What is Medicine?

Remember the time when you fell sick, and your mother gave you medicine? You were back on your feet in no time!! But when you went to the pharmacy with your mother to buy medicines, why did it mention on the board that drugs were available there? Do you think medicine and drug is the same thing? Or do people use these terms casually?

Drug or Medicine

A drug is a substance that makes changes in your body in a certain way. A very common example of such a drug is caffeine present in your coffee. Surprising, isn’t it? It increases your heart rate and people can become addictive to coffee. Another drug that you might have heard on televisions a lot would be cocaine. Cocaine is defined as a hard drug, which along with being addictive, has super harmful effects on the body.

But does this mean that all drugs are bad/harmful drugs? Certainly not. Medicines are a type of drugs which make or body healthier especially during the times when we are sick. So to conclude, some drugs are good for your health, and some are not.

There are some other harmful drugs like tobacco(cigarettes) and alcohol. Upon consumption, they give a momentary sense of euphoria or good feeling, which makes the consumer addicted to it. But on the other hand, it shows great damage to our body like becoming nauseous, having elevated heartbeats when not using the drug etc.

Types of Medicines

Let’s take an in-depth look into the world of medicines now.

Having a better understanding of what medicines are, we’ll move on to the different ways in which medicines can be taken by a person.

Pills: The most common form of medicines is pills, which simply need to be swallowed. Common examples are aspirin, combiflam etc.
Powder mixed with water: these type of medicines are generally the ones which need to be absorbed directly by the body and have quick effects. For example, hydration powder is taken with water by a person who is experiencing dehydration.
Liquid medicine (syrups): This is a common form of medicine taken by drinking the amount of syrup prescribed by the doctor. One of the most common one of them being Benadryl.
Inhalers: These are majorly used by people who have asthma (can be due to various reasons), the air is inhaled from the inhaler released after pressing the pump, which helps in better breathing.
Directly into blood: A rare form to give medicines, usually done when the person is very serious/sick, or after surgeries. The medicine is injected directly into the blood stream via injections so that the person can heal faster.

FUN FACT: Did you know that laughter can increase antibody production which will help you protect from getting sick frequently !!

Kids, always remember not to take more medicines than prescribed by the doctor. If you do so, it can have a harmful effect on the body instead of helping your body.

Here are a few questions to end this insightful lesson with:

1. All drugs are medicines, but all medicines are not drugs.