Some college students' potential health risks of "self medication"
2021-12-10
Zhang Zihang, 20, has not been to the hospital for two years. The junior undergraduate studying in a key university in Wuhan boasted of "a generation who knows health preservation and iron beating": he usually has a little illness and pain. He either buys some medicine himself or "carries it directly". Nowadays, with the convenience brought by networking, after many college students have health problems, the first thing they think of is not to go to the school hospital or off campus hospital, but to open the mobile phone to query the disease online, and then place an order to buy medicine through takeout. While "self medication" is becoming more and more popular among young people, some experts warn that this unsafe way of medication may cause serious health damage. Young people who are very confident in "self-healing" Lin Kexin, 21, is a student of Hubei University and lives near the school. One night, she came out of the room weakly and knocked on the door of Qin Yao, her roommate and classmate: "Yao Yao, do you have cold medicine?" With the other hand, check the nearby drugstore on the takeout software with your mobile phone. "Yes! What kind do you want?" My roommate opened the door, pulled out more than 10 kinds of drugs from the cabinet and put them in a row, including anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, diarrhea and pain relief. For a time, Lin Kexin took an eye and didn't know which one to choose. He picked up a bottle of amoxicillin and said, "that's it.". For Lin Kexin, he usually has a headache, "it's all small things", which can be solved by himself or his roommate. If she hadn't lost her voice because of her sore throat, she "might not even take medicine". Xiao Zhu, 20, is a junior in an art college this year. Because she watched a CCTV health program with her grandmother since childhood, Xiao Zhu has mastered many health tips. She is very confident in the "self-treatment" technology. In her sophomore year of senior high school, Xiao Zhu suddenly had a fever before attending art training, but she had her favorite performance class that afternoon. If she went to the hospital, she would certainly miss it. In the morning, Xiao Zhu decided to have a set of "self-healing methods" in the room: first drink two packets of Banlangen Granules, and then make a large cup of black sugar ginger tea to warm his body; Then use the shower water column to massage the acupoints on the back for half an hour, and then cover the quilt and have a big sleep. After some operation, when Xiao Zhu woke up, "he was much more conscious and relaxed", and had a smooth class in the afternoon. Today, Xiao Zhu, who went to college, is still keen on her "health preservation": soak ginseng and medlar in a thermos cup, soak her feet in a bucket with a height equal to her lower leg even before going to bed in dog days, and often moxibustion and cupping by herself... She once proudly said to her roommate, "follow me for health preservation, and don't go to the hospital at all". The reporter noted that as early as 2018, the paper "investigation on self medication behavior and its influencing factors of college students in a university in Beijing" published in the Journal of drug Epidemiology showed that 78.7% of the interviewed college students took "self medication" after feeling unwell. Fatal "experience" and "take it for granted" However, the former "self-healing experts" also have "rollover" moments. One day at the end of September 2020, Wuhan suddenly cooled down by a cliff. Xiao Zhu, who insisted on "covering spring and freezing autumn", did not add clothes like his roommate. After a day at school, she returned to the dormitory and sneezed several times in the evening. She didn't take it to heart and thought it was just rhinitis. The next morning, Xiao Zhu felt a little soft and hot on his forehead. She turned over the medicine box. The fever medicine had expired. She drank two packets of Banlangen Granules and went to class. In Xiao Zhu's impression, he had a slight cold before, and Banlangen Granule can basically solve it. But she did not know that isatis root is a drug for the treatment of exogenous wind heat, which is not suitable for people with wind cold and cold. Another day later, Xiao Zhu got up and felt dark and weak. She came to the school hospital to prescribe some medicine. Before entering the door, the infrared thermometer sounded an alarm. Following the management regulations during the epidemic, Xiao Zhu was sent to an off campus hospital by a specially assigned person. After a series of tests such as nucleic acid, brain CT and serum, Xiao Zhu didn't get an anti fever needle until 5 hours later. Some students even paid the price of their lives. It is reported that in 2018, Xiao Zhang, a graduate student studying in a university in Nanjing, went to the hospital after 7 days of high fever and 5 days of diarrhea. Blood examination showed that the whole body muscles were dissolving, serious coagulation dysfunction and multiple organ failure. It turned out that after his illness, Xiao Zhang went to the drugstore to buy a variety of cold drugs, and increased the dose by himself. However, before his