💊 Do not let medicines kept at home cause serious harm
Fever reducers, painkillers, cold medicines, stomach medicines, and anti-diarrhea medicines: many of them can be bought at a pharmacy with no prescription. Being able to buy them with no prescription does not mean any way of taking them is fine. This section does not say which medicine to take for each illness. It only picks a few actions that each avoid a serious outcome. All items in this section are classified under the mortality measure. Most examine serious outcomes such as liver failure, stomach bleeding, and newborn kidney failure; a few examine headaches or reactions while driving. Most of the benefit is one fewer serious accident. Studies do not give a figure for how much doing it would cut the risk. The size of the benefit is judged by how heavy the outcome is, and each note says why it was set that way. What is already written elsewhere is only pointed to here. If a medicine or a cleaning product is swallowed by mistake, see section 13, item 20 (accidental ingestion). For taking a chronic-disease medicine in full as the doctor ordered, see section 16, item 1 (finish the medicine as prescribed). For buying a prescription drug online, the prescription has to be checked first, see section 28, item 6 (get weight-loss drugs with a hospital prescription). The people these items benefit are you and your family, the top two tiers.
English, Russian and Spanish use dlgrv’s unofficial translations. Newly revised entries appear in the Chinese original until a checked translation is available. The author’s latest Chinese text is authoritative. Translation revision: dlgrv/HowToLiveBetter · b25fa8a
Many cold medicines contain acetaminophen. Taking medicines from 2 different packs that both contain it means a double dose, and too much harms the liver. In the United States, among people whose liver failed suddenly because of it, nearly 3 in 10 died before they could get a new liver. Leaflets in China advise at most 2 grams a day. The United States also warns against 3 or more drinks of alcohol a day while taking it. If you took too much, go to the hospital right away even if you feel fine. The antidote works better the sooner it is used.
Cost
No cost at all. It only takes a minute or two to glance at…
Benefit
Over 6 years, 22 hospitals in the United States registered 662 cases of acute liver failure in a row. Of these…
Aspirin is linked to Reye's syndrome, an illness that harms the brain and the liver, and about 3 in 10 children in US surveillance died. In China, nimesulide is forbidden under 12 and metamizole under 18. Measure liquid fever medicine with the dosing device that comes in the box. Spoons at home differ a lot in size. Drops and the drinkable liquid may not be the same strength. The US example differs by 3 times. If you switch the form, do not feed the old number of milliliters.
Cost
No cost involved. Simply check the generic name and ingred…
Benefit
Reye's syndrome causes brain disease and fatty change in the liver, and it usually appears after influenza or…
Painkillers such as ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin can harm the stomach. In the high-dose trials, people taking ibuprofen had about 4 times the risk of stomach bleeding or a hole in the stomach wall, compared with people not taking it. The risk is higher for older people, people who have had stomach bleeding, people who are also taking a blood thinner or a steroid drug, and people who drink 3 or more drinks of alcohol a day.
Cost
No cost involved. Simply ask a doctor or pharmacist.
Benefit
These medications are classified as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs);
The National Medical Products Administration requires a warning on 14 kinds of combination cold medicines for children. The warning says it does not recommend that a parent give the medicine to a child under 2 on their own. It should be used with a doctor or a pharmacist guiding it. In trials done on children, cough medicines and anti-allergy medicines worked no better than a placebo (a dummy pill).
Cost
There is no cost at all;
Benefit
In its Announcement No. 57 of 2021, the National Medical Products Administration updated the instructions for…
Taking a drug like ibuprofen after 20 weeks of pregnancy can harm the kidneys of the fetus and leave less fluid around the baby. Among reports of this kind received in the United States, there were cases in which the newborn died. Low-dose aspirin prescribed by a doctor is not included.
Cost
No cost involved.
Benefit
In October 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety warning. Use of nonsteroidal anti…
Since 2022, omeprazole enteric-coated tablets have been available over the counter without a prescription. However, the package instructions clearly state that you should only take it for up to 7 days, and avoid using it again within two months. If you experience trouble swallowing, pain in the throat, vomit blood, or pass black stools, do not take it on your own — these are potential signs of serious medical conditions. This medication can also mask symptoms of stomach cancer, potentially delaying an accurate diagnosis.
