Take As Directed!

A colleague of mine wants his story told. Like innumerable people in Mumbai, he got conjunctivitis during the monsoons last year. His GP prescribed a week’s course of antibiotic drops. Antibiotics are used to fight bacteria, my colleague was aware, but after he read a newspaper report, quoting a city doctor who said that the conjunctivitis epidemic was viral—a claim that was never proved, my colleague now says—he stopped the antibiotic drops three days into the course, bought an antiviral ointment and used it in his eyes without consulting the GP. “I’ve had conjunctivitis on two earlier occasions,” says my colleague, “and they never lasted more than four or five days. But this time it wasn’t going away even after ten days.” 

“If you discontinue an antibiotic, even if all the symptoms disappear, and not complete the prescribed course, chances are the infection won’t be eradicated completely. And if you have a rebound, the regular dose or same drug may not work,” says Raj Vaidya, chairman of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association’s Community Pharmacy Division. “And for chronic conditions like diabetes and blood pressure, you have to keep taking the medicines to keep the disease, which is incurable, under control.”

Many of us don’t think twice about ditching our medicines before the dosages run out, although the risks of stopping suddenly are real. Here are the most commonly cited reasons: 

“I thought I was fine.”

Amar Shankaran* of Mumbai, who has suffered from bouts of depression, had been on a daily “maintenance dose” of antidepressants for about eight years. This had helped and Shankaran didn’t have to battle depression for a long time. Amar now felt confident and believed he’d never be depressed again, and so—without asking his psychiatrist—he decided to wean himself off the medication. He started taking the antidepressant every other day, sometimes twice a week, and sometimes went without it for days. Within a year the depression returned. “Fortunately, I went to the doctor as soon as I felt it coming back,” says Shankaran. “It was milder this time but a bout of depression, even if it’s mild, it isn’t something you wish for.” 

BOTTOM LINE

Dr Kersi Chavda, Shankaran’s psychiatrist and a consultant at Mumbai’s P.D. Hinduja Hospital, says patients who insist on discontinuing their medication must do it only under a doctor’s supervision and keep their family in the loop to watch out for any untoward behaviour. “A better idea