if you are sick, why does taking more of a medicine not cure it any faster?

Question

I’m sure there’s some scientific answer but surely I’m not the only one that thought this when they were younger.

In: Biology

Answer 1

It can cure it faster. There are medications that they will give you more of. For instance they might start you on a low dose of antibiotics and if it’s not working up the dose. However, at a certain point upping it, or any type of medication, will reach a dose that is potentially unsafe. Or, more exactly, unsafe compared to what the “sickness” will do.

The medication could end up interfering with vital functions such as causing you to stop breathing, go into cardiac arrest, cause you to clot or not clot enough, etc, etc, etc.

All medication is a game between what the disease is going to potentially do and what the medication will potentially do. If you’re really sick they’ll give you dosages that they’d never dream of giving someone who is only slightly ill.