People are identical with the habit of self-medication, which sometimes does not really understand how to calculate drug dose correctly.
This is very dangerous because it can potentially cause an overdose or worsen the condition of the body. Self-medication or self-medication is indeed an alternative when contracting a disease, the simplest example is treating the flu and mild colds. Traditional methods, such as scrapings are sometimes still quite popular. However, there are also those who take supplements and drugs that have been prescribed by doctors before. The experience of successfully recovering has motivated the Indonesian people to choose to self-medicate first.
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Several Ways to Calculate Drug Dose so You Don’t Overdose
The right parties to calculate a dose are medical personnel, such as doctors and nurses. They are equipped with knowledge about how to use drugs properly and the detailed condition of the patient. However, to help the healing process quickly and knowledge about the drugs you are taking, here are some ways to calculate the drug dose that you must know.
1. Using Standard Prescriptions and The Amount of Medicine
Sometimes a pill or tablet is produced according to a certain dosage, such as a tablet weighing 150 mg, 200 mg, 40 mg, and so on. Meanwhile, the patient’s needs may be less or more than that. For such conditions, you can calculate the dose using the following formula: (recommended amount) / (medicine content).
For example, your requirement is only 40 mg and the drug contains 120 mg. To find out the dose, the calculation means this: 40/120 = 0.3. So the consumption of the drug is only as much as 0.3 tablets. Depending on the daily needs, it can be consumed once a day or up to 3 times a day.
2. Calculation Based on Patient Weight
Bodyweight can also be used as a benchmark to calculate the dose. Sometimes, the need for medication also depends on gender, age, or weight. Therefore, different body weight has different dosage requirements. To calculate it, it’s actually quite simple.
First, just look at the recommended use and then multiply it by the weight of the person who will consume it. For example, the doctor’s recommendation for consumption is 4mg/kg, while the weight is 60 kg. The amount of consumption is 4 mg/kg x 60 kg, so the dosage requirement is 240 mg.
3. Calculating Dissolved Drug
Different types of drugs certainly have a way to calculate the dose. One type of drug that is no less often consumed is syrup. In fact, syrup medicine also has its own way of calculating the dose. Actually, this is not much different from the previous formulas, namely ((number of doses recommended by the doctor) / (availability of the drug)) x (amount of solvent).
The illustration is like this, a patient needs a syrup with a dose of 300 mg, while the drug is available at 600 mg in 5 ml. How to calculate the dose like this: (300/600) x 5 ml, the result is 2.5 ml. When consuming it should be as much as 2.5 ml every day, no more or less. If you are more likely to get an overdose due to the excess of the drug.
4. Dosage for Powder Medicine
Counting powders is actually not much different when counting syrups because they both contain solvents. However, powders are a little more flexible because they are usually packaged according to the doctor’s recommendations. For example, if 160 mg, already packaged 160 mg. The challenge is to just add the solvent. If it is too thick it will cause discomfort when swallowed, such as being too bitter or sour. Conversely, too much solvent is also not good when consumed.
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Self-medication has several challenges, apart from choosing the medication, you also have to determine the dosage. Overdosage has the potential to overdose, while underdosing tends to be ineffective, so how to calculate drug dose is a mandatory thing that we must all know.
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