Was supposed to have done this last week but I was busy sleeping and tlofing. No vex.
So, as I said, a thread on some common self-medicating errors patients make, and the dangers they can pose. Feel free to add some https://twitter.com/DrTSquare/status/1325532336298057732

1. Thinking every illness in a baby is because he/she is “growing teeth”
This is one of the most egregious ones I’ve seen. From fever to cough to diarrhea to vomiting, even to a skin rash, I’ve seen parents and relatives say it’s because the baby is growing teeth

Biko this isn’t true. A child can have a slight fever when growing teeth, but if a fever is lasting longer than normal, edakun it’s not teething. Anything else asides that, TAKE YOUR CHILD TO THE HOSPITAL!!!!

2. Using Flagyl and Tetracycline for diarrhea. This is another terrible one. Flagyl and Tetracycline are antibiotics. Antibacterial agents. Diarrhea, in itself, is your intestine’s response to you ingesting something it finds “offensive”. So it can be caused literally by anything

Using an antibiotic when you don’t know the cause of the diarrhea is harmful. And then the diarrhea stops and we think it has worked, meanwhile we don’t realize that most cases of diarrhea are self-limiting, meaning once your intestine has expelled it, diarrhea stops by itself

The intestines have bacteria in them. “Good” bacteria that assist in breaking down food and keeping “bad” bacteria at bay. Using antibiotics with no justification will kill the good bacteria, and so when the bad bacteria find a way in(they always do), they can multiply unimpeded

3. Every discomfort is either malaria or typhoid.
Starting this by saying Malaria is very endemic in our country. However, not every headache or body pains or fever is caused by malaria. These are what we call nonspecific symptoms because a thousand illnesses have them in common

There are some symptoms specific to each disease, yes, but those symptoms aren’t known by most people. If you ask people the specific symptoms of malaria, 9 out of 10 can’t give the right answer. And that’s okay. What’s not okay is diagnosing yourself because “I know my body”

Now, to typhoid. Biko. I’m only going to say this once. WIDAL TEST IS NOT DIAGNOSTIC FOR TYPHOID
Typhoid is an intestinal disease. If you don’t have specific intestinal symptoms and you do a widal test, owo jona o
To conclude this part, Imma just leave this here.

4. Drip
This one ehn
Many Nigerians think drip is the magic elixir capable of anything. You’d hear “dr pls I want drip so I can flush my system”. One time someone asked me for “antibiotic drip” for an already diagnosed illness that needed surgery because they were afraid

Most drips contain water with either sugar, salt, or a combination of both. They are mostly used when a patient is dehydrated and/or low on sugar. They don’t “flush” anything. Instead, if taken too much, they can cause fluid overload and overwork your heart and kidneys

5. Taking antihypertensives when you feel like
Most antihypertensives are meant to be taken daily.
Some patients will say “I know when my bp is rising, and that’s when I take it”
This is dangerous on so many levels. There’s a reason hypertension is called the silent killer

The normal bp in an adult is 120/8mmHg. Not to exceed 135/90. However sometimes we see patients come to the hospital, with no knowledge they are even hypertensive, but bp levels are through the roof. Hypertension, a lot of the time, shows vague symptoms, sometimes none at all

A man came to the hospital for a routine check and his bp was 220/135mmHg. His symptoms? “I was just feeling like I forget things easily”.
Also, not using your meds when due will cause your bp to keep rising, till you’ll need stronger meds and/or higher doses to control it

6. Blood Tonic.
Blood tonics are good o. I’m not saying they are bad. But routine use of blood tonics can be disadvantageous. Iron present in most blood tonics is good in the right amounts, but iron overload in the blood can have catastrophic effects on the body.

Patients will say they were feeling weak and someone told them it’s “low blood” and so they go get blood tonic. The average blood tonic takes about 2 weeks to have any noticeable effects. So if you think it’s the blood tonic that’s helping, think again

This is where I gotta add the people who use malt and milk. Some even add tomato paste. First time I heard this I thought it was a lie. Now I know malt and milk has been hammered into our heads. But tomato paste? Is it because it is red? Haba nau. Stop it please

That’s all I remember for now. I’ll be updating this as I remember them. Sorry it’s long o. I dey type as e dey flow.
As always, love and light (and legs)