Self-medication for diabetes is a dangerous habit

Stop Self-medication

Self-medication is a dangerous habit

Multiple factors converge in this dangerous habit and that can have negative consequences. More and more people are resorting, by their own means, to taking a medication with the aim of treating pain or counteracting a discomfort.

Among the most used are heartburn remedies and muscle relaxants. One aspect that has an impact is advertising, which is increasingly numerous and striking. In addition, although some traditional pharmacies remain, the new pharmacy chains have increased in size and resemble shopping centers.

 What is called self-medication?

By definition, it refers to the use of drugs on their own initiative, without there is any type of intervention on the part of the doctor in the diagnosis, prescription, or supervision of treatment.
Self-medication could be considered responsible when it consists of self-administration of a certain drug with the sole objective of treating minor symptoms such as pain or fever, but only for a very limited time.
It is also necessary to consider the fact of having a successful history regarding the use of this medication, which also must not have been ingested systemically but sporadically.
Over-the-counter drugs do not, therefore, become safe and harmless, since "no drug is safe when taken outside of the context and purpose for which it was manufactured." Massive publicity for quick relief runs the risk of indulging in self-medication. Self-medication is a very common habit and is widespread in the population.

When we raise the problem of self-medication we have to clarify what it means to self-medicate: it is the medication indicated by oneself.

Many times this behavior is enhanced by people who advise others without having the appropriate knowledge to do so.

Health professionals are those who have the knowledge to indicate the medications that we should use, and they know what their benefits and contraindications are.

As a patient, you have the right to know and to ask your treating doctor about the medication you receive, and he or she will give you the corresponding explanations.

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What are the risks that people have when they self-medicate?

Generally, the person when he self-medicates does not think about the risks he can run, he thinks that he will solve "a problem", that he will improve health. One of the dangers are that what you decide to do will make the situation worse, for lack of knowledge.

For example a Type 1 diabetic patient (insulin-dependent), may fall into the error of thinking that he can suspend the insulin doses and change them for oral hypoglycemic agents (in tablets). This will lead the person to hyperglycemia, with the risk that this means, which may lead to ketoacidosis (the blood becomes acidic due to a high level of ketones, when there is insulin deficiency).

Another example is that the person with Type 2 diabetes (non-insulin-dependent) who self-medicates with an oral hypoglycemic (in tablets) in a higher dose than necessary and hypoglycemia is caused.

In other situations, in which people have high blood glucose levels and to lower them faster, they stop meals (such as dinner) and add one more tablet to have "more effective". It may happen that one day nothing happens, but repeating the same behavior can cause hypoglycemia (capillary blood glucose value less than 0.70 mg/dl).

Another example is also a person who has a hypoglycemic tablet prescribed by his treating physician. Due to different socio-economic factors, she does not consult for a long time (which can be years) but she continued taking the same medication, unaware during all that time that changes and complications may occur in her body that ends up making that medication contraindicated. , and the patient does not know. 

Why do people self-medicate?

• People when they self-medicate can do it for several reasons:
• Comfort is one of them. Many times the dialogue with other people who suffer from the same thing leads to one saying to another: "Take this pill that is very good for me" and then the person thinks that they have already solved the problem of their hyperglycemia and they take it to see what effect does it have on you and then consult your doctor or do not consult for fear that the doctor will not approve
• Other times the lack of time or long working hours, not being able to be absent or absent from it prevents him from approaching the health center to consult with the doctor and then he decides to take the medication with which his friends, relatives, are being treated. etc. who have diabetes.
• Other times they change the indicated medication for the one that another person is taking who has the same symptoms and then they imitate it, changing it.
• Sometimes people think they have the same condition and are wrong, solving the situation badly, postponing a good solution and they come to the doctor's office in a "dangerous state" (metabolic decompensation).

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What forecast should a person with diabetes make with hypoglycemic medication to avoid unforeseen events or changes in it?

-If the person receives insulin (insulin-requiring Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes patients) they must always have more than one bottle or more than one insulin cartridge in reserve. You must go to a doctor for a prescription before you have just one bottle.

If the patient is a Type 2 diabetic who takes hypoglycemic medication in tablets, they should have a reserve bottle and do not go to the doctor's office or the pharmacy when they have tablets for less than a week.

Why should people with diabetes have this reserve of medication?

-Any person who is insulin-dependent, and who does not receive the indicated dose of insulin for a single day, can reach ketoacidosis. In non-insulin-dependent diabetic blood glucose rises to very dangerous levels.

In order to have a decompensation, it does not matter how old the person with Type 2 diabetes is taking hypoglycemic medication. Each type of hypoglycemic medication has a function, and has a period of action in the body, changing it can be a serious mistake if you do not follow the instructions of the treating doctor.

If a person with diabetes runs out of hypoglycemic medication, they should try to get it from:

- pharmacies through purchase.

- In the Institutes of Health, whether of the Ministry of Public Health or Mutual, to be prescribed it.

- If this happens on a weekend, if you are an insulin-dependent diabetic, you must go to the Emergency Department to obtain the insulin prescription. Insulin is not replaced by another drug, here self-medication (insulin by tablets) aggravates the situation.

Can the patient with diabetes freely choose a substitute for medication?

-An example to clarify what has been raised is that a patient is going to withdraw the medication at the pharmacy knowing its commercial name, but it is substituted or changed by another medication with a different name and from another laboratory. What should the person do? Faced with this situation, you should check if you have the same chemical compound and the same dose.

When people self-medicate and are not informed about these possible "changes" it can happen that the medicine does not cause the same effect. When in doubt, you should consult your doctor and he will explain if there are other options.

When an insulin-dependent Type 1 or insulin-requiring Type 2 diabetic patient increases or decreases the insulin dose, is the self-medicating?

If the patient has achieved through the teachings were given by the Health Team that attends him (diabetologist, nutritionist, nurse, etc.) to have the appropriate knowledge, he may increase or decrease the dose according to the glycemic values, to the exercise to be carried out, or to the food that you are going to consume.

For example, a patient who learns to count carbohydrates may be administered, in addition to slow or ultra-slow acting insulin (NPH or Lantus insulin), the dose of fast or ultra-fast acting insulin (crystalline or Humalog) according to the capillary blood glucose level before each food (correction) and the units, you need according to the amount of carbohydrates you are going to eat in that meal. 

Why should we not change hypoglycemic agents without a doctor's indication?

-The different oral hypoglyceminates (tablets) presented by the pharmaceutical industry have different mechanisms of action and act on different disorders of the body of the person with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. For this reason, the diabetologist doctor tells the person, -according to their characteristics individual-, what is the most effective medication, avoiding non-beneficial effects on your health.

In summary: when the specialist the doctor selects an oral hypoglycemic agent, he considers a series of factors, including how the drug works, its onset, the duration of its action, the mechanism that follows in the body, and the route of elimination, in addition, try to avoid side effects, and of course hypoglycemia.

Many times it is necessary to change the indication of a hypoglycemic agent because it was not entirely effective for that patient, either because it is not suitable as well as because the patient does not comply with the dietary treatment, and then it is necessary to change, or for other individual reasons.

Therefore, the person who self-medicates ignores a series of cares that, by ignoring them due to ignorance risks going through moments of danger to their health, such as hypoglycemia.