There is no trivial matter in taking medicine: changing the dosage casually is tantamount to taking health as a joke.

Many people have misconceptions about the dosage of drugs. Although the drug instructions say several times a day in black and white, A few tablets at a time, But they don’t care, They mistakenly believe that increasing the dosage of drugs will enhance the efficacy of drugs, So when suffering from illness, he gave himself [strong medicine], He took two tablets of what he was supposed to take, He will take three tablets if he should have taken two tablets. Some patients will also think that [the medicine is three times poisonous], Just take some medicine to relieve some symptoms. Why do you still let your body bear unnecessary toxic and side effects? I know a nursing mother like this. She was very anxious when she was ill, but she did not dare to take medicine. She was worried that taking medicine would affect her baby. Therefore, she decided to reduce the dosage on her own initiative, believing that the body would remove the medicine faster and continue nursing earlier.

Drugs are usually calculated in grams, milligrams, micrograms and other units (Note: The dosage is the amount of medicine used each time), Different drugs, Dosages vary widely. Drugs such as glucose and sodium chloride are calculated in grams. Morphine, diazepam and other drugs are calculated in milligrams. However, levothyroxine sodium, sufentanil and other drugs are calculated in micrograms. The effective dose of drugs taken by patients is obtained according to a large number of clinical test data and is very accurate. It is wrong for patients to increase or decrease the dose casually. If patients increase the dose at will, they may be poisoned due to overdose. If the patient reduces the dose at will, the therapeutic effect may not be achieved.

For example, the normal dose of acetaminophen is 500 mg. That is, taking 500 milligrams of acetaminophen at a time can achieve the curative effect. But if you take more than 1,000 milligrams at a time, It may cause damage to your liver. In order to avoid liver damage caused by excessive acetaminophen, In 2011, The McNeil Consumer Health Department of Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals revised the drug instructions for acetaminophen tablets. Lowering the maximum daily dose from 4000 mg to 3000 mg, Just for fear that people will eat too much and hurt their liver. But if you are worried about its side effects, Reduce the dose to 200 mg at will. Such a dose does not have side effects on the body, but it has no curative effect at the same time, because for adults, such a small dose has not yet reached the effective dose of the drug, and even if the drug is taken, it may be taken for nothing.

Author: Ji Lianmei

This article is taken from the book “Ji Lianmei Talk: Chinese Should Use Drugs This Way”, which is reprinted by the author’s authorized clove garden.