Self-medication

Author: Zhou Zi'an
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-10-01
Features: Self-medication refers to the use of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and supplements without the guidance of a doctor or other healthcare professionals to prevent and treat mild, short-term symptoms and discomforts, or to treat minor illnesses and maintain health. Self-medication involves self-assessment and self-treatment. This book introduces OTC drugs while systematically defining and describing diseases and symptoms suitable for OTC self-medication (68 conditions). It provides detailed information on the clinical manifestations, diagnostic criteria, treatment principles, and commonly used medications for these conditions. For some diseases, it categorizes the severity of the condition, explains how to identify critical illnesses, and highlights differential diagnoses for similar symptom presentations. It also covers complications and surgical indications for certain conditions, among other topics. The goal is to comprehensively and selectively introduce the possible changes and prognoses that may occur during self-medication, reminding readers to observe, assess, and handle situations with a holistic, dynamic, and evolving mindset. This is a distinctive feature that sets this book apart from other similar OTC drug manuals. When introducing medications, it presents 433 key points to consider in the chronological order of their use. The "Drug Index" at the end of the book lists all the OTC drug names and other names introduced in the book (a total of 744), arranged in pinyin order for quick reference. This book is the sister volume to Self-Diagnosis and Self-Rescue, and readers can refer to them interchangeably as needed.