By William M. Buchholz

When your doctor prescribes medication for you, do you think first of the side effects that drug may cause? While that may be a valid concern, the real issue is more complex. The next time you consider taking any medicine, vitamin or supplement, consider the following questions.

What is this medicine supposed to do? Is it intended to treat an ongoing problem or prevent one in the future? If you have pneumonia, you want an antibiotic to eliminate the bacteria. If you are in pain, you may want medicine to relieve it.

How important is this outcome to you? If you have cancer, curing it is literally a matter of life and death. If you have high blood pressure, however, and there are no symptoms, how important is it to avoid an event in the future? Studies have shown that people tend to weigh the chances of current side effects higher than the chances of future good effects.

How likely is this medicine to work? For prescription drugs there is published research that shows how well they work. For other substances, you may have direct experience that they work.

What are the side effects? In the Physicians’ Desk Reference the side effects of each prescription medicine are listed. For a medicine to be licensed, the law requires reporting all events that occur in patients while taking that medicine. In the case of unlicensed medicines, such as herbs, side effects are not required to be reported, so you may not know about them.

How dangerous are the side effects? They may range from very serious problems, such as kidney or liver failure, to less significant ones, such as mild headaches or rashes.

No medicine should be taken or rejected thoughtlessly. As in all decisions, you should weigh the balance between the possible benefits and the potential hazards.

Dr. William Buchholz is the co-author of “Live Longer, Live Larger: A Holistic Approach for Cancer Patients and Families.”