With the current indiscriminate use of drugs, the problem of drug resistance will increase. This danger is not only dangerous for the patient but also dangerous for the whole community. Therefore, for drug users, to limit drug resistance, the only way is to use the drug when absolutely necessary, according to the doctor’s instructions, do not abuse and do not use the drug indiscriminately.
What is drug resistance
Once a young person came to me to ask for advice on whether, after secretly going for “physiological treatment” and suspecting he had an illness, he could go to the pharmacy to buy the “best” antibiotic. used to self-medicate. I hastily explained: “Currently, we have a very worrying situation where a number of people are suffering from sexually transmitted diseases (formerly known as venereal diseases such as genital warts). genital gonorrhea, mango seeds…) but refused to go to a specialist for diagnosis and treatment instructions instead of being told to buy the latest antibiotics such as 3rd and 4th generation cephalosporins or fluoroquinolones. Generation 2 3… To self-treat, doing so is not only harmful to yourself because using the wrong medicine will make the disease worse, but it can also unintentionally harm the community. The latest antibiotics are only recommended for use In the hospital, when the treating doctor prescribes instructions and monitors its use because it is a very precious drug with reserve properties and if used indiscriminately in a short period of time, it will certainly cause resistance.” At first, the young man seemed to understand what I said, but then he seemed confused by the word “resistance”. I used more simple language to explain to the young man what “resistant” antibiotics are. After hearing this, the young man blurted out, “What do you mean by “resistance to medicine!” (The word “resistance to medicine” is a word commonly used by Southerners).
Another time an elderly person came to me to ask for advice on whether he could use a medicine himself. A fairly common sedative and hypnotic drug is seduxen to treat insomnia. I present the harmful effects of patients arbitrarily using this type of medicine, including the very serious harm of the drug causing addiction. People who are addicted will have to continue using the drug and cannot quit and become “drug tolerant”. I felt like I was being rude because the old man didn’t understand what “drug tolerance” was, so I used more everyday words to explain to him. At that time, he blurted out: “What the pharmacist meant was “drug resistance”!”.
Thus, the word “drug resistance” is often used by many people. commonly used today has two meanings.
For antibiotics
Previous The problem with the use of drugs is that antibiotic “resistance” means that the bacteria that cause the disease are no longer sensitive and can resist the effects of the drug, resulting in antibiotics that the patient does not use at all. harmful to bacteria. “Resistant to antibiotics” here is a shortening of “bacteria resistant to antibiotics”.
We should also know how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics to understand. Why is there advice to use the right antibiotic at the right dose and for the right time? When attacked by antibiotics, and especially when the dose of antibiotics we use is not strong enough to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria, bacteria also know how to “mutate” to survive. For example, they will transform into a “hardy” form that can withstand the effects of antibiotics without dying. And there are many other ways of resistance, but no matter how skillfully bacteria evade resistance, medical scientists still cannot give up. For example, in treatment, from the beginning, an effective antibiotic must be used (it should be noted that there are antibiotics that are effective against this type of bacteria but not effective against other types of bacteria). medicine. From the beginning, an attack dose must be used immediately, that is, a strong dose so that the bacteria are killed immediately before they can survive in a hardened form. Then maintain the effective dose throughout the treatment period by taking the drug several times a day and taking it for several days. Special attention should be paid to the normal duration of antibiotic use being no less than 5 days. Some infections require antibiotics for a whole month, but tuberculosis requires antibiotics for 6 months or more. That means you must use antibiotics at the right dose and for the right amount of time to hope to get better. The problem of “antibiotic resistance” is a problem that causes serious harm to public health. In tuberculosis treatment, our country is currently having to deal with “multidrug-resistant tuberculosis” (ie tuberculosis in which bacteria are resistant to many leading anti-tuberculosis drugs in treatment) and “super-resistant tuberculosis”. drugs” (i.e. tuberculosis in which the bacteria are resistant to not only first-line drugs but also to second-line reserve drugs). The sad thing is that the first case of drug-resistant tuberculosis in our country fell on a pharmacy student who will contribute to taking care of public health in the future.
< p>Resistance to medicine – no small matter!
The situation of “self-treatment” has contributed to bacteria’s resistance to medicine (Illustration).
For other drugs
The second meaning of “drug resistance” that our people often use is the condition of our body. Due to repeated use of a drug many times, if the old dosage is used, the drug will be ineffective and the dosage must be increased to feel the “high” of the drug. Not only drugs, there are some substances people are used to using in daily activities that also cause this “suffering” condition. For example, when it comes to alcohol, many people at first only drink half a glass of beer and their faces become red and dizzy, but in the next period of time, if they “keep drinking a few drinks” every day, they will drink up to a few bottles of alcohol just to enjoy it and not drink it. I don’t see any harm, I just see “that’s it!”. As for drugs, “drug resistance” is a characteristic of addictive drugs, including sleeping pills, sedatives, psychotropic drugs in general, including drugs. We are not surprised that there are some young people addicted to heroin who at first only use a few “pins” and then later have to commit to crime to satisfy this “addiction”. Many people are used to using sedatives that induce sleep (such as seduxen) and gradually increase the dose to be able to sleep. But even some common medications, such as rheumatoid pain medications, many people who are used to using them find their effectiveness decreasing over time. Unlike the “antibiotic resistance” mentioned above, which is caused by the change in the pathogen itself, the “drug resistant” bacteria in the second case is caused by the body of the person taking the drug. When a drug is introduced into the body, it only takes effect when it attaches to the receiving site. When the body gets used to using a drug, these receptors will change their nature or increase in quantity, leading to an increase in the concentration of the drug in the body (that is, an increase in dosage) to meet the effect. The only way to deal with this drug resistance is to increase the dose, but you cannot increase the dose forever because it will lead to a toxic dose. For drugs that are susceptible to tolerance in this way, the doctor will prescribe a certain dose and duration to prevent drug tolerance. Or when the medicine has become resistant, it is necessary to change to another medicine. In the pharmaceutical field, people must always find new drugs partly to replace old drugs that are being ignored.
According to Assoc. . Dr. Nguyen Huu Duc
Health & Life
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