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  • Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Lesson 358. The lesson today is the

  • difference between medication and medicine. This is one that comes up a lot

  • when I'm covering articles that I have to do with medicine or medication.

  • Sometimes a student will raise their hand and say what's the difference between

  • medication and medicine ? And to be honest there is some crossover, but in this in

  • this video I'll try to show you where we're more likely to use one than the

  • other. And in some cases where you would probably only use one and not the other.

  • All right. So let's look at the .... Let's look at the note here. Medication is most often used

  • to refer to drugs that are prescribed by a doctor. So when you go to the doctor's

  • office, he usually prescribes you some medication and could you say medicine

  • here maybe. But you know Medicate is this word it's used is like in the treating

  • of your illness and the doctor he is ... he is getting these medicines to ... to

  • deal with your illness. So medication is probably a little more suitable in a

  • sense. So ones that are needed to be taken on a regular basis often in set

  • doses. Yes. So a lot of prescriptions would probably more likely you would use

  • medication, especially in a more formal sense. Okay, good.

  • Medication is usually dispensed in limited amounts and for shorter periods

  • often a new doctor's visit is required to get more. Yes. So we're not as likely

  • to use the word medication for you know when you just buy over-the-counter drugs.

  • You don't usually say you know you're going to get some over-the-counter

  • medication, we usually say over counter medicine. All right. Let's continue here.

  • Medicine is the most common word that is used for substances

  • taken to treat an illness. So here's where this crossover, especially with the

  • average person. If they're taking pills or tablets, they very often will just

  • call it in medicine. Of course it can also refer to prescribed drugs and

  • pharmaceuticals. So this is where there is crossover

  • where you an average person might be able to use either one but a regular

  • person uses the word medicine more. The doctor uses the word medication more. But

  • if you're ... but if you're taking the medicine regularly, like I said more

  • in... in set doses and you're taking it kind of often you might really start

  • to refer to it as your medication. Okay. Let's continue here. Okay. Drugs and pharmaceuticals too.

  • But it's not limited to that. Many dictionaries often emphasize

  • medicine and also refer to liquids as well , especially cough medicine. Yeah we

  • don't usually hear people say cough medication.

  • Cough medicine is the more common one. So when it comes to liquids you might be

  • a little more likely to use word medicine and the pills and the tablets

  • you might be able to you know, you'd probably be a little more likely with

  • medication. But again you could use medicine in that sense as well. But

  • probably not medication for the liquids. It can also be used to refer to some

  • natural or herbal types of medicine. Yeah we this is another one, we never say

  • herbal medication or natural medication. We will always use the word medicine.

  • Okay. We also use the term medicine with holistic medicine , allopathic and

  • homeopathic medicine. So very often these are not the prescribed drugs. So in this

  • case we're still able to use the word medicine, but we're probably not using

  • medication. Yeah and remember medication is probably more often from directly

  • from the doctor and pharmaceuticals. Now let's continue. it is also important to

  • note we use the word medicate as a verb meaning to treat medically with or

  • without drugs. So this is a little unusual. We don't usually have the verb

  • medicine is usually not a verb. I did find some dictionaries that had it but

  • if they had it it must be a really old obsolete use. I never here

  • anybody say to medicine somebody or I'm going to medicine myself. That would be

  • really weird. We don't ... we don't hear that. So medicate kind of covers both. Whether

  • you're going to be using the word medicine or medication. Because we don't you know, in our

  • modern times, we don't really use medicine as a verb

  • hardly ever. I don't think I've ever heard it used. Let's continue. So as a

  • verb meaning. Yeah. So ... so we can also say self-medicate. Yeah self-medicate meaning

  • to give oneself medicine without a doctor's supervision. Yeah. You know , if

  • you learn about it and you ... you do it yourself , you figure you don't need the doctor and

  • if it's hopefully it's working. You might be able to self medicate

  • yourself. Even though, you may not be taking the pharmaceuticals that you

  • would need a prescription for. So the verb medicate covers that.

  • You cannot say self medicine. Yeah nobody says self medicines themselves. But you

  • could self medicate yourself. Okay. Let's continue. Medicine can also refer to the

  • study and practice of preventing illness. You do not say that you study medication.

  • Yeah. So somebody goes to study medicine, they don't study medication. Maybe you

  • could study pharmaceuticals but you don't usually study medication.

  • Medication is you know, what is prescribed by the doctor..

  • So that's another clear difference . Right and let's just cover a few examples here.

  • Example number one. I take three doses of medication every day. Yeah. So especially

  • when you're talking about doses. You might be a little more likely to use the

  • word medication. I take three doses of medicine every day. You might get away

  • with it but medication feels more suitable here.

  • I bought some over-the-counter medicine for my cold . Again we don't usually say

  • over-the-counter medication. We say over-the-counter medicine. Okay number

  • three here. That cough medicine really helps to suppress my coughing. Yeah. Again

  • we don't usually say cough medication. We usually say cough medicine. Okay. And

  • the last one here. My medication is running out. I need to make a doctor's

  • appointment. Yeah. So again when you're referring to the drugs that you're

  • taking that's prescribed by a doctor you're taking on a regular basis these

  • are the situations where you're a little more likely to use the word medication

  • instead of medicine. Okay. Again I hope you got it. You do have to realize there

  • is some crossover , but I hope with this video you got a little bit of a better

  • feel when you would use medicine. When you would use medication and a few of

  • those instances where you ... you would only use one and not the other. Anyway I hope

  • you got it . I hope it is clear. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.

Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Lesson 358. The lesson today is the

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