Listen carefully guys and girls.
We all know its a hassle to visit the doctor (long waiting times, expensive consultation fees). Or in the case of the government clinic or hospital – super duper long waiting times just to see the doctor and then at the pharmacy.
Lucky for most of us, the internet is a great place to read about your illnesses and what steps to take to treat them. But as a pharmacist, I want to stress something really important. THE INTERNET IS NOT YOUR GP.
I’m totally cool with self medicating. In fact, I do it all the time haha. But because I know when I should see a doctor and when I can treat myself.
So how do if its safe to self medicate?
First thing you must look at the severity of the symptoms you are experiencing. For example, if your dick starts bleeding – SEE A DOCTOR. Jk…but yeah I mean it.
As a general rule of thumb, if you fever has lasted at least 3 days (moderate to high grade) you should see a doctor asap. Drink lots of water when you have a fever. Lots of it till your urine gets colourless.
Colds (or flu, as laymen call it) are fine to self medicate but if you are coughing yellowish or greenish sputum you should see a doctor. Most likely your throat or respiratory tract is infected and your doctor will determine the cause.
If you have a runny nose, decongestants are out of the picture. So no point spending 10 bucks on a pack of clarinase. Btw, to clarify something about clarinase to ensure clarity, clarinase is a LESS drowsy, antihistamine + decongestant. If your nose isn’t blocked a simple antihistamine (e.g polaramine, clarityn) will do the trick. Save money. People think that they eat clarinase then won’t feel drowsy. Not true. It depends on person to person. They claim to be non-drowsy, but it does have abit of drowsy effect. In fact, a bit of drowsy effect at night would help you to sleep better and get well faster coz you get more rest.
Stomach ache- Suffering from diarrhoea? Try and shitting out everything first. Sometimes its better to shit out all the bacteria than to keep them in your stomach 
Take oral rehydration salts each time u purge badly. If the diarrhoea persists after 2 days please go to the doctor to get anti-diarhoeal medicine.
Stomach feels gassy and bloated? Try charcoal pills. Eno works too. Persists? Gets more and more painful? Starting to look pregnant? SEE A DOCTOR.
To health freaks out there who can’t stand a day without exercise – don’t exercise when you’re sick. Rest and recover fully before resuming your exercise. No point worsening your sickness, that would slow your progress even more and you will feel even worse.
To sum things up, as a general rule of thumb – If your attempts at self medicating fail after 1-2 tries its always safer to see a healthcare professional. You never know if it might be something more serious.
Happy Self-Medicating!
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