This man died of self-medication.

I know that we're supposed to avoid self-medication,and the tragic end of your ex-student can only confirm that it is an unfortunate idea to try to treat ourselves without medical assistance,and I try to respect this rule as much as I can;it's true that when I have a headache or a slight cold I don't consider that it's necessary to visit a doctor,but if I have other,more serious symptoms I do the wise thing and avoid self-medication.It is better to have patience and wait for the doctor's prescription than do things by ourselves or follow the advice of friends or neighbors who pretend to be specialists in the field of medicine without any training.I realize that those who prefer to treat themselves put their lives at risk and sooner or later they will have to pay a very high pay for their recklessness.

It is true that in our country, India, people buy medicine from the retailers without prescription. The percentage of these people is large. For the many people are having resistance of antibiotics and other related problems. I personally never buy medicine without doctors advice, prescription.

Doctor fees are really expensive but I still think we should avoid self-medication. We might take the wrong dosage or worse, we might even take the wrong medicine since we might have been wrong in our own diagnosis. Even some doctors consult other doctors if the kind of illness they have is beyond the scope of their specialization.

No wonder. Most people do this. Instead of approaching a doctor for prescription they think the local chemist will help him by prescribing him tablets. This he does with 2 intentions. One to save on the doctors fees and secondly to save time . But in the end its his life that is at risk. Not a wise thing to do

I am a severe long term chronic insomniac. I have suffered terribly because of it. I still suffer from it but I have learned to manage it better and live with it better. I go with the flow. I avoid taking any sleeping pills. I know that while I may not sleep one night, I will sleep the next. But I can do that because I am a senior citizen who receives social security and lives in government housing for seniors. My rent is low. I also have a p.t. job with flexible hours. But it was much more difficult when I was younger and needing to earn a full time income to pay for rent and other expenses. Sleeping pills are dangerous. Even if they are not addicting, there are side effects plus you can develop tolerance which is what happened to your friend and Michael Jackson. I only take supplements on a regular basis but occasionally I take an OTC pill for sleep. Sometimes it works ok and sometimes it does not work. It is really a problem when it does not work at all. I try to live a very healthy life. I work on preventing illness so that I do not have to try to cure it or manage it.

First off, my condolences at the loss of your friend. Self medication is something that a lot of people do and don't even realize they are. Things like taking an aspirin or tylenol, cough syrup, even though they are over the counter, if one goes against the directions, the risk of something tragic could happen. I only ever take medications prescribed to me, and why they are prescribed to me. If I don't finish them, or have finished them, I get rid of the bottle. Thankfully, I dislike clutter.

oh professor thats so sad, I do not self medicate except for aspirin for a headache like you and Kalyani I am a diabetic and I pay strict attention to my doctor and what he prescribes for me, I think a person who plays doctor to himself has a fool for' a client.I always take medications only that my doctor prescribes for me as you both know about diabetes.hope you and Kalyani are 'doing fine , worry about you, do take care both of you. hugs from hatley.

Very sad, seems he took too many. I have diabetes so I have to take medicine every day but I only take one pill in the morning with breakfast and one pill in the evening with my dinner. That is all I take I don't take any more. I don't really like taking pills at all. I am trying really hard to lose some more weight so that I don't have to be on any medications at all. I am really careful about what I put in to my body.

Hello Papa! the only over-the-counter medication that i take is paracetamol. I dont dare trying anything else unless it is prescribed to me. My pharmacological background is not that strong for me to just rely on it.

I am sorry to hear about what happened to your ex-student. But I am wondering why does he have to self medicate and not seeking professional help. Many people are like him and we cannot blame them because some are more confident with their selves than doctors. Though I also have knowledge with medications, I am not confident in taking medicines without seeking advise from the doctor because it might cause trouble in my health.

Hi Professor2010.Most of the people today especially in the province,used to self medication which is not right.The lessons is avoid taking medicine without doctors prescription.

Self-medication? As for me, it is still best to see a doctor because doctor knows best when it comes to disease. Though we can do it as self-medication, it is still a high risk. Even on the internet, there are some informational articles that tells us what to do to heal those diseases, it still not give us guarantee of what might happen in the future so for me, it is better to see a doctor before it is too late.

Hi there prof, A pretty sad way to die , but i guess life is how we make it our decisions will be our future if we can change our mistakes good if not well we can always just deal and avoid it the next time but with this, we cant change it so for those who has read this then it is a lesson, and to your ex student i hope he can rest in peace. I take medicines, only over the counter ones and i do rarely take since i think our bodies are built to take some light viruses like flu but if it get's in the way of work i do take medication and since i am a nurse I do have free access to doctor's so that i get free consultation and prescription. Thank's prof for sharing this.

Sorry to hear such sad news. This is why we need to be careful about it and we need to make sure we are taking the right medicines, especially for people with diseases. Normally, I do not go to the doctor if it's just simple headache, cough or cold as those were the medicines that are usually prescribed by doctors.