Every disease has not a single solution of Antibiotics

Few days back I called one of my friends, I become to know that he was suffering from acute sore throat. Being a pharmaceutical professional, usually people used to talk to me quite often about the medicines they have been taking. This certain friend was tackling his sore throat with Ampicillin and had ignored the role of a qualified doctor and need of his prescription.

A moment ago, on the other hand, he complained to me that Ampicillin doesn’t work for him anymore. The truth is that he is not the only one. Many of people did not know the awful consequences of mistreatment of self medication particularly antibiotics. Upper RTI; A sore throat, runny nose and fever are all unavoidable gifts of the cold season and since Lahorien are less habituated to this season than those in the rest of the country, they undergo more than the others.

For these reasons, I thought it good to share a few important points about the use of antibiotics so my friend and everyone else can also enjoy the weather without constantly falling ill.

1) Antibiotics should be diagnosed from a qualified Doctor

People often used to go on medical stores and ask them for any of antibiotic for their certain problem. Even it’s strongly prohibited and also written on each of medicine pack that it should not to be sold without a prescription of qualified doctor. But the practice is quite opposite. 

Please keep in mind that antibiotics are firmly ‘prescription-only’ medicines .They are not OTC medicines.  In many cases, taking antibiotics for a sore throat and a runny nose is totally unnecessary. Good general practitioners (GPs) prescribe antibiotics reasonably and never for just simple allergic reactions.

So my hearty advice is that never take antibiotics without a doctor’s prescription.

2) Must follow dose plan

Each of the medicine has a suggested doses and time period for its best effect. Usually people start taking medicine without knowing the best doses for certain indication and even they didn’t complete the recommended time period for medicine. Resulting next time for such medicine body generates resistance and patient remains effect less.

Patient should believe in that the doctor understands the medicine and the disease better than you do so let them to guide you which is best for you, and when they ask you to take your medicine for certain duration. Take your medicine for only as long as the doctor has recommended.

3) A Pharmacist or Pharmacy helps you to save money. 

It’s a burning truth that most of us are living with low income problem. I would also like to address the economy factor in this situation. Most of the people choose to discontinue treatment as doctors prescribe expensive medicines. This is where pharmacists and a pharmacy come in as they can help you to select a comparatively low cost brand in same formulation heaving the same and equally efficacious results.

Don’t stop your visits to the doctor just because he recommends costly antibiotics.

4) Germs are building Resistance

Some of you might have such fussy questions about antibiotics. Well, this matter is graver than you can even think.

The misuse of antibiotics does not affect only a single person but the whole community. The germs have a propensity to build up resistance against antibiotics.

 When a person takes an unnecessary antibiotic, the disease causing pathogens got a chance to fight that type of medicine. And when this new germ grows and multiplies and spreads in a community through viral sprees, it becomes stronger and requires a higher dose or a more advanced medicine to be stopped.

If conventional antibiotics won’t work as well as they used to do in the past and the disease continues, there is possibility when a time may come when doctors and prescribers will have very limited options for curing infections.

Some time ago, I went to see a General Physician (G.P) about my flu condition. Usually at my residential area GPs know me and my job in Pharmaceutical so they let me to select the medicine on my choice and same should be practiced with others who know the medicines. But since I am a pharmaceutical professional and I am expert in medicine expert. I do not take antibiotics very often so I asked the GP to prescribe Ampicillin to me.

The doctor told me that it won’t work, Ampicilline used to be a very effective and a commonly used antibiotic and it’s not as effective anymore, and that I should go for Cefixime – an superior form of antibiotic. So it’s already happening – once a potent antibiotic has lost its effectiveness, the simplest of infections will need to be treating with superior medicines.

We are making infections stronger and more immune to our medicines due to this excessive use of antibiotics.

5) Don’t kill the bird with cannon

The mistreatment of antibiotics has a toll on highly outbreak diseases as well. Now a day Tuberculosis (TB) is a very common disease in Pakistan and as well as in other developing countries. TB is treated with a combination therapy of at least two or more antibiotics due to the resistant nature of the bacteria.

Now just think if a person is already exposed to a lot of antibiotics for minor infections, won’t his body become resistant to medications? And if that same person is infected with a TB germ, the cure options would become hugely scarce as only a few antibiotic drugs would be effective for him.

Needless experience to antibiotics for ordinary infections has reduced the treatment options for life threatening conditions.

6) Professionals’ responsibility

Once I was attending the out-patient counter (OPD) at a hospital and a regular patient came up with his prescription. When I checked his medical history record I become to know that the patient had already taken a full course of Cephradine (antibiotic) the previous week. I examined his new prescription and found out that the doctor had prescribed her Levofloxacin (antibiotic) this week. I ask the patient to wait while I confirmed his prescription from his doctor.

“Asalam 0 Alakum doctor. I have a prescription of a patient who has been prescribed Levofloxacin by you.”

I hand over the doctor the medical report with prescription so that he would know which patient I was talking about. After he evaluates the individual patient’s medical records, he asks what my query was regarding.

“Sir, if you can please acknowledge the history, this patient was prescribed Cephradine for 7 days and his course ended only two days back. Can you please validate the patient’s analysis that requires another antibiotic so soon after the first one?”

In argument with my concern, the doctor replied,

“Oh I see. Well, the patient has Gastro Infections (GI) and if he has already taken the complete course of antibiotic then more antibiotic should not be recommended. Cancel out the prescription and send the patient back to my office.”

I told the patient to go back to his doctor. When he came back to me after meeting him, he reported that the doctor had given her some diagnostic tests – a culture test – which is carry out to find out which organism has caused the infection and which antibiotic will be most suitable. This test is prescribed to find out why the disease was not cured by Cephradine and to assess the current status of her infection.

I told the patient,

 You need to get reports of this test and then your treatment will begin accordingly.”

He irately shot back at me,

“Why can’t you just give me the medicines?”

I tried to relaxed him that,

“It is not in your best favor to take more antibiotics so frequently without even knowing the kind and harshness of the infection you have. The doctor has now rightly recommended you to get this test done first.”

The point to be noted here is that had the patient’s history gone unnoticed, he would have taken another antibiotic soon after the first one and causative pathogens – which had already succeeded in defeating the first antibiotic – might have grown stronger and resistant to the second one as well. We, as professionals, need to keep a check on our patients and their medicine intakes.

8) Side effects

As all allopathic medicines formed by the different chemical compositions, they may cause some danger side effects. But when the antibiotics were taken without any authentic recommendation its mean one is putting him danger.

It needs to be understood that antibiotics are intended to kill germs and that germs are a kind of living pathogens. So the antibiotics are basically working against living organisms and this is what causes adverse side effects. The doctors are skilled to suggest medicines only if the benefits outweigh their adverse effects. A common man, who doesn’t know all the features, cannot perhaps take the right decision when it comes to the use of antibiotics.

So, take care of your health through exercise and balanced diet and try avoiding infections as much as possible. Get inquired with your doctor and ask every question if you are prescribed antibiotics, take them on time and for the complete and prescribed duration.