When the elderly take medicine, they are most afraid of these "pitfall" misunderstandings

Due to their poor physical fitness, the elderly have different treatment and medication methods from young people. So what are the taboos that the elderly should pay attention to when taking medicine?

Follow the "experience"

Some elderly people with chronic diseases often rely on their "old experience" of taking medicine for a long time. Whenever their illness relapses, they go to the pharmacy to buy medicine themselves. Even when they go to the hospital, they ask the doctor for medicine regardless of their own specific conditions, and sometimes even blame the doctor for prescribing "ineffective" medicines. The medication is different at each stage of the disease, so when the disease relapses, it is best to ask a doctor to check and take the medication according to the prescription.

Follow the ads

Some elderly people are very superstitious about new drugs and "miracle drugs" introduced in medical advertisements, and often take the drugs "just because of their reputation". Medical advertisements mostly promote the efficacy of drugs, but rarely mention side effects and contraindications. If the elderly ignore these, problems may arise when using the drugs.

The more types of medicines used, the better the effect.

Some elderly people suffer from multiple diseases at the same time. In order to get better faster, they often ask doctors to prescribe comprehensive medicines, believing that the more types of medicines they use, the better the effect. The inappropriate simultaneous use of multiple drugs sometimes not only fails to increase the therapeutic effect, but may reduce the efficacy due to the mutual antagonism between the drugs. Some may also cause side effects due to violation of incompatibility taboos and increase the toxicity of the drugs.

Worship of "precious medicine"

Some elderly people often compare the price of medicine with the price of goods, and are easily misled by the mentality of "you get what you pay for". It is believed that expensive drugs must be more powerful and work faster than cheap drugs. In fact, the effectiveness of a drug is not determined by its price. No matter how high or low the price is, the best medicine is the one that treats the disease.

Nourishing medicine will not harm your body

Many elderly people believe that tonic medicines can strengthen the body and eating more of them is beneficial rather than harmful. However, if the disease is not a "deficiency syndrome", the abuse of tonic medicine will violate the principle of traditional Chinese medicine that "yin and yang are balanced, and the spirit is cured." If elderly people with high blood pressure and high blood viscosity take supplements such as ginseng and deer antler for a long time, it will cause high blood pressure and even nosebleeds, which is tantamount to adding fuel to the fire.

Believe that only medicine can defeat disease

In fact, medicine is just a weapon for the human body to overcome disease. Maintaining a relaxed and happy mental state, a good lifestyle, and proper physical exercise are more important for physical health.