- Reduce the unnecessary use of drugs. For example, many people take antibiotics for the treatment of common colds. However, these illnesses are caused by viruses that do not respond to commonly used antibiotics. Antibiotic use during viral infections very often results in adverse drug reactions which can easily be prevented simply by not taking an unhelpful drug.
- If you have experienced an adverse reaction to a drug, don’t take that drug again unless your doctor tells you it’s safe (with some drugs it is possible that the allergic reactivity fades away if the drug is avoided for a long enough period of time).
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Managing allergy > Allergen avoidance
How can you prevent future allergic reactions to drugs?
Tip: 60% of people initially allergic to
penicillin do not have antibodies reacting with the drug 10 years
after the allergic episode. Absence of these antibodies indicates
that these people are no longer allergic to penicillin. However,
you mustn’t assume that you are one of these 60%. It has to be
proven by your doctor.
- If you have had an allergic reaction to a drug, remember that
you might react to other members from the same drug family. For
example, due to similarities in their chemical structure,
penicillin can give cross reactivity to ampicillin and amoxicillin
and also (although less often) to cephalosporins; all part of the
same antibiotic family called beta-lactams. In a similar way,
people reacting to aspirin can react to other pain killers and
anti-inflammatory drugs. Therefore, before taking a drug related to
the one that caused your problem, it is important to determine that
you are not allergic to it as well.
- Keep a written record of all adverse drug reactions that you
have experienced. Note the name of the drug, the dose that you
took, the names of other drugs you took at the same time (if any),
the disease for which the drugs were prescribed and the symptoms
you experienced.
- When a doctor prescribes you a treatment for a medical problem, remember to tell him about any adverse drug reactions that you have experienced before, even if you think it has no relevance for the current illness or treatment. Sometimes drugs with similar chemical structure are used for the treatment of completely unrelated conditions.