Cost
No cost involved — just follow the dosage instructions on…
Benefit
Announcement No. 68 of 2022 from the National Medical Products Administration switched omeprazole enteric-coat…
Taking antibiotics for a cold doesn’t speed up recovery compared to not taking them at all. For adults, the risk of side effects is more than twice as high when using antibiotics. For cases where nasal discharge with pus lasts less than 10 days, there is no clear benefit to taking antibiotics either.
Cost
It costs nothing and can even save you money on medicine.
Benefit
A Cochrane systematic review pooled data from 6 randomized trials involving 1,147 participants. When comparing…
The most important thing during diarrhea is rehydration, not stopping the diarrhea itself. Mix the solution exactly as directed on the package and drink it — never substitute it with sugary juices or soft drinks, as the excess sugar can actually worsen dehydration. Never give anti-diarrheal medications such as loperamide to kids under 5 years old; in severe cases these drugs can cause life-threatening intestinal blockages.
Cost
A box of oral rehydration solution costs just a few dollar…
Benefit
The diarrhea-treatment manual of the World Health Organization (WHO) states that "anti-diarrhea" drugs and ant…
If headaches keep coming and you take a painkiller every day, you may hurt more the more you take. The international headache classification calls this a medication-overuse headache, a headache brought on by the medicine itself. Headache on 15 or more days in a month, plus an ordinary painkiller on 15 or more days or a combination painkiller on 10 or more days, running past 3 months, is enough for the diagnosis. Most people improve after they stop the medicine they were taking too much of.
Cost
No direct cost. You’ll just need to keep track of how many…
Benefit
The 3rd edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders, from the International Headache Soc…
In the United States, of the medicines a child swallowed without an adult watching, nearly half were prescription tablets. Of those prescription medicines, about 3 in 10 belonged to a grandparent. Clearing out medicines you will not use removes something a child can find. Put the cleared-out medicine, packaging and all, into the hazardous-waste bin, or hand it to a pharmacy that takes old medicines.
Cost
No cost. Sort the medicine cabinet once a year — about ten…
Benefit
US emergency-department surveillance estimates that from 2004 to 2013, children under 6 who swallowed a medici…
Some cephalosporins, and drugs such as metronidazole, make the face flush and bring on sweating and a racing heart if they meet alcohol. A severe case brings trouble breathing and a drop in blood pressure. It is not only liquor and beer. An alcohol-containing medicine such as Huoxiang Zhengqi oral liquid (藿香正气水, a Chinese medicine liquid that contains alcohol) or cough syrup can do it too. Do not touch alcohol from the time you are taking the drug through 7 days after you stop.
Cost
No money. Abstain from alcohol for a little over a week;
Benefit
This is called a disulfiram-like reaction. A 2023 medication-safety article from the Fujian drug regulator say…
Many combination cold medicines mix in an anti-allergy ingredient such as chlorphenamine or diphenhydramine, and taking it makes you drowsy. The national drug regulator says that while you are taking this kind of drug, do not drive, do not work at a height, and do not operate a machine. On a driving simulator, people who had taken diphenhydramine drove worse than people who had drunk alcohol. Feeling that you are not drowsy does not mean the driving is fine.
Cost
No money. Glance at the ingredient list when you buy the m…
Benefit
A 2010 adverse-reaction bulletin from the National Medical Products Administration says that vitamin C Yinqiao…
Grapefruit can raise some drug levels in the blood severalfold: the dose has not changed, but it is like taking too much. One grapefruit or one glass of juice can do this, and some effect remains even if the medicine is taken a day later. Severe effects may injure muscles or kidneys or cause an arrhythmia that can lead to sudden death. Pomelo can do the same; ordinary sweet oranges do not.
Cost
No cost. When receiving a long-term medicine, read “Drug i…
Benefit
A 2013 review by Canadian pharmacologists reported more than 85 drugs known or predicted to interact with grap…
People with impaired kidney function are more susceptible to acute kidney injury when taking painkillers such as ibuprofen. Unsupervised long-term use is also associated with kidney failure. Adding these drugs to a diuretic plus an ACE inhibitor or ARB is associated with about 30% more acute kidney injury. Star fruit can cause persistent hiccups, confusion, and seizures in people with kidney problems; about 30% of the reported poisoning cases in this group were fatal.
Cost
No cost. Ask a doctor or pharmacist before buying a painki…
Benefit
These painkillers are called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), commonly including ibuprofen, napr…
