Therapeutic defect: which diseases are dangerous to treat on your own
For various reasons, some people prefer to avoid medical offices or use non-traditional methods for treatment. According to doctors, in any case, they endanger their lives and health. Izvestia found out which diseases cannot be eliminated on their own, and in which cases the disease only progresses from self—medication.
Hypertension leads to a heart attack
Denis Prokofiev, a general practitioner with the status of "Moscow doctor", first of all advises to take into account that any disease is very multifaceted and it is difficult for a person far from medicine to even guess what kind of problem he is facing.
— For example, if a person has an ordinary mole on their skin, it may be melanoma, and a systemic connective tissue disease is also possible. There are many options — even doctors doubt it," says Prokofiev.
Sometimes people who do not have medical education underestimate the risks of diseases and are treated by focusing on advertising drugs. As a result, instead of the right treatment, they take useless medicines at best. And at worst, the consequences are much more serious. For example, self-medication of hypertension can lead to a heart attack, which could have been avoided.
— You will never see a wide advertising campaign of really working drugs for drug therapy, for example, antibacterial or drugs for effective and safe reduction of blood pressure, — comments Denis Prokofiev.
Drug administration regimens are described in detail in specialized medical literature. But no matter how simple they may seem, the expert advises you to understand that a doctor studies for at least seven years, and then he gains experience over the years. Even a specialist should not determine the problem "by eye".
— And if the doctor thinks that he will accurately determine the diagnosis without a preliminary examination, then he will most likely make a mistake. And the price of such mistakes is life. Unfortunately, a person without medical education is even more prone to mistakes," warns Dr. Prokofiev.
Meanwhile, many people really believe that consulting a doctor is a very simple procedure, the expert complains. Therefore, bypassing a visit to a medical facility, they arrogantly open the Internet in the hope of getting an answer. But it is extremely difficult to independently identify the disease and choose a treatment for a person without medical education.
— The appointment of any specialist (general practitioner, neurologist, allergist) is a multi—stage path. It always begins with collecting anamnesis (allergic, family, hereditary, expert), patient complaints, examination, and diagnosis. And only then is the diagnosis made. Of course, if the doctor is experienced and it is possible to carry out modern diagnostics in a short time, then everything happens faster — but not instantly, if we are talking about proper and good treatment," explains Denis Prokofiev.
Flu or coronavirus
The expert does not recommend self-treatment of acute respiratory viral infection, which many Russians do not attach importance to.
— In order to determine the type of acute respiratory viral infections (including influenza or covid), and then prescribe an antiviral drug, you need to at least find out what kind of virus it is. If the diagnosis is not carried out, then a person runs the risk of taking antiviral drugs that are not shown to him," comments Denis Prokofiev.
According to the doctor, any improperly selected drug to a certain extent has such negative properties as gastrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity. In the first case, the gastrointestinal tract suffers, in others, the drug may have a toxic effect on the liver or kidneys. In addition, an incorrectly selected medicine can cause an allergic reaction. The doctor takes these side effects into account, and a person without special education not only incurs financial losses, but also takes an absolutely useless drug. Meanwhile, the disease begins to progress.
— A bacterial disease joins a viral disease, and a cough appears. The patient buys a drug that stops this cough, and the sputum remains in the lung tissue. As a result, pneumonia develops. But the person continues to read websites, tries to boost immunity with dietary supplements, and drinks herbs. As a result, the process becomes so neglected that it is not possible to save the patient. This is how 90% of people who self—medicate die from pneumonia, warns Dr. Prokofiev.
According to Denis Prokofiev, the situation is much more complicated with diseases of the immune system, which include, for example, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, severe allergic reactions, etc.
— Immunology is a very complex branch of medicine. It is necessary to have special knowledge in order to understand how the mechanisms of immunity work. If you unknowingly use medications, so—called immunostimulants and immunomodulators, then you can trigger an immune response that will begin to fight against your body," the general practitioner comments.
According to the expert, in order to track the effectiveness of the drug, you need to know the patient's immunological record and monitor blood tests, and this is an extremely difficult task.
When antibiotics won't help
Sexually transmitted diseases are very insidious. It makes no sense to treat such problems on your own, the doctor emphasizes.
