Any medication taken without being prescribed by the physician is an abuse and such could be termed as well as drug intake, because we are most likely not to take the right pills or proportion as needed adequately, self medication is not good and should be discouraged.
Actually if we self medicate, we are causing more problem to the existing problem because either we commit error in taking the drug, or we overdose or underdose the intake. Whichever category that it takes affects the body or just appears as scratching the bacteria but not killing it out which could make it more difficult for certain drug to fight it because it will become allergic to it, except you apply a more higher type of drug for the health problem.
Self medication sometimes lead to untimely death for people who are unlucky. It takes nothing to go run a test and allow the specialist administer treatment using the test result.
However, the government need to do more in taking the health of their people as very important by building health care system, insurance on health that will provide free medical for people. Countries that have people who self medicate, are those whose government is not doing enough in providing free medical for majority of the people.