illness, Xiao Zhang often stayed up late to catch up with the subject, and his body was in a sub-health state. Zhongcheng cold medicine mostly contained "acetaminophen". Under the action of multiple factors such as overdose, it led to toxic myolysis and liver and kidney failure. Some declared "functional" drugs are also the hardest hit areas of abuse. Yang Xiaomi, 20, is a student majoring in performance in an art university. One month before the end of last year, she learned that the body accounted for a large proportion in the final examination. In order to lose weight as soon as possible, she ordered two boxes of "fat reducing candy" through wechat, which claimed that "pure traditional Chinese medicine burns fat, does not diet, does not exercise, and does not rebound". But after taking it, she felt rapid heartbeat, nausea, vomiting, dry mouth and insomnia at night. Wechat quotient feedback "is a normal reaction, indicating that it is burning fat", so she gritted her teeth and insisted. For the next five days, Yang Xiaomi continued to sweat, nausea and vomiting. She went to the hospital and called the market supervision department to complain. After inspection, the dose of sibutramine contained in the "candy" seriously exceeds the standard, which is very harmful to health. In 2019, the report of the 72nd World Health Assembly pointed out that medication error is the main cause of injury and avoidable injury in the medical and health system. "In the course of drug treatment, if there are reactions unrelated to the purpose of treatment, we should think about the possibility of adverse drug reactions. However, non professionals are often difficult to judge themselves and need to consult doctors or pharmacists." Wang Zhen, deputy director of Pharmacy Department of Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of science and technology, said. Experts suggest increasing drug safety publicity Recently, the reporter conducted a questionnaire survey on 50 college students in Hubei. The results showed that when they were in poor health, only 28% of the respondents would go to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment, 48% of the respondents would use drugs by themselves according to their experience, and 24% of the respondents chose to "drink more hot water and carry it". In Wang Zhen's view, the hidden dangers behind "self medication" have to be prevented. He said that at present, these kinds of improper drug use are common: believing the so-called ancestral prescriptions or local prescriptions will bring side effects and delay treatment; Improper combination of cold drugs, such as the combination of pheniramine tablets and acetaminophen; Taking medicine after drinking, such as cephalosporins and metronidazole, "this is relatively common among college students. Some young people are easy to forget this common sense and cause danger after drinking." In addition, out of anger or depression, some young people deliberately take excessive or toxic drugs. Wang Zhen once received a female college student who was troubled by oral pesticides and was "critically ill". "We should strengthen the publicity of drug safety, follow the doctor's advice or carefully read the instructions when using drugs. The font of some drug instructions is small, the typesetting is not conducive to reading, and it also needs to be improved." Wang Zhen suggested. Liu Dong, director of the Department of pharmacy of Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of science and technology, suggested that patients should bring all the drugs in use when seeking medical treatment and ask about the drug use mode, taking method and precautions, so as to deal with the condition safely and efficiently. It is also urgent to improve the medical environment in Colleges and universities. The reporter learned that the average satisfaction of some college students with the university hospital is not high, and the influencing factors are mainly in the professionalism of doctors, equipment resources, reception attitude and so on. "In fact, we also have difficulties." The nurse in charge of a "double first-class" University Hospital in Wuhan believes that some universities often invest a lot of money in teaching related hardware facilities and little investment in medical and health services. Some university hospitals are facing the trend of "Marginalization" in schools, resulting in the lack of medical facilities and the professional level of some doctors to be improved. "It is very necessary for colleges and universities to establish professional, cheap, convenient and fast medical services for college students without income." The nurse in charge believes that to solve these problems, local governments, universities and hospitals need to work together. For example, accelerate the reform of the management of medical professionals in university hospitals, strive for the government and society to increase investment in university community hospitals, so that university hospitals can provide better medical resources, so as to better provide efficient medical and health services for teachers and students. (outlook new era)
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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