Practical English: Understanding Medicine Labels

Hi, my name is Rebecca.

In today's lesson, you're going to learn how to read and understand medicine labels correctly.

This is, of course, very important so that you can take medicine safely.

So let's look at some of the vocabulary that you will encounter in this process.

First, the people.

Of course, you will probably go to a doctor if you're not well.

A doctor is also known as a physician.

After that, you may go to the pharmacy or drug store and receive your medicine from

a pharmacist.

A pharmacist is a person who is trained and licensed to be able to give out medicine.

Medicine itself is usually divided into two categories, that is prescription medicine

and OTC or over-the-counter medicine.

What do we mean by that?

Prescription medicine is medicine that you can receive after your doctor has given you

an instruction that allows you to go and purchase that medicine.

OTC or over-the-counter medicine is any medicine that you can buy by yourself without the doctor's

special orders, okay?

So anybody can go into a drug store or a pharmacy and pick up that medicine.

That's over-the-counter medicine, okay?

Now here, we have drawn for you a sample box of medicine.

So this is for a cold, and we're going to talk about some of the information that you

will find written on a package of information.

This is, of course, much larger than real life.

So the name of this product or the name of this medicine, in this case, is "Cold Fix",

all right?

So from the name, we can gather, we can understand that it's for a cold.

Usually somewhere on the box, it's not always in this order, but somewhere on the box, it

will tell you what symptoms this product helps to relieve or helps you to get better from,

right?

So symptoms might be cold fix, might say relieves fever, headache, pain, and so on, all right?

Due to colds or coughs and so on.

So these are symptoms.

This is the evidence that you have a particular illness.

These are called symptoms.

Similarly, when you go to the doctor, the doctor might ask you what symptoms you are

experiencing, what bad feelings you have as a result of feeling unwell.

Usually, you also find here some information about the company that made this product,

that is the manufacturer, okay?

So that manufacturer's name will be on the product.

On the back, usually, or on the side, you will find the directions.

This is something really important for you to understand exactly, and I'll be explaining

a little more about that soon.

Directions tell you how to use the product, how to use the medicine.

The dosage information is also given there.

Dosage or dose tells you how much of the information to take, sorry, how much of the medicine to

take, right?

Or how often, and so on.

I'll be explaining that in more detail.

Similarly, you will see information about warnings, who should not take the medicine

or what to be especially careful of.

You will also see information about the side effects.

Side effects are any negative things that happen to you as a result of taking this medicine

for a good purpose, okay?

These are some things which you did not plan or intend to happen.

And lastly, you will see a list of active ingredients.

Active ingredients are the chemical names for the drugs that are in this medicine.

So next we'll be talking about a detailed way to understand the directions given on

medicine labels.

Okay, so before taking any medicine, it is extremely important to read the directions.

The directions or the instructions tell you how to use the product, how to use the medicine.

If there's anything at all that you don't understand, please make sure to ask your doctor

or pharmacist.

But let me give you some general guidelines to help you to understand the directions.

So usually the directions will tell you for whom this medicine is intended.

It might be intended for adults and children over 12.

There might be a certain amount of medicine you give to an adult or a child over 12.

Children 6 to 12 might receive a different amount of medicine.

And children under 6 might receive a different amount of medicine, okay?

Also, the directions will tell you how much medicine to give.

It might be one or two tablets, one or two caplets, and so on, okay?

Medicine comes in many different forms, as you know.

It might also tell you to take one or two teaspoons of the medicine if the medicine

is in the form of a liquid.

The directions will also tell you how often to take the medicine.

Should you take it daily?

Daily means every day, alright?

How many times a day?

Maybe three times a day.

Or every four hours, the medicine directions will tell you how often you should be taking

this medicine.

It will also tell you when to take it.

So, for example, they might tell you take half an hour before meals, or take at the

first sign of a cold, and so on, okay?

It will also tell you how to take this medicine.

Should you take it on an empty stomach?

Take it on an empty stomach means before you have eaten a big meal.

Or take with water, or to shake the bottle well before you take the medicine.

These are all examples of how you take the medicine, okay?

Also, there will be some information on the product regarding a limit.

For example, do not exceed more than six tablets in 24 hours, or eight tablets, or something

like that.

So, there might be some overall limit that is mentioned here.

Next, we'll be talking about the warnings that are also given on a medicinal product.

Okay, so let's look now at some of the warnings and side effects of taking some medicines.

So, warnings that you might find mentioned on the label of the medicine is who should

not take it.

For example, they may tell you that if you are pregnant, you should not take it.

Or if you're allergic to certain ingredients, then you should not take that medication.

It may also tell you what you should not do when you take that medicine.

For example, you should not drive if the medicine makes you sleepy, or you should not operate

heavy machinery, or you should not drink alcohol while taking that medication.

Medication, by the way, is another word for medicine, okay?

It may also tell you where you should keep the medicine.

You may have to keep it refrigerated, or keep it, store it in a cool place, right?

Also mentioned on the product is often a section called side effects.

Side effects are things that can happen to you as a result of taking that medicine for

a good reason.

These are some negative things that can happen to you along the way.

Hopefully, they will not happen to you, and not everybody experiences side effects at

all.

Not everybody experiences the same side effects, but they have to, by law, put this information

on the product.

So, these are called side effects.

Some common side effects are drowsiness.

Drowsiness means sleepiness, right?

Feeling sleepy.

Feeling drowsy means feeling sleepy.

Sleepiness is when you feel like the room is spinning, and things are going round.

You don't feel very stable, right?

Constipation is when you cannot go to the bathroom, and diarrhea is when you go to the

bathroom too often, okay?

You may also experience sometimes mental disturbances as a result of taking certain medicines.

You might have nightmares.

What's a nightmare?

A nightmare is a bad dream, okay?

Hopefully, you will not have any side effects from taking medicine, and hopefully, you won't

have to take any medicine at all because you're feeling very healthy.

But if you need to, it's important to know how to take the medicine, how to read the

medicine labels, and again, if there's anything at all that you don't understand on the medicine

label, please ask your doctor or pharmacist so that you can be healthy, okay?

For more information on this subject and to do a quiz on this subject, please go to our

website at www.engvid.com.

Thank you very much, and good health to you.