of business by the patient’s staff due to his/her absence at work.

In conclusion, Drugs are complex chemical substances that can be useful in restoring failing health and can be poisonous when taken wrongly or misused. There is a lot your physician considers before prescribing a drug for you and there is equally a lot a pharmacist considers before and when dispensing the drugs. It is gainful to be patient and attentive (and not be in a hurry) when being attended to by your healthcare providers. It is true that drugs are often unpleasantly tasting or smelling or even a heck of a burden to adhere to. However, it is always worth the while to adhere and to NOT misuse them so as to regain health on time and stay healthy most of the time.

 

All Correspondences & Enquiries about drugs to:

THE DRUG INFORMATION UNIT, PHARMACY DEPARTMENT,

FEDERAL MEDICAL CENTRE, OWERRI.

C/o Pharm. Dr. Nwako, C.N.N. (+2348035496269)