Most people's understanding of the drug is basically limited to the instructions, and some people have not even read the instructions carefully, so they know little about the adverse reactions of the drug. In fact, whether it is necessary to stop the drug or not, it should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.
It can be determined based on the severity of the adverse effects
Whether you need to stop taking the medication
Minor adverse reactions
Mild adverse reactions refer to dizziness, headache, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, fatigue and drowsiness, which are mild and do not have much impact on daily life and work. Most of the minor adverse reactions occur at the beginning of the drug, and the patient's body can generally tolerate it and resolve it spontaneously, and there is no need to reduce or stop the drug.
Some minor adverse reactions can also be avoided by adjusting the way of taking the drug. For example, some patients experience nausea, vomiting, or loss of appetite after taking metformin, a hypoglycemic drug, on an empty stomach or before a meal, and these discomforts will disappear after or with meals; Some people feel drowsy after taking chlorpheniramine, which usually does not require special treatment, but if the patient is engaged in work at height or requires concentration, adjusting the time of taking the drug to before going to bed will relieve the drowsiness.
It is important to note that some seemingly minor adverse reactions can also indicate a major problem. For example, if you have muscle pain or muscle weakness after taking statins, you should stop taking the drug immediately and go to the hospital, if you delay it, it may cause kidney failure or even life-threatening!
Serious adverse reactions
Serious adverse reactions refer to severe dizziness, headache, chest tightness or abdominal pain, more frequent vomiting or diarrhea, greater rash or erythema, bleeding or fainting and other potentially life-threatening conditions. Once there is a serious adverse reaction, the drug should be stopped immediately, bring all the used drugs, and tell the doctor or pharmacist the details of the adverse reaction, so that they can make correct judgments and actively rescue them. Patients should not deal with it on their own to avoid delaying treatment. Once the diagnosis is confirmed, patients should remember not to use the drug again in the future and should not be careless.
Occult adverse effects
Some adverse reactions can only be found by patients with the help of examination or testing equipment. For example, some drugs may cause anemia or liver or kidney damage. For these hidden adverse reactions, we should follow the instructions of the doctor or pharmacist and go to the hospital regularly for examination, so as to control them in time.
The adverse effects of drugs are cunning and changeable, and may be similar to some emerging diseases, when you are unable to judge for yourself, it is recommended to seek the help of a doctor or pharmacist for correct judgment and timely treatment.
How to avoid adverse drug reactions that cause harm to the body
Not only do you choose the right medicine, but you also need to use the right medicine
If you feel unwell, it is recommended to go to a regular hospital or clinic for treatment, and a professional doctor will choose the right medicine according to the condition, examination, examination and other information. If you go to a pharmacy on your own to buy over-the-counter medications, it is advisable to choose effective medications for specific symptoms under the guidance of a licensed pharmacist. Don't use medicine blindly! Don't listen to advertisements, don't listen to friends' recommendations, and take medicine on your own. In fact, everyone's condition is different, so be sure to choose the one that suits you. Expensive drugs or drugs with good effects used by others do not mean that you can achieve good efficacy by using them yourself, and no adverse reactions will occur. Therefore, when it comes to the choice of medication, it is important to follow the advice of your doctor or pharmacist.
Patients should follow the dosage prescribed by their doctor or pharmacist when taking medication, and should not adjust it arbitrarily. Some people are anxious to make the drug work, so they increase the dose of the drug themselves, but an overdose is likely to bring serious adverse reactions; On the contrary, some people, because they are worried about the occurrence of adverse drug reactions, reduce the dosage of the drug themselves, which not only does not work well with the drug, but also delays the treatment of the disease. In addition, patients also need to follow the instructions of the doctor or pharmacist for medication, such as the time of administration (morning dose, bedtime dose, meal administration, etc.), dosing interval (some drugs cannot be taken at the same time), administration course (continuous medication time), etc. For example, some drugs have a stimulating effect on the gastrointestinal tract, and taking them after a meal can reduce the risk of adverse reactions in the gastrointestinal tract.
There is no drug in the world that can "cure all diseases" and "non-toxic and harmless", so you must not listen to some small advertisements or gossip and self-medicate for a long time without any basis, or even take a variety of drugs for a long time. It is important to know that the higher the number of concomitant medications, the higher the risk of adverse drug reactions.
Read the instructions carefully
Before taking medication, you should carefully read the adverse reaction information on the instructions and be aware of them. For example, taking rifampicin will cause urine, saliva, sputum, and tears to appear orange-red, and if you read the instructions carefully, you will know that this is normal. If you don't understand the contents of the instructions, you can seek help from a doctor or pharmacist.
Be careful with "special" people
When you go to the hospital or go to the pharmacy to buy medicines, you need to tell the doctor or pharmacist the following specific information: whether there is a history of food or drug allergies, family allergies, whether it is a specific constitution, whether there are liver and kidney diseases, whether you are pregnant, whether you are taking other drugs, etc. Don't hide anything.
Be careful with "special" medications
Some drugs, such as quinolone antibiotics, can cause photosensitivity, and people should reduce outdoor activity and avoid sun exposure while using these drugs. If you do need to go outside, use sunscreen, wear long pants, long-sleeved tops and sunglasses.
Other drugs can cause severe allergic reactions, such as penicillin antibiotics, which require a skin sensitivity test (skin test) before they can be used. If you happen to have used an antihistamine (chlorpheniramine or loratadine, etc.) before the skin test, you should inform your doctor or nurse in time to avoid interfering with the accuracy of the skin test, otherwise it may cause serious problems. During the skin test, the patient should sit obediently in the special seat for the skin test, and must not leave in advance to avoid delaying the treatment in case of allergic reactions. "Special" drugs have special precautions, as long as you strictly follow the medication guidance of doctors or pharmacists, you can achieve the purpose of safe and reasonable drug use.
Be careful with combination medications
Some diseases require the use of multiple drugs at the same time, and if you are not careful, there may be a situation where the drugs "fight" with each other. For example, various live bacteria tablets are often used to treat diarrhea, constipation, functional dyspepsia, etc. related to intestinal flora imbalance, but they are relatively fragile and easy to fail if you are not careful; When viable tablets are used in combination with antibiotics, the effect of viable tablets is likely to be reduced because antibiotics can inhibit the action of live bacteria; Bismuth agents (bismuth potassium citrate and bismuth aluminate, etc.), tannic acid (tannic acid protein tablets and tannic acid protein yeast powder, etc.), medicinal charcoal and tinctures can inhibit, adsorb or kill inactivated bacteria, and live bacteria tablets will be ineffective once they encounter these. Therefore, when using live tablets with other medicines, the interval should be more than 2 hours.
Content Sources:
People's Medical Publishing House published "Understanding Adverse Drug Reactions - Teach You to Stay Away from Drug Harm"
Editor-in-Chief of the book series:
Zhao Jie, chief pharmacist and professor of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, an expert of the National Health Science Popularization Expert Database
Author of this article:
Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center: Chen Zhuojia, Liu Jihua
Looking forward to seeing you
share
Looking