Long Term Effects of Medication

Medicines prescribed by your medical professionals are always important to be consumed in proper manner to ensure healthy lifestyle. However, there are certain medicines that could hinder your lifestyle in the long run as you continue to take the same medicine for too long. 

Allowing your body to get used to certain medicine, from a specific company should always be discouraged. Granting this reliability towards the medicines can bring about a number of detrimental side effects you may encounter in the long run over long term consumption of it. 

Therefore, considering long term effects of medication should always be a priority to ensure a healthy lifestyle even in the long run. More about the effects of long term medication consumption is explained throughout this article in details. 

Possible Long Term Effects of Medication 

Although it may not seem like it, it is possible to experience adverse reactions to medicines that are meant to help you function better. This may even be the case with medicines that you have been seeing consistent positive results with. However, positive results must not outweigh the effects of long term consumption of it. 

More about this situation is explained through this article down below – 

Development of Drug Resistance 

When a specific drug has been consistently been a part of your daily routine, it is bound to show some sort of result on your body or none at all. This means, after a certain period of time that drug will either begin to bring about some physically notable changes in terms of your health which can be a good thing. 

On the contrary, if you have been taking the same pill for an extended period of time that has shown results early on but stopped at a certain point to notice no viable change, it is likely that your body has developed resistance against it. This is a rather unhealthy situation to be in because if the drug has developed resistance, you might be getting prescribed much stronger drugs which could be detrimental to your health. 

Development of Reliability And Habit 

Developing reliability over any prescription medicine is a very big mistake to make. Reliability and habit towards a drug could lead to a number of problems both mentally and physically. It is possible to experience withdrawal symptoms emotionally if you are unable to take your medication in time as per usual, leaving you quite flustered and irritable. Similarly, your body may also be in denial of not getting to take the drug as per usual. In some cases, it is also possible for your body to may be reject an alternative drug if the one you take is not available. 

Another reason not to develop reliability towards specific medicines is to prevent yourself from developing a form of addiction that could mess up your quality of life. 

Effects On Kidney 

No matter what you eat, drink, or consume,almost everything has to pass through your kidneys to filter out nutrients and anything else in excess. This filtration system includes medicine consumption as well. Long term consumption of any form of medication can cause a substantial amount of stress on your kidneys. This sort of stress and pressure can also lead you to kidney failure among other types of diseases. You may also experience acute kidney problems of dysfunctionality if you have been taking a specific medicine for extended period of time. 

Over the counter medicines are also known to be responsible for chronic kidney problems and diseases. Therefore, maintaining caution and taking proper precaution to avoid such kidney complications must be a priority as kidney serves as the filteration system of our body. 

Effects On Liver 

Apart from the kidney, liver also plays an important role to ensure proper filtration system of our body. Liver is responsible for breaking down the unwanted elements such alcohol, drugs, and even medications. 

When a specific medicine has been a part of your daily routine for a rather long time, it is possible for the liver to sustain some sort of injury or damage to it. This is likely due to the result of the liver getting incredibly accumulated to the break down of the medicine that at one point, the medicine started to affect the liver itself. Upon such development of the liver dysfunctionality, the only possible cure is to stop taking the medicine that caused it to prevent further deterioration. 

Elevated Chances of Strokes 

No matter how cautious of a person you are there is always a possibility of suffering from a stroke regardless of your diet, workout routine, or your health. Consumption of the same prescribed medicine for extended period of time can play a role that could lead you to suffering from a stroke. Whether the medicine you take has been prescribed by a medical professional, or is an over-the-counter medicine, consumption of it for too long can cause you to stroke at any time. 

This is especially true for those who have weak immune system or are prone to getting sick rather quickly. Therefore, prolonged consumption of medication could significantly spike your chances of stroke among heart, liver, kidney, and other organ failures. 

Elevated Emotional Sensitivity 

Long term medicine consumption not only affects you emotionally but also your day-to-day life. You may also begin to develop sensitivity to certain things that you originally weren’t sensitive to until your long term medication routine. It is possible to begin to show signs of sensitivity towards pain, temperature, or even emotional tolerance. All of these alterations can also lead towards heart, and blood pressure irregulations as well. These changes could easily affect the way you live life as you are likely to feel rather irritable, frustrated, and at a complete imbalance of emotions. 

When your body becomes used to living, eating, and functioning in a certain way for a long time, it naturally tends to become irritable when there is some sort of change in the routine. 

Potentially Altered Sleep Schedule 

Having your sleep schedule messed up can definitely alter your normal functionality. Certain medicine can have such altering effect on your sleep schedule if you have been taking it for too long. Long term consumption of these medicines can cause you to either feel more sleepy than usual or not sleepy at all. Both of which can have detrimental effects on your day-to-day functionality. Even over-the-counter medicines, such as cold medicines, decongestants, and stimulants are known to cause sleep alterations with prolonged use. 

Not only that, nicotine replacement medications can also cause you to struggle with sleep. Similarly, medicines used to help control cholesterol levels can also cause you to experience sleepless nights. This is when you could ask your medical professional to suggest you with an alternate option for better sleep. 

Potential Increase In Detrimental Mental Health 

When the human body has been accumulated to a certain lifestyle, it can get very tricky to snap out of that habit. This is the case with certain medication consumption where you are likely to experience rather quickly shifting moodswings, aggression, and even frustration. Medicines that are used to keep your health in check may also be the reason why you experience such alterations with your mental health status. Sedatives, antiseizures, sleeping pills, and corticosteroids are some of the medicines that could lead you to experiencing detrimental and altering mental health. 

Even though these drugs are recommended by professionals to help you live a better quality of life, these can end up causing adverse reactions when you have been taking them for too long. 

Body Rejecting Other Drugs 

One of the worst things that one could do to themselves is get completely overtaken and habituated with taking a specific drug no matter what for. Even if the drug is to keep your health in check and ensure proper functionality, it is highly discouraged to let your body get used to it. This is because taking a specific drug for too long can cause your body to naturally reject absorption of other drugs that may be useful to you. 

In other cases, you may also struggle to find the exact same medicine that you have been taking and may need to switch to an alternative option. This can be a possible situation as well where you body rejects the alternate drug. 

Compromised Immune System 

Taking the same medicine prescribed by your medical professional for too long can come with multiple adverse reactions. One such reaction can be experiencing compromised immune system. Compromised immune system can refer to both overactive or inactive immune systems, both of which can be the results of the body developing reliability towards a specific medicine. 

It is possible to find yourself getting sick way too often than you used to as your body begins to develop reliability towards a drug. On the other hand, you may also begin to notice your body fighting off problems such as fever, common cold, and headaches without any medication at all. Hence, the importance of switching up on your medicine or at least, not developing habit towards it is highly recommended. 

Bottom Line 

Medicine consumption is a rather complicated issue that requires consideration and acknowledgement from a multitude of different aspect to ensure proper health benefits. However, it is possible to experience adverse results from certain medications even when you are taking it to ensure you proper functionality of the body. Some medicines that are originally supposed to help you live better, control your cholesterol, blood pressure, sedatives, antidepressants, all of which are supposed to help you live better can pose threat when you take them for too long. 

The knowledge on long term effects of medication should be priority before your body starts to show symptoms of reliability towards it. This knowledge can go a long way to ensure a better functioning body and mind.