HOW TO TAKE MEDICINESIt is importan

HOW TO TAKE MEDICINES
It is important to take medicines more or less at the time recommended. Some medicines should be take only once a day, but others must be taken more often. If you do not have a clock, it dose not matter. If the direction says “1 pill every 8 hours”, take 3 a days: one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night. If they say “1 pill every 6 hours”, take 4 a day: one in the morning, one at midday, one in the afternoon and one at night. If the directions are “1 every 4 hours”, take 6 a day, allowing more or less the same time between pills.
Whenever you give a medicine to someone else, it is a good idea to write the instructions and also to have the person repeat to you how and when to take the medicine. Make every sure he understands.
To remind people who cannot read when to take their medicine, you can give them a not like this…..
In the blanks at the bottom draw the amount of medicine they should take and carefully explain what it means…..
For example:
This means 1 tablet 4 times a day, 1 at….sunrise, 1 at noon, 1 at sun set, 1 in the middle of the night.
ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
Is it necessary to take medicines on time?
How to take medicines correctly
EXERCISE
I True/False
+ It is important to know how many grams or milligrams are in a medicine.
+ Be careful to only give medicine in the recommended amounts.
+ When using a teaspoon to give medicine, it is important that it measures 8ml – no more, no less.
+ It is important to take medicines more or less at the time recommended.
+ Take penicillin, ampicillin, and tetracycline together with meal.
+ Take aspirin, iron and vitamins together with or soon after meal.
II Exercise 2: Write very short answers to the following questions. The questions are a test to see if you can understand the words in the context of a sentence.
+ My brother is a physician. Is he a doctor or a patient?
+ That woman is pregnant. Is she ill?
+ WHO gives vaccinations to people Do vaccinations cause or prevent disease?
+ The doctor cured his patient’s illness. Is the patient sick or well now?
+ Some herbs are beneficial. Are they good or bad?
+ The boy died from a drug overdose. Did he have too much of the drug?
+ The drive of the car was alive after the accident. Did the driver die?
+ Professional nurses in hospitals assist doctors. Do they help doctors?
+ The dentist extracted the patient’s tooth. Dose the patient still have the tooth?
+ There are a number of very effective antibiotics. Are there many or a few?
III Exercise 3: Some of the following pairs of words are synonyms (have the same meaning). Mark them with “=”. Some of the pairs are antonyms. The words have opposite meaning. Mark them with “#”:
Provide, give, hurt, injure, surgery, operation, too, also, drug, medicine, dangerous, safe, however, but, succeed, fail, cloudy, clear, consequently, as a result.
IV Exercise 4: One of the words in each group is different from the other. Circle it and explain why you chose that one. There is more than one correct answer.
+ kidney, liver, bone, lung, heart.
+ patient, obstetrician, surgeon, pediatrician, dentist.
+


ANTIBIOTICS
The penicillin – very important antibiotics
Penicillin is one of the most useful antibiotics. It fights certain kinds of injections. It’s not good for diarrhea, backaches, bruises, the common colds, chickenpox or some other virus injections.
Penicillin is measured in milligrams (mg) or Units (U.)
For penicillin 250 mg = 400.000 U
Risks and precautions for all kinds of penicillin
(Including ampicillin )
For most people penicillin is one of the safest medicines. Too much dose not harm and only wastes money. Too little dose not completely stop the injection and may make the bacteria resistant (more difficult to kill)
In certain people penicillin cause allergic reactions Mild allergic reactions include itchy raised spots or rashes. Often these come several hours or days after taking penicillin and may last for days. Antihistamines help calm the itching.
Rarely, penicillin causes a dangerous reaction called allergic shock. Soon after penicillin is injected, the person suddenly gets pale, has trouble breathing and goes into the state of shock. Adrenalin must be injected at once.
Always have adrenalin ready when you inject penicillin. A person who has once had any allergic reaction to penicillin should never use any kinds of penicillin or ampicillin again. This is because the next time the reaction may kill him.
Most injections that can be treated with penicillin can be treated quite well with penicillin taken by mouth. Injected kinds of penicillin are more dangerous.
Use injected penicillin only for severe or dangerous injections.
Resistance to penicillin
Sometime penicillin dose not work against antibiotic injection. This maybe because the bacteria become resistant, so that penicillin no longer harms them. In this case, another antibiotic maybe tried, or special kinds of penicillin (methacillin, cloxacillin, dicloxacillin) may work.

PENICILLIN BY MOUTH PENICILLIN G OR V
Often comes in 250 mg (400.000U) tablets.
Also: suspension or powder for suspension (125 or 250 mg. per teaspoon)
Penicillin V is used by the body more easily than penicillin G, but it’s more expensive.
Penicillin by mouth should be used for mild and moderately severe injection, including:
Abscessed or injected teeth
Injected wounds or many injected sores
Widespread impetigo
Ear injections
Sore throat with sudden, high fever….
If injection is severe, it may be best to start with injection of penicillin but often penicillin by mouth can be given instead when an improvement begins.
If the improvement doesn’t begin within 2 or 3 days, consider using another antibiotic and try to get medical advices.
Dosage of penicillin by mouth, using tablets of 250 mg (20 mg/kg/day)
For mild injections
Adults: 250 mg (1 tablet) 4 times a day.
Children 6 to 12 years old: 125 (1/2 tablet) 3 or 4 times a day.
Children under 6 years old: 50 mg to 75 mg (1/4 tablet) 3 or 4 times a day.
For more serious injections: Double the above dosage.
Important: Keep taking the penicillin for at least 2 or 3 days after fever or other signs of injections are gone.
To help the body make better use of medicine: always take penicillin on an empty stomach, an hour before meals (this is more important for penicillin G than for penicillin V)

INJECTED PENICILLIN
Injected penicillin should be used for certain severe injections, including meningitis, tetanus, severe pneumonia and badly injected wounds.
Injectable penicillin comes in many different kinds. Before you inject any penicillin, be sure to check the amounts and the kinds.
Choosing the right kind of penicillin for injection
Some kinds of penicillin do their job quickly but don’t last long. Others work more slowly but last longer. There are times when it’s better to use one kind than another.
Crystalline penicillin (a short – acting penicillin)
Often comes in: Vials of 1 million U (625 mg)
Dosage:
Give an injection every 4 to 6 hours
In each injection give:
Adults: 1 million U
Children age 8 to 12: 500000 U
Children age 3 to 7: 250000 U
Children under 3: 125000 U
Newborn babies: 50000 Use twice a day only.
Procaine penicillin (intermediate acting)
Often comes in: Vials of 300000 U – 400000 U or more
Dosage:
Give an injection a day. With each injection give:
Newborn babies: do not use unless no other penicillin or ampicillin is available. In emergencies, use 75000 U
For every severe injections, give twice the above dose. However, it is better to use short – acting penicillin.