TAKING DRUGS: INTERACTIONS AND RESISTANCE
Drug Interactions
The use of drugs in combination can add or subtract from each others therapeutic activity. Such additions or subtractions constitute drug interactions. Some drugs interact in a particularly dangerous and predictable fashion. A classic example is the use of Fluid Tablets with Digoxin. One outcome is low potassium resulting in cardiac arrest. Another outcome is high potassium also resulting in cardiac arrest.
Perhaps a less important interaction relates to the use of oral contraceptives with antibiotics. Antibiotics can interfere with absorption of the pill resulting in pregnancy. Alternative forms of contraception are advisable for two weeks whenever antibiotics are taken at the same time as the oral contraceptive pill.
Home Remedies
Avoid multiple drug regimens. When taking Digoxin and Fluid Tablets, insist that the doctor assess serum potassium levels every six months. Use other forms of contraception for a fortnight after taking antibiotics and the pill.
Drug Resistance
The normal use of antibiotics always leaves behind a small number of drug resistant bacteria. Soon these resistant bacteria multiply and populate the human body with species of micro organisms completely resistant to the most frequently prescribed antibiotics. So resistant has the "Golden Staph" become to antibiotics, finding a drug capable of treating life threatening infections of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureous (M.R.S.A.) is a very difficult objective. Unchecked the "Golden Staph" produces septicemia which seeds the bodies vital organs with multiple pus filled abscesses.
Home Remedies
Many doctors prescribe antibiotics in winter whenever a patient presents complaining of a cold or flu. The use of antibiotics in this context is inappropriate and highly conducive to the production of drug resistant organisms. When ever a doctor suggests a course of antibiotics ask him - what for? Studies show that the prescription of medications by doctors drops by 50 per cent when ever they are questioned in this way.
To some extent a doctor's surgery becomes an epicenter for the production of antibiotic resistant micro organisms. Even more productive of super bugs is the hospital environment. So great is the problem in hospitals, that dangerous drug resistant micro organisms have been cultured from the surgical antiseptic solutions that surgeons use to scrub their hands with before performing operations.
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GENERAL HEALTH
- The expiry date is mentioned on each blister. It is different for different batches. The shelf life is 2 years from the date of manufacture and would differ from batch to batch depending on when they were manufactured.
- Read the product information leaflet provided with the product before using it.
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