Lao Lu had a bit of fever some time ago, and his condition improved after taking paracetamol at home. But the next day, seeing that he was still feverish, Old Lu continued to take the medicine for more than a week. In the end, he was taken to the hospital by his child, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia upon examination. The doctor said that drugs like paracetamol should not be taken for a long time, which will delay the diagnosis of the condition.
Lao Lu still didn’t understand. Because he has high blood pressure, the doctor asked him to take medicine every day and not stop the medicine without authorization, but he did not expect that this antipyretic and painkiller could not be taken for a long time. The child took the drug leaflet for paracetamol and pointed it to him. The leaflet said: “This product is not suitable for long-term use.”
The doctor explained that for chronic diseases such as hypertension, the drugs used for treatment need to be taken for a long time, and the drugs cannot be stopped at will. But for acute diseases such as fever, the medication should be effective within 1 to 2 days, and 3 to 7 days is considered a longer medication time. If you take it for a long time and it doesn’t work, you should seek medical attention. So, what are the consequences if you use drugs blindly for a long time?
1. Will cover up the condition
Take paracetamol as an example. It is an antipyretic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory drug paracetamol. It is used for fever caused by the common cold or influenza. It is also used to relieve mild to moderate pain such as headaches, joint pains, migraines, and toothaches. , Muscle pain, neuralgia, dysmenorrhea. However, when used for antipyretic, it should not exceed 3 consecutive days, and when used for pain relief, it should not exceed 5 days. Seek medical attention if symptoms do not relieve. Otherwise, the real condition may be covered up and treatment may be delayed. Long-term use of these drugs in large amounts may also cause liver and kidney damage.
2. Will develop resistance
Some medicines will lose their therapeutic effect after long-term repeated use, and the body will become resistant. Taking antibiotics for a long time at will, most of the sensitive strains will continue to be killed, but the resistant strains will multiply to replace the sensitive strains, making the bacteria’s resistance to this class of drugs continue to increase.
3. There will be toxic reactions
If the ingredients in many drugs accumulate in the human body for a long time, they can cause poisoning. Therefore, some drugs need to limit the treatment course and dosage according to the condition.
For example, the commonly used stomach medicine bismuth potassium citrate, the instructions on the precautions clearly stated that “this product should not be taken for a long time.” Judging from the drug insert, this drug does not seem to have great side effects, but in fact, potassium bismuth citrate or colloidal bismuth pectin are bismuth agents, which can cause toxic reactions. Long-term use may cause accumulation of bismuth in the body. Accumulation of bismuth can cause serious adverse reactions: bismuth encephalopathy, bone and joint disease related to bismuth encephalopathy, etc., and even develop into acute language disorders, walking difficulties, dizziness, and loss of memory. Since bismuth is mostly excreted through the kidneys, people with renal insufficiency are more likely to accumulate and develop the above-mentioned diseases.
Therefore, the course of treatment of potassium bismuth citrate is 4 to 8 weeks, and then the bismuth-containing drugs are stopped for 4 to 8 weeks, and if necessary, the treatment can be continued for 4 to 8 weeks; the course of colloidal bismuth pectinate is generally 4 weeks.
Some Chinese patent medicines, due to the different toxicity of the ingredients, will have a corresponding taking cycle, or be used for short-term treatment of acute diseases or emergencies, but cannot be used for long-term treatment of chronic diseases, such as Niuhuang Jiedu tablets, Niuhuang Zhibao pills, Liushen pills, etc.
