err, i know we have a few medical students (such as Kashish) who frequent this Forum. Just a quick question - why is it so harmful for individuals to take antibiotic medicines that were not specifically prescribed for them? What if it’s like an infection-killer antibiotic (sorry i mean penicillin), but it was prescribed for someone else - but i take it for my infection ? Is that going to be harmful and if so - how harmful, to what extent?
Good question Nadia.
I've done this a few times ... taken antibiotics not prescribed for me.
Nadz
As a general rule you shouldn't be ever taking medicine that wasn't prescribed for you. The infection you may have could be caused by a different pathogen than the person for whom the antibiotic was orginally prescribed for. Bacterial infections are not of one kind but many (caused by various types of bacteria), so if you take someone else's prescription it could only produce antibiotic resistant bacteria, which in turn could be bad for your body. These little pathogens are very smart, they evolve resistance very quickly, and obviously you don't want to do that now do you? :-P
Antibiotics are of many kinds, certain antibiotics are targeted to destroy the cell walls of infectious bacteria, other are targeted to destroy protein synthesis of infectious bacteria, and so the list goes on. The antibiotic that you may take might have no effect on the pathogen that caused your infection, and it could also harm your body's natural micrbiota (like E. coli in the digestive tract), as i said before, it could produce antibiotic resistant strands of that particular bacteria. So please stay clear from anyone else's medication, go see a health professional, and get your own :p
Plus, you may end up taking anti-biotics even if you have viral infection.. and that gets you no where, instead its harmful (Khaaya piyaa kuch nahi, glass tora - baara aanay). So might as well, invest the two hours of waiting time at the doctor and get your own prescription.
Sehar, Reading your reply was so helpful, thank you so much 
Unfortunately since you replied with the longest reply, i’m going to have to bug you with a few more silly queries:D
The antibiotic medication i’m taking (which is not mine) is called Novamoxin (or amoxicillin). It was for my sister ( :~P ). The problem with it is that, on the bottle itself, it stresses quite emphatically that, once you start taking the medication, you HAVE to continue it. i was having a LOT of earaches the past couple of days (during evenings and night time), so i kinda started taking this:~/ It hasn’t really been helping, but now that i’ve started it - i’m scared of the side effects of stopping it suddenly. Ammi scheduled an appt for me tomorrow with a doctor, so don’t worry - i’ll clear this mess up soon Insha’Allah. 
For the earpain, i’ve been taking three aspirins (extra-strength) and that seems to help a lot… But i’m tired of feeling drugged out on medicines.
Is there any alternative?
Nadz
I am by no means an expert on this, and it’s good to know that you are going to see the doctor tomorrow. I don’t know what to tell you but to keep taking the aspirins to relieve the pain. Now getting back to antibiotics, the reason why it’s stressed that you continue taking the course of the medicine is because bacteria tend to die at a rate (i don’t know the exact rate) which means that one dose doesn’t kill all of the bacteria. So whatever bacteria isn’t killed is exposed to the antibiotic, and if you stop the antibiotic before the whole course there are very good chances that the remaining bacteria will develop resistance to the antibiotic, so if the infection comes back b/c you didn’t take the whole course, the same antibiotic wouldn’t be able to do it’s work. Hope you feel better soon!
Its also not safe because you may be allergic to certain anti-biotics. My neighbor was allergic to penicillin.
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Thanks Sehar Insha’Allah i will.
Your explanation regarding the bacteria and antibiotics makes complete sense… for years, everyone from doctors to teachers have impressed upon me the importance of continuing an antibiotic course if one is already on it. But no one ever explained why. Thanks so much Much appreciated.
Munni, That’s very true. :k:
Alhamdulillah, i haven’t got any allergic reaction YET. Just a few side-effects (headache, dizziness, etc.) but no serious allergic reaction as of yet. (i hope it stays that way Insha’Allah! 
).
Since sehar explained it so well Nadia i hope that solved your queries.I just want to add here is that amoxicillin does not cover the bacteria that cause ear infection and if there is an earache its not necessarily be ear infection,since you arent having any fever with it,it suggest it could be wax that is disturbing you.I would advice not to use any ear drop or desi totke to be used for this.In our desi culture its so common to use eardrops some of which are antibiotics as well.
The antibiotic resistance is growing so fast in people due to unnecessary prescription of antibiotics by GPs ,even for viral infections! That is causing resistance and after a certain period of time when that lighter antibiotic doesnt work for that particualr patient,we have no other way but to prescribe heavy 3rd generation drugs with more side effects! I hope im making some sense here