– Why One Should Avoid Self Medication –

Dr. Kaiwan Randeria

Dr. Kaiwan Randeria is an Orthopaedic Surgeon holding a Fellowship in Joint Replacements. You can reach him for various Arthritis, Joints, Spine and Musculoskeletal related ailments, on email: drkaiwan94@gmail.com

On a hot Sunday afternoon, Soli and Sohrab were relishing their favourite brand of Raspberry, when the topic of Soli’s mother came up. He said, “Arre Sohrab, my mother has been having this nagging knee pain since the past 6 months, which just doesn’t seem to subside!” On hearing this, Sohrab, with an overly confident tone said “Arre Soli, my mother was having similar issues too, I was told by many to consult a doctor but I treated it myself!”

“How did you manage to do that?” asked Soli, with a sceptical look.

Sipping on his soda, Sohrab replied (trying to mimic the learned face of a guru), “I gave her a wonder tablet and ever since, the pain has been minimal and she’s also absolutely mobile!”

Soli (impatiently): “Wow! Please tell me the name of this tablet!”

“XYZ!” replied Sohrab “I give it to her thrice a day and there’s been no looking back since! And I even saved up on the consulting fees of a doctor too in the bargain!”

“I hope it doesn’t have any side effects?”

“None at all! In fact, she’s been taking this tablet regularly since the past 6 months now” said Sohrab with affirmation.

Little did Sohrab know that the chronic use of these medications could cause kidney and liver damage, which is not apparent initially, but silently progresses over time, leading to major health issues.

Self-medicating on painkillers is a widespread problem across the world. Though some are relatively safer, there are a few painkillers, which when taken in unregulated doses for long periods of time, can trigger adverse effects on our vital organs.

All medications have side effects. However, if the primary effect of the medication is much greater than its minimal side effect, these are prescribed, keeping in mind the same. For example, a mild painkiller taken occasionally for a headache is quite alright. In small children, high doses of potent painkillers should be avoided, when possible, as these lead to side effects. A trained medical professional should always be consulted.

Today, with the advent of newer and relatively safer painkillers, there’s less concern regarding the safety profile and the once-in-a-blue-moon consumed painkiller for a mild aches and pains poses no cause of concern. However, long-term usage of painkillers should be done only under professional medical advice.

Keeping in mind that some people are allergic to certain painkillers, one should always be watchful and keep a list of their allergies handy when consulting a doctor or going to the pharmacy. Amongst Parsis, G6PD (Glucose-6-Phosphate-Dehydrogenase) deficiency is pretty widespread – this should be taken into account and anyone having a family history of G6PD deficiency should have their G6PD test done and documented. Certain painkillers are best avoided in patients with this condition.

Apart from the side effect of painkillers, I’ve often noted in my practice that these medicines are popped like candy for any random pain, without any further investigation into the cause of the pain! Some heavy painkillers even lead to addiction in the future.

When painkillers are taken for long durations without supervised medical care, they may even lead to a phenomenon called ‘tolerance’ – meaning that the body has now adapted to the routine doses of the painkillers and does not respond to the same doses, warranting an increase in the dosage of the medication for the same pain relief. The increase in the dosage of the such painkillers also exacerbates the propensity of the adverse effects.

I have seen some patients consuming steroid tablets too for long durations – while these may relieve the pain till the effect lasts, it can have disastrous side-effects, in the form of sugar fluctuations and can cause other bodily damage, if not taken under proper medical supervision.

Pain is our body’s signal that something might be off and requires attention. The mild backache or muscular pain after exercising may not be a cause of concern, but any severe pain with increasing frequency, definitely needs to be looked into and investigated thoroughly as it might be due to an underlying problem – requiring medical guidance. Self-medicating on painkillers and masking the pain is akin to suppressing the symptoms but not treating the root cause, i.e. the disease.

Disclaimer: All characters mentioned in this article are fictious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The contents of this article should not be considered as formal medical advice. Kindly visit your doctor for any related treatment.