- January 22, 2025
A cold, cough, rhinitis, fever, gastrointestinal problems or pain - in such cases we are usually our own doctors. We decide for ourselves how we treat such ailments. As the "Bayer Barometer" survey shows, as many as 95 percent of Poles treat themselves from time to time. The most popular are the so-called natural remedies.
Among the medicines most commonly used for self-treatment, the most important are natural food medicinal products (85%), followed by over-the-counter medicines (73%) and herbal remedies (66%). There is some concern about the fact that 64% of Poles use prescription drugs for self-treatment.
When we take medication, the vast majority of people read the leaflets attached to the preparations - both prescription and over-the-counter. In both cases we usually read information about the dosage method, expiry date, purpose, contraindications. Less than half of us read composition information, which is probably due to the complex nomenclature of active substances. Not only do we read, but we also implement: more than 90% of Poles declare that they follow the recommendations contained in the leaflets as to the dosage.
Where do we have medicines from?
Definitely, we buy them most often (over 90% of indications) in stationary pharmacies. The second place is taken by the home medicine cabinet: nearly 30% of us use the available stocks. And while this is not surprising in the case of over-the-counter drugs, for prescription drugs it may be a cause for concern. The fairly common practice of storing prescription drugs after therapy may encourage self-medication with their use - which, of course, is not the right attitude and requires further educational measures.
- It is a little alarming that we are also saying that we are using medicines that were once prescribed by a doctor and stayed somewhere in the first-aid kit. This is not right because here is the huge principle of not combining different drugs with each other - says newsrm.tv Monika Lechowska-Wróbel, Head of Communications Bayer CEE.
More than 70 percent of Poles look at their bodies holistically: they believe that the psyche has an impact on the state of the body. At the declarative level, we take care of health: over half of the respondents admit that they carefully observe the signals sent by the body and lead a healthy lifestyle, but frequent prophylactic examinations are carried out by less than 38%. We claim that we take medicines when it is necessary (77%).
Female: domestic health leader
"The Bayer Barometer describes a number of interesting attitudes that distinguish between women and men.
