Are medicines worth taking........?

Are medicines worth taking for all the body problems......?

Question that is unanswered properly since the development of the modern medicine........

                        

                            

Sometimes people gave their opinions but it were biased and funded by pharmaceutical companies to save their business.............

Shortest answer could be ..........Depends for which condition the medicines are prescribed. If the situation is life threatening, it has to be cured or, at least, controlled by medicine, which is no-brainer. But, if the person have chances to recover without medicine, then taking it is not advisable.

Let’s try to understand it factually........

First, understand the problems for which drugs are taken......

Mainly, there are four types of diseases--- Infectious disease, Deficiency disease, Physiological disease and hereditary diseases.

·         Infectious disease-- When any microorganism gets entry into the body by any means, it will multiply there and will produce toxins that will make the individual ill. For this type of diseases, medications are advisable and necessary because if it doesn’t get treated at earliest, microorganism will keep producing toxins and eventually, it can lead to serious troubles. What are the medicines? It depends on the microorganism: Antibiotic for bacterial infection, Antiviral for viral infection and so on.                                                                                                             
·         Deficiency disease—There are certain trace elements- Vitamins , Minerals- that are needed in the body to function properly. If there are less of those, body’s function will get affected negatively. In case of the person having those in fewer amounts than recommended, it causes problem and it has to be supplemented depending on the condition. For example, if the level of vitamin B₁₂  is 200 ng/ml, you don’t need B₁₂ injections for that. It could be treated by dietary modification like consuming more dairy products; but, if the level is less than 150 ng/ml, taking injections of it is highly recommended.                                                                                                     

·         Physiological diseases—Those are caused by the malfunctions- improper functions of the body, like Diabetes is a result of malfunction of production or utilization of the Insulin hormone; hypertension is abnormally high blood pressure. Whether to take medicine in it or not depends on the extent of the problem. For example, if your blood pressure is 125/80, it could be brought back within normal range by lifestyle modification only like maintaining healthy weight, exercising regularly and restricting salt in the diet. However, if the blood pressure is 160/100, pharmacological treatment is must.                                                                                       
·         Hereditary disease—These are wide range of diseases passed down to generations, but the intensity might differ. Those issues require medicines as per the seriousness.

So, why I insisted that drugs should not be taken if not absolutely necessary..........?

Let’s understand what the drug does once it enters the body......

                                 

Most common route of taking drugs is Oral- through mouth. So, we will consider that route as an example.....

When one takes drug, first of all it has to pass through the digestive tract to get entry in the body. Most of the drugs are mainly absorbed from the small intestine. Once it passes gut, drug will enter the liver, where it will undergo first pass metabolism- liver filtrates the drug and reduces its concentration. After that drug will enter in the body system and act accordingly.

Nowadays, people consume it like anything without giving it a second thought, which will harm them at every place the drug passes from......

1.       Gastric ulcer- When the drug goes to stomach and rest at the specific place for long time, it will erode the gastric lining and will ulcerate it, which will cause bleeding and pain. For example: Aspirin.

2.       Digestive issues- After taking medicine for bacterial infection, not only the harmful bacteria causing infection will die, but the good intestinal bacteria will also die that will cause Diarrhoea or Constipation depending on the Drug. For example : Amoxicillin

3.       Dry mouth- Studies have shown that antihypertensive medication causes dry mouth, which will make the mucosa more vulnerable to crack. Cracked mucosa is more likely to be attacked by viruses. So, this medication makes us sick, sometimes.

4.       Sleep issues- Statins, lipid lowering drugs can cause insomnia, inability to sleep properly. That can have serious negative impacts on person’s well being.

                                 

                                

5.       Hindrance of decision making process: After taking medications of opioid group, the cognitive system will function improperly. So, the person’s capacity to take crucial judgments will take a toll. For example, due to problem in decision making, road traffic accident cases can increase. Factory workers can get injured while working on machines.

6.       Disturbs circadian rhythm: Melatonin, if taken as drug, will disturb the body’s natural clock. If this continues for a long time, it can lead to heart diseases, diabetes and much more.              

Those are some issues of consuming drugs......

Have you ever experienced.....

Dosage of drugs has to be increased after certain time period because the first pass metabolism of it increases with the passage of time.

To put it simply.....

Liver restricts the entry of drug in the body. Overtime, our liver learns to restrict more drug; so to achieve the same effect, the dose has to be increased. When the liver restricts the drug for too many years, it gets tired and liver hormone gets disturbed. That is called DILI (Drug Induced Liver Injury) in the medical world.

This blog is trying to say that if absolutely necessary, drugs should be taken but it should not be taken over the counter- recklessly.

There are certain minor issues like muscle pain or common cold, which could be cured by resting for few days. Hence, taking pills for that will cause more problems than benefits.........

Currently, pharma companies are creating hype regarding the medicines they are producing because they are in a business of making money, not taking care of your health..........!   Yes, that’s TRUE... So, give it a second though before consuming any medicine. Do your own research.......

I am Doctor ;so , I know all of this ......

 You can totally disagree with me ......no problem.......but before taking any medicine.......think twice.....is it going to benefit me more or harm more.......?

Let me know your thoughts about drugs in the comments below.........