Medicine vs. Medication

Medications is the proper term for substances used for medical treatment, esp. pharmaceuticals. People can self-medicate (and they do all the time). They don't self-medicine. Medications includes vitamins and other supplements people take for health reasons. The verb medicate (to treat medicinally) is from 1620s. Health professionals usually refer to these as meds.

Medicine, though used by lay persons to indicate drugs, is actually the art or science of healing. There is holistic medicine, allopathic medicine, homeopathic medicine, etc.

On a medical chart, we often list drugs/alcohol separately, because it refers to illicit drugs.

We do not use the word prescriptions, because that would exclude over-the-counter medications the patient might be taking, e.g. aspirin, benadryl or other for allergies, decongestants, supplements, herbals, etc.

In addition to dosage, we usually have a space for start and stop dates for medications, as a past history of medications is important to know as well. It is important to know what the patient has taken before that has or hasn't worked for chronic or recurrent problems.

Looking at it as an outsider, it seems to me that it should be:

Medicine (noun) - 1) Referring to the field itself, the profession of healing.

Medication (noun) - 1) The act of using a method from the field of medicine to treat someone.

Medicate (verb) - 1) To treat someone using a method from the field of medicine.

As for the pills themselves, I would refer to them as pills, drugs, or as medical substances.

So when I hear someone say "Use this medication", I actually hear "Use this method of medication (the method of giving them this particular drug/substance/process)"

If that makes sense.

Neither term is preferable.

It is fashionable to say “medication” but both it and “medicine” mean drugs or other substances taken to treat or cure disease.

Any dictionary will verify this.