Do not take medicines ’off your own bat’

Never take medicines which have been prescribed to your relatives, friends or neighbours, because you guess ‘off your own bat’ that they could help you, too, just because they have helped them. It is dangerous to use someone else’s antibiotics, antihypertensive drugs or sedatives. It is equally unacceptable to consult the Internet instead of your doctor or pharmacist and to prescribe yourself your own therapy, based on advertisements or ‘experiences’ of patients from various internet sites.

What is the right medicine for you?

‘The right medicine for you is only the one prescribed to you by your doctor. Your medicines are selected in accordance with your health status and your therapy is adjusted to your age, sex, weight and other possible diseases you are suffering from’, says Dr Nives Čpajak Devrnja, Manager of Medical Team at Hemofarm, adding: ‘Therefore, do not take someone else’s medicines, and also, do not lend your medicines to others whose symptoms might seem the same as yours’.

To get a medicine that suits you best, you must warn your doctor if:
- you are allergic to certain medicine;
- you have other health problems;
- you are pregnant, planning to stay pregnant, or if you are breastfeeding;
- you are on a special diet (without salt, sugar, fat, or vegetarian diet).

‘In order to get the medicine that suits you best, you also need to inform your doctor or pharmacist about all other products that you are taking, with or without prescription. Why is this important? Because some medicines ‘do not like’ to be mixed with other medicines! When several medicines are taken concomitantly, their synergy, mutual interactions and interactions of some medicines can reduce the efficacy of a medicine or increase side effects’, explained Dr Nives Čpajak Devrnja.

A medicine that has been prescribed to an adult should never be given to a child, without previous consultations with a paediatrician. Keep your medicines out of reach of children. If taken by mistake, some medicines can cause serious poisoning and unforeseeable consequences.

Proper dose

Lacking proper healthcare education, some patients in Serbia are inclined to changing their doses of medicinal products ‘off their own bat’. For example, the healthcare statistics warn that more than half of people in Serbia suffering from high blood pressure do not take their therapy at all, while less than a third of the other half of them stick to the prescribed doses.

’The right dose of a medicinal product for you is only the one prescribed by your doctor. Adhere responsibly to the prescribed dose, do not decrease it or increase it of your own will. Likewise, you should never decide on discontinuation of taking a medicine on your own by any means, since it could seriously damage your health status’, warns Dr Čpajak Devrnja.

Only the prescribed dose of a medicine provides a proper medical treatment. Otherwise, the medicine can even have very harmful effects.

Always at the right time

The right time of taking a medicine contributes to its better effect. Some drugs should be taken before meals, some after meals, while some are taken with meals. Similarly, certain medicines have better effects if taken at a certain time of a day, for example in the morning.

‘Some medicines are best taken before sleep since they produce best effects in synergy with metabolic processes in our body. If you are taking several medicines, it is especially important to strictly adhere to the prescribed order and times of their taking, bearing in mind possible bad interactions between medicines. If your routines are extraordinary, e.g. if you work at night or if your activities require exceptional physical effort, inform your doctor about it, so that he/she could determine the best time for you to take your therapy’, says Dr Nives Čpajak Devrnja, Manager of Medicinal Team in Hemofarm.

Important rule – Do not forget water!

Optimum intake of fluids is essential for normal metabolism of medicines. Pay special attention to that during hot and humid days.

‘To allow a medicine to reach the spot where it should exercise its effect, each organ and each cell in our body must be well hydrated. When we feel thirsty, our body has already been dehydrated, i.e. the loss of water is higher than the intake and the body suffers. There are no water reserves in the body and therefore you should not forget drinking water, especially when you are taking medicines’, warns Dr Nives Čpajak Devrnja.