Drug and You series 3.0
By Oluwatise Osinaike
It may interest you to know that many people use drugs because they want to get the benefits of their side effects rather than the primary reasons the drugs were produced. When I was much younger, I used to think the words, side effects, or adverse reactions, were a very dangerous thing to experience after using a drug. I’m sure you must have thought so as well.
However, many of those side effects are what some people want when they take medication. A side effect is simply a secondary consequence of a therapy provided to correct a medical condition and can thus be beneficial or detrimental.
On the other hand, adverse effects, adverse events, and adverse reactions are negative consequences of therapy.
Many of the drugs we consume have side effects like; an increase in appetite, weight gain, drowsiness, constipation, rashes, hair growth, and the like.
Gaining weight
Let’s talk about the side effects of gaining weight. This particular side effect is peculiar to the class of drugs that are grouped under corticosteroids.
Ideally, corticosteroids are mostly used for allergic reactions and even to suppress asthma. So many times instead of treating a particular ailment, many would use this drug to increase in weight.
Read also: You and drug: A study of paracetamolhttps://churchtimesnigeria.net/you-and-drug-a-study-of-paracetamol-and-its-implication/
You might want to ask, why don’t they go for multivitamins or an overall supplement that would also give them this advantage? The simple reason for some patients is cost. They may not be able to afford the supplements and would rather buy a cheaper drug that will still give them some added advantage.
The weight gain side effect is just one of the many beneficial side effects for some patients. People also use cough syrups and multivitamins to make them sleep. Such patients may be treating cough but then they get the side effect (drowsiness) as an added advantage.
Is this right?
Now you may ask me. Well in a way, it is, because there are times that even doctors prescribe drugs to get the benefit of its side effect. I think the danger is getting addicted to those drugs and not knowing when to stop using them. This way, the body might probably develop resistance to it and the drug might not even work for its intended purpose.
Oluwatise Osinaike is a graduate of Pharmacology, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State Nigeria