Over-the-counter pills can prove counterproductive

The symptoms may go, but the disease will remain, and the wrong dosage could cause antibiotic resistance.

April 19, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:45 am IST

Is a quick visit to the pharmacist better than the long wait at the doctor’s clinic? Not quite. Only the symptoms get relieved, the actual disease remains undetected, and the wrong drug brings side-effects.

Doctors say people do not understand that fever is only a symptom and not a disease. The infection can be diagnosed by a qualified doctor. The pharmacist can help attack only the symptom.

Most viral and parasite infections show similar symptoms such as fever, severe headache, body pain, and shivering. A precise drug intervention is possible only after obtaining results of tests.

The worst practice is dispensing antibiotics for the common cold. Even general physicians lament that patients do not accept them as doctors if they do not prescribe strong drugs to drive the cold away in a couple of days.

Every drug has contra-indications – a caution as to who can consume it and who cannot. There are drugs that persons with a history of ulcer or acidity cannot consume. An alternative can be prescribed only by a qualified medical practitioner and not a pharmacist.

“The most common and dangerous practice is the consumption of analgesics for headache or body pain. This can raise blood pressure in hypertensive persons,” says Ajith Bhaskar, president of the Indian Medical Association’s Kozhikode branch. Therefore, one must consult a doctor and have the blood pressure checked first. Chronic headache can be a symptom of an underlying condition such as tumour.

Analgesics are no cure. They can prove counter-productive if taken regularly over the counter.

Gastroenterologist V.G. Mohan Prasad explains the risk from non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as diclofenac. NSAIDs are prescribed for orthopaedic problems or when diseases such as chikungunya cause severe joint pain.

These drugs can even cause a gastro-intestinal bleed if these are not accompanied by proton pump inhibitors (PPI, generically known as omeprezole, pantaprezole and rabeprezole). “If you get an NSAID over the counter, you will not get the PPI. That exposes you to the risk of ulcer or even a gastro-intestinal bleed,” he warns.

Dr. Bhaskar says that even if a pharmacist were to provide the right drug, he could err in dosage. Where a five-day dose of an antibiotic is required, he may provide only for two days if the patient weighs the cost of the drug.

“The infection will remain, and may even develop resistance to that particular antibiotic.”

(Reporting by

K.V. Prasad)

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