A Special Word about
Medicine Taking of many people that if a little is good, more is better. With
potent agents, excessive dosage can produce real trouble. Similarly, under dosage
can cause problems. Inadequate antibiotic dos- age, for example, carries its
own risk. One common example is the patient with a "strep" throat who
takes penicillin, improves, stops treatment, then gets the sore throat back
again.
Once more, he takes some penicillin but not the full
prescribed amount. Again the sore throat dis- appears only to recur after a
short time. And so a disease that can be eradicated by continued administration
of penicillin for eight to ten days is converted into one that drags on with
repeated remissions and relapses. Physicians have, in fact, long suspected that
many failures of anti- biotic treatment stem simply from failure of patients to
keep taking medication as prescribed. A recent study uncovered disturbing
evidence that many parents may be risking their children's health by failing to
make certain they take their medication as long as necessary.
Actually, in acute "strep" infections, penicillin
treatment for 10 days is considered essential to prevent rheumatic fever. Yet
in a follow-up of 59 children for whom a 10-day course of penicillin had been
prescribed, investigators found that 56 percent of the youngsters had stopped
taking the drug by the third day, 71 percent by the sixth day, and 82 percent
by the ninth day. When a doctor prescribes medication, the first thing to do is
to get the prescription filled immediately. The value may be lessened, or even
lost completely, if you delay.
Then follow directions of the doctor to the letter. If you
are not certain you understand them, ask him for clarification-even for
instructions in writing as to exactly what you are to do. Take all the medicine
pre- scribed, not some amount you arbitrarily settle on. Don't decide, if you
begin to feel better, that you can stop or reduce dosage. Sometimes, illnesses
require several prescriptions. Very much worth noting here is an old principle
taught to nurses: read every label three times. You can use that principle to
advantage at home.
