All You Need To Know On How To Avoid Dummy Meds

All You Need To Know On How To Avoid Dummy Meds

Make sure this medicine has proven effectiveness

Unfortunately, many doctors prescribe the drugs the effectiveness and safety of which are not properly proven, so it’s better to immediately ask a doctor a couple of questions about the drug – for example, its origin. The fact is that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) usually have rather stringent drug requirements.

Sometimes competent doctors prescribe medications with unproven effectiveness. This happens if other methods of treatment have already been tried, but have not helped or caused some unacceptable undesirable reactions, and as an alternative there was something radical not suiting a patient. In this case, a doctor may suggest a drug with a not very good evidence base. Then a patient must decide whether it makes sense to spend money and try.

If after talking to a doctor you have doubts or you buy an over-the-counter drug to cope with something insignificant on your own (sometimes this is also possible), there are several ways to check how well the medicine has been studied.

Find out what active substance is in this drug. To do this, open the official instructions on the FDA resource. If the drug is not there, it may be a dietary supplement. Supplements are very rarely used for treatment and prophylaxis. In addition, some doctors offer to check whether a drug is registered in the US and Europe. This can also be done, although, strictly speaking, it will not say anything about whether a remedy is used for your disease within the framework of evidence-based medicine: it is quite possible that other drugs have replaced it long ago. As an alternative, you may make an inquiry at Canadian pharmacy specialists there will give you full information as for the availability of the official version of the drug you are looking for.

Follow simple safety precautions

Try not to buy anything at unreliable online pharmacies. It is better to contact pharmacies from large chains. In credible large online/offline pharmacies there is not much counterfeit. The larger the business, the smaller the risks. The same applies to temperature conditions and storage: in large networks, transportation is definitely well established.  Online pharmacies often sell prescription drugs over the counter, making them a success. But Pfizer (official site) says that in this area you can often run into dishonest sellers. If an online resource offers to buy medicines online while promising to deliver them or send them by mail without requiring a doctor’s prescription for prescription drugs, these are signs of breaking the law. Such sellers may not be registered as legal entities or individual entrepreneurs, may not have a license for the retail sale of medicines, qualified personnel, and proper storage conditions for products. It is in such places that there is the greatest risk of buying a counterfeit drug.

But you should not confuse such resources with pharmacies that allow you to place an order for a medicine for free on the Internet, and then pick it up from the pharmacy or have them delivered at home by presenting, if necessary, a prescription. Most often, online pharmacies have counterfeit and falsified drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, dermatological diseases, diet pills, dietary supplements, hormones, opioid analgesics, potent, psychotropic and narcotic substances.

How not to buy a fake – five steps

Watch out if the price is too low. The big question is why it is lower. If everything is legal, it is usually a matter of expiration. Moreover, if you know that this date is close, and the price is regular, you can ask if they give you a discount.

If you have not been given a receipt, this is suspicious. Pay attention to the packaging. If you are buying medicine at a Canadian pharmacy, it is important to ensure that the packaging and instructions are in English. The article below contains an elaborate list of reliable pharmacies whose reputation was established during long years or customer use: http://texaswellandhealthy.org. The Pfizer company advises to see if the packaging is damaged and whether the lot number, production date, manufacturer and expiration date on the packaging and inside on the blister, vial or ampoules match. 

Check the medicine by series. On the FDA website, you can check whether the drugs of necessary series were discontinued from circulation. You can also check if the medicine actually came into circulation. If in doubt about the authenticity of the drug, ask for a certificate or declaration of conformity. Or contact the manufacturer – the instructions should contain contacts. 

Make sure not to confuse the name

There is a problem when the names of different drugs sound similar, so many buyers confuse them. Sometimes manufacturers deliberately mislead. For example, when drugs with codeine became strictly prescription, over-the-counter drugs with very similar names appeared with the same diseases in the indications but without codeine. As a rule, there are several consonant parasitic brands (usually generics or dietary supplements) around any major brand (usually an original drug). Therefore, you need to be very careful.

It also happens that manufacturers produce a line of similar, but not identical drugs with minimally different names. There are many antihypertensives where the trade name can have many names. And each time it is a big difficulty to figure out what has been assigned. Since prescriptions in our country are not particularly carried to pharmacies, patients determine the necessary medicine by the color of the box.

And finally, the task is complicated by the fact that there are simply unsuccessful matches. For example, a serious drug that is used to relieve symptoms of prostate disease, Focusin, can be confused with dietary supplements for eye health, Focus.

To buy the right drug, you need to immediately consult a doctor on why you need this medicine, and then try to read the appointment if the recording is made by hand. Thus, it will be easier not to get confused at the pharmacy.

If something goes wrong, return the medicine or report any adverse reactions

Although medicines cannot be returned, like many other products, there is an exception to this rule. If a drug is of poor quality, a pharmacy may return money. In most cases, a consumer cannot independently determine whether a drug is of poor quality or not. He can write on the website of the Food and Drug Administration. Studies on compliance with regulatory requirements are carried out by expert organizations accredited in the field of quality control of medicines in the prescribed manner.

If you suspect that something is wrong with the medicine, contact the pharmaceutical company that produced the drug, an accredited laboratory. If you have unexpected symptoms after taking the drug, consult your doctor and report it to the pharmaceutical company or the FDA.