Noida: During the second wave of the pandemic last year, when the recipe began circulating on text messages and social media, the doctor had stated alarm on self-treatment.
But a survey by faculty members at the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Greater Noida, which has served as a Covid maintenance facility, shows its own prevalent treatment in the early months of the pandemic too, when anxiety about high outbreaks and there are far fewer knowledge about the disease caused than today.
In the survey conducted on May 2020, whose results have been released now, to investigate the prevalence of self-anxiety and treatment, about a quarter of 1,100 recognized respondents have anxiety about viral infections and pills appearing for symptoms such as headaches, abdominal pain, anxiety and difficulty in sleep.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are the most common in self-treatment (36%), followed by anti-ethnak drugs (18%), antihistamines (18%) and anti-anxiety benzodiazepines (14%).
The study found 44% of those surveyed were paranoid thinking that could fall severe ill while 71% said that they had reduced social contact and 86% said that pandemics had influenced the use of their safety measures.
The researchers classify the severity of anxiety into three categories – mild to moderate, medium to severe and severe.
In the survey, 254 people reported light to moderate anxiety, 52 reported medium to severe anxiety, and six reported severe anxiety.
The results also measured emotional response, with 6% of respondents claiming to be afraid without certain reasons, 6% said they panicked and easily angry, 14% reporting problems in sleep and 5% had nightmares.
Bharti said, “Participation in the survey is fully voluntary which requires people to fill out online forms.
The participants are in the age group of 18 to 60 years with family income of up to 50,000 per month.” Dr.
Arjun Khanna, Senior Chest Doctor at Yasashoda Hospital in Yasashoda Hospital Kaushambi said self-treatment had reached alarming proportion.
“Someone must stop drinking medical advice from friends and should consult a doctor to stop damage,” he said.
Survey throws light on self-treatment during a pandemic
