Self-Medication: Yay or Nay?

Weekend, weekend, weekend! <3

Yeah! I love my weekends! Sleeping, eating, and shopping, huzzah!
Okay, back to the point. I went shopping because I needed to get some meds; anti-inflammatories and the accompanying proton pump inhibitors, because I'm not very fond of gastric ulcers.


So, yes. I did not visit the doc for these meds, although I did visit the doc for the underlying problem, which is inflammatory in nature. It also keeps me from working out, which is a real pain in the derrière because I need to de-stress somehow.
So the easiest thing would be to grab for some Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs to calm down the inflammation and to promote healing. The painkilling quality is certainly a nice plus.

Why the fancy border? I needed to try Pixlr Autodesk.

So I 'prescribed' myself some meds and started myself on a little test treatment, starting today. (Don't worry, they're over-the-counter meds).

So, what do you guys think? Do you guys self-medicate?
Should we do away with the self-medicating (Amateurs? Laypersons? Medical professionals?), or should we keep doing it?
I'm talking about self-medicating with drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter. I won't consider illegal drugs, and food, because obviously some of those activities are kind of really detrimental to your health when used for self-medication.

Is the act of prescribing oneself painkillers a step on the road to full-blown narcotics abuse? (I've never heard of NSAIDs addictions, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone with access to prescription drugs would start with something mild and work his/her way up to the real deal..)

And another random question I've been asking myself: Why in good heavens do they put a pill that is that small in a container so big? It seems like a waste of space to me.

For those of you who decided to stick with me for my random rant: I'm planning on putting up the answers to the gynaecology/gross anatomy online entrance test in a day or so.

Happy Weekend! <3