Abstract

Background:According to the WHO’s definition, self medication is the use of drugs to treat self diagnosed Disorders or symptoms. Or the intermittent or continued use of a prescribed drug for chronic or recurrent disease or symptoms.self medication can be described as a double edged sword for its user’s because  it has both beneficial and harmful effect. The practice of self medication is influenced by various factors. Aim:This study was designed to determine the out patient who practiceself medication and the reason for resorting self medication. Materials and methods:The study was a hospital based, cross sectional study carried out at government siddha medical college,Palayamkottai,Tirunelvelidistrict,India.A total of 126 respondents of 18-50 years of age or more were randomly selected for the study. Result:Prevalence of self medication in the study was found to be majority of the respondents 116.The most frequent reason for self medication was low cost 44%.Our study found that most common source of information for self medication was advice from others 41%. Conclusion:Self medication is highly prevalent in out patient who are unaware of risk involved