— Here, first of all, you need to choose a drug with sensitivity to a particular bacterial infection. To do this, specialists take a PCR smear, determine the type of bacterium, sensitivity to the drug, and then prescribe the necessary course of treatment. At a certain stage, it is necessary to monitor the effectiveness of treatment," says Prokofiev.
The doctor draws attention to the fact that sometimes it is necessary to treat the sexual partner with a combination of antibacterial drugs, and if this is not done, the person will suffer from a chronic disease. Against this background, lesions of various body systems develop.
— The most striking example is chlamydia. If you try to get rid of it, for example, with a short course of antibiotics and miramistin, the symptoms will disappear, but the disease will remain. With untreated chlamydia, damage to the joints and organs of vision develops. Then the harm to health is already irreparable, warns Denis Prokofiev.
What medications are not needed
According to the general practitioner, in a modern pharmacy it makes sense to limit the sale of drugs that are sold without a prescription.
— For example, as a result of the uncontrolled use of antibiotics, we have obtained a stable, high resistance of microorganisms. If this continues, we will lose such a group of medicines as antibiotics — they will simply stop working," the expert comments. — Uncontrolled use of medications for headaches with caffeine content leads to hypertensive crises, aspirin provokes bleeding, etc.
If a person finds himself in a situation where it is impossible to do without independent steps in treatment, then Prokofiev advises to carry out at least an elementary diagnosis — to measure blood pressure and temperature, to determine glucose levels. If you have to go to a place where you don't have to wait for prompt medical help, the expert recommends that you draw up a memo in advance with the help of a doctor on how to stop a hypertensive crisis, lower the temperature, which can be used from antiviral drugs. But it is still better to consult with specialists if possible.
— Diseases are very insidious now. In order not only to relieve the acute period, but also to prevent the development of complications and identify risks, you need to know a lot," the expert says.
Denis Prokofiev considers the use of drugs with unproven efficacy to be one of the most dangerous methods of treatment. Since the research and evidence base is insufficient, such drugs can be harmful instead of beneficial — they affect organs and systems, provoke chronic diseases, and have toxic effects.
— Another big danger is the independent treatment of cancer and viral diseases, including HIV infection. Often, a person does not want to believe in their diagnosis and is looking for alternative treatment methods. But, unfortunately, self—medication does not bring positive results, the expert complains.
As for medicinal plants, in classical medicine there are methods of using herbal preparations, but only in combination with drug therapy and after making a correct diagnosis, the expert notes.
Who's afraid of doctors
From the point of view of psychiatry, people from 45 years of age and older, that is, of pre-retirement or retirement age, usually show a tendency to self-medication, says psychiatrist and psychotherapist Alexei Vilkov. Some of them have paranoid personality traits such as suspicion and distrust.
— These people do not trust not only doctors, but also other employees of various government and commercial organizations. They believe that someone will want to deceive them, "heal" them, extract money from them for additional examinations," says Vilkov.
Another category of homegrown doctors are people with a low level of education who believe in non—traditional methods of treatment. These citizens are suggestible, and therefore they are easily deceived by all kinds of charlatans, the expert notes.
— Sometimes, in some people, suspicion and distrust are combined with increased suggestibility and lack of education, and are complemented by a tendency to magical thinking. Then they don't even doubt that only non—traditional methods of treatment and magical rituals will have a positive effect in getting rid of the disease," comments Alexey Vilkov.
It happens that people not only do not believe doctors, but simply take their health lightly and do not rush to be examined, even if there are good reasons for this.
— Those who ignore possible diagnoses belong to the so-called hyperthymic personality type — optimistic and lightweight. They are equally easy not only to their health, but also to all life situations in general. Hyperthymes tend to deny the presence of diseases, they believe that everything will go away by itself," comments Alexey Vilkov.
According to the psychiatrist, most often young people behave in this way — they don't take problems seriously because of infantilism. And middle-aged people sometimes experience real fear of a possible diagnosis, but fearing the upcoming difficulties and troubles, they diligently push the fact of the disease to the periphery of consciousness and therefore avoid visits to doctors and timely treatment.
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