Self Medication

[vertigo4u]

I think, many People in Thailand do a kind of "Self-Medication" ! What Sources should you trust on : Internet ot Pharmacies? What is the best Internet Source for Self Medication?

[Farma]

While I do not condone self medication but have been guilty of it myself, rxlist.com is sometimes used by pharmacists for information.

I recommend you trust the advice given by your pharmacist, they have the qualifications.

Edited March 29, 2007 by Farma

[cathyy]

The real problem isn't self-medication. Any reasonable person with Google can figure out what type of medication and how much to take for, say, strep throat. The real problem is the self-diagnosis that usually precedes the self-medication. A cluster of seemingly unrelated things may be very meaningful to a doc, and lead him to treat the real cause rather than the symptom that finally triggered the visit. Also, online disease references are just no competition to a doc who has seen this particular disease process before. Experience adds a lot to diagnostic expertise. Doctors, not pharmacists, have that particular expertise.

If you already have a solid diagnosis, then syou are probably going to self-medicate; a genuine pharmacist is a valuable reference for this. Be sure that it is in fact a genuine pharmacist. Also good are the drug guides for nurses, because they list quite specifically the potential drug interactions and any special concerns and circumstances where the drug should not be used, as well as the side effects. Of course, if you do self-medicate and experience a bad reaction -and I have both seen this in others and experienced it myself- the doc who sees you in the emergency clinic has no way to know what you have been taking if you are unable to tell him.

[coldcrush]

I agree with cathyy in this respect. It is the diagnosis that is needed before the medication, unless you maybe treating something unrelated to your illness, even causing further problems. I went into a pharmacy in Bangkok after getting pains in my forhead and they diagnosed it was maybe some problems with my brain and I should take their given tablets and get a catscan....I took some tablets then thought if my pains are that serious I should go to Bunrumgrad and get further advice, so continuing on my pharmacy tablets i tottle off to the hospital to find out it was nerve damage on the muscles in my brow and the tablets they gave at Bunrumgrad took it away in 3 days...so the moral is to get a 100% diagnosis before self medication. Also if you cannot trust a pharmacy in Thailand to give you the proper advice, how can you trust yourself?

Edited March 29, 2007 by lopburiguy

[tim armstrong]

I agree with cathyy in this respect. It is the diagnosis that is needed before the medication, unless you maybe treating something unrelated to your illness, even causing further problems. I went into a pharmacy in Bangkok after getting pains in my forhead and they diagnosed it was maybe some problems with my brain and I should take their given tablets and get a catscan....I took some tablets then thought if my pains are that serious I should go to Bunrumgrad and get further advice, so continuing on my pharmacy tablets i tottle off to the hospital to find out it was nerve damage on the muscles in my brow and the tablets they gave at Bunrumgrad took it away in 3 days...so the moral is to get a 100% diagnosis before self medication. Also if you cannot trust a pharmacy in Thailand to give you the proper advice, how can you trust yourself?

I agree with the others. Exceptionally, if you have symptoms of a pre-existing condition that you are very familiar with you may go for self-medication. (But I wouldn't if it was a potentially life threatening one - like severe hypertension). One problem in Thailand is that your usual drugs may not be available. While no- name alternative products may be recommended by a pharmacist, unless your familiar with them, the quality may vary a lot. Be cautious about drugs made in Indonesia, India and some African countries. All of these countries are really getting into the market, and while some are fine, there is no way to check out the quality, unless companies state they are complying with some known international standards system.

[ProThaiExpat]

There is a world of difference between self medication, the OP subject and the subsequent posts on self diagnosis. I wholeheartedly endorse the former and decry the latter.

Do it yourself brain surgery comes to mind.

Those of us who have long standing health issues, diagnosed by legions of physicians, and who take responsibility for our treatment, have no difficulty accessing medication information on the internet and learning the generic meds for our conditions. Many of us often know more about our own condition that many first time doctors.

When you become very knowledgeable about one of your medical conditions, this is great training for knowing when you don't know enough or feel inadequate regarding others. Yes, Thai doctors may hate all those questions, but I ask them anyway and keep it up until I get the answer that makes sense to me.

Blood pressure control over years, arthritis, skin conditions, muscle and joint pain, etc. are examples of what I am speaking of.

Having a thorough medical knowledge acquired over years of conditions that afflict us is a powerful tool in maintaining good health at a reasonable cost.

Keeping a fact sheet of the meds you take, and I actually clear tape a sample pill next to the verbiage, is important, as your meds and their strength often evades memory when confronted by a doctor or in an emergency room.

Nothing is more rewarding that to find an effective generic for a drug that a doctor has prescribed that is widely advertised and the cost of that advertising along with a gross profit is added to your cost.

An example of a recent victory was when my cholesterol shot up to 270 after years at 220 with very high HDL.

With doctors so expensive in Australia where I went just after the lab test in Thailand, I started taking minimum dosage of Lipitor, a very widely prescribed and much praised cholesterol lowering drug.

I worked magically and I am now at 170 and holding.

Cost of Lipitor in Thailand is about 50 baht a pill and since it is a fairly new drug, I assumed it was not available in generic. Well, on wonderful Thaivisa I read that Bestatin was a generic that worked great on elevated cholesterol and so I switch to it at 3 baht a pill and it works as well as Lipitor on me. Yes I read the rather vague negative thread regarding "statins".

A recent hospitalization with may lab tests covering liver and kidney function were all normal, so I rest easy that there are no adverse affects on me taking this drug on a self-medicating basis.

Clearly, diagnosis of elevated cholesterol was done by lab test so treatment by medication was my choice. I just don't go along with making radical lifestyle changes in order to lower cholesterol when you are in your "golden years".

[karenbenn]

Here is a symptoms checker http://symptoms.wrongdiagnosis.com/ . There is a lot of helpful information about diseases and conditions on the wrongdiagnosis.com, for info about medications try drugs.com, it has info for both consumers and professionals, and they also have discussion board about medications: http://www.drugs.com/forum/

[Sheryl]

Indeed there is a world of difference between a new illness that needs to be diagnosed and management of a known chronic condition.

Diagnosis as Cathyy indicated is a complex problem requiring the synthesis of a wide range of information, and it is in arriving at a diagnosis that the services of a physician are most useful. That said, not all doctors go about it as thoroughly as they should, and it is a good idea to read up on possible causes so as to be able to discuss them with the doctor...and don't put up with doctors who aren't willing to engage in that kind of collaborative approach with a patient.

Once you have a clear diagnosis, I agree that some people can then manage their treatment pretty much independently. Even when you can't, it is still important to be sure you are fully informed about any and all medications you are taking, and that will usually require some research since few doctors provide that info, and even pharmacists will usually just tell you the main points. You can ask the pharmacist for a package insert on the drug, or use the internet to get more detailed info. The site www.medscape.com has a drug reference search function, and while it is designed for health professionals, each drug has a section entitled "patient monograph" which provides info in lay terms.

[Rich145]

I think, many People in Thailand do a kind of "Self-Medication" ! What Sources should you trust on : Internet ot Pharmacies? What is the best Internet Source for Self Medication?

Hi Vertigo,

I believe that optimal health is a lot about prevention and holistic care rather than medication. I'm a big buyer of micronutrition products and cosmeceuticals so I'd personnally recommend this online provider: http://www.labo-healthcare.com

They deliver worldwide and practice pretty fair prices. Of course there are many other that you could check about.

Regards,

Rich

Edited March 31, 2007 by Rich145

[Jessy]

Try www.unitedpharmacies.com