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Eight points to note when taking medicine

Things to watch out for when taking medicine

By Mary HobbsPublished 2 years ago 8 min read
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I believe that no one can say that they never take medicine. People need to take medicine when they are sick. However, there are many medicines in life that cannot be taken together, and there are also many precautions when taking medicine.

Eight points to note when taking medicine

1. The difference between careful use, taboo use, and prohibition

Careful use, and taboo use, are forbidden from the main consequences of the severity of the distinction.

Careful use means that the drug may cause adverse reactions after being used in the human body, so it should be used with caution, but it does not mean that it cannot be used. Attention should be paid to observation after use if adverse reactions should be stopped immediately. The elderly, pregnant women, children, and people with liver and kidney dysfunction should be especially cautious when using such drugs.

Do not use means avoid use. The adverse reactions of some drugs are relatively clear, and people who are not suitable for taking them are more likely to have adverse consequences after using them. If the condition is urgent, drugs with similar pharmacological effects and fewer adverse reactions should be chosen instead, and other drugs can be combined to combat the side effects. Such as sulfa drugs have damage to the kidney, renal dysfunction should not be used; Isoniazid is harmful to hepatocytes and should not be used in patients with poor liver function.

Forbidden means absolutely forbidden to use. Serious adverse reactions can occur if used. Such as penicillin allergy is absolutely prohibited to use the drug. Aspirin should not be used in patients with gastric ulcers because it may cause gastric bleeding.

Eight points to note when taking medicine

2. Whether drugs can be mixed and matched

Our family medicine cabinet is full of medicines for common ailments such as colds, stomachaches, or diarrhea. However, when these drugs are taken at the same time, due to their different chemical properties and action mechanisms, the efficacy may decrease, side effects may increase, and even life may be endangered in serious cases. Take cold as an example, there are dozens of kinds of drugs available in drugstores, but the ingredients are all similar, mostly containing acetaminophen, pseudoephedrine, and other ingredients. If you take a variety of cold medicines at the same time, it will lead to drug overdose, and long-term overdose may even lead to liver damage. When commonly used drugs for diarrhea -- microecological agents (Chengchangsheng, gold Bifidum, Mamaiai, Peifigon, etc.) are used together with antibiotics, it should be taken at an interval of two hours to avoid loss of efficacy.

In our daily life, we may suffer from two or more diseases at the same time and need to take multiple medications. At this time, we need to consult a doctor or pharmacist to avoid the harm caused by drug interaction. Allergy drugs (terfenadine, astemizole), for example, can cause severe cardiotoxicity when combined with imidazole antifungals (ketoconazole, itraconazole) and macrolides (erythromycin, clarithromycin).

Eight points to note when taking medicine

3. Whether the drug can be broken or broken

The most common tablets are common tablets, coated tablets, sustained release tablets, and controlled release tablets. Ordinary tablets can generally be broken or broken to take, which does not affect the efficacy. Coated tablets are mainly some bitter taste, or odor, or need to be dissolved in a specific environment such as the intestinal tract, if broken to take, the pill will be dissolved just into the stomach, and can not safely reach the intestinal tract. This will not only affect the normal effect of the drug, but also stimulate the gastric mucosa, so can not be broken apart to take. Sustained-release tablets and controlled-release tablets usually contain several times the number of drugs than ordinary tablets. If broken and taken, it will cause a rapid release of the drug, and the concentration of the drug in the body will rise abruptly, thus causing drug poisoning.

4. The harm of doubling the dose or shortening the interval of taking medicine

Double the dose of medicine, or shorten the interval of medication, artificially caused by excessive dosage, easy to cause liver and kidney damage. There is a common saying in medicine three points poison, which still has a certain scientific truth, most drugs need to be excreted in liver and kidney metabolism. If a drug is used for too long and in too large a dose, it may cause liver and kidney damage. There are also some drugs with a narrow safe dose range and strong toxic side effects, such as digoxin, phenytoin sodium, aminophylline, etc., which can lead to serious drug poisoning and endanger life if taken in double doses. If you double your blood pressure and blood sugar medications, you can have potentially life-threatening low blood pressure and low blood sugar.

Eight points to note when taking medicine

5. the amount of water to take ordinary drugs

The amount of water you drink should be adjusted according to the nature and dosage form of the drug you are taking. Generally, when taking medicine, drink enough water to swallow the medicine. General tablet 150-200ml water can, the capsule is to drink more water because it is easy to adhere to the esophagus. With some medications, you should drink little or no water. Such as nitroglycerin sublingual tablets, including taking time to control in 5 minutes, after 30 minutes should not eat and drink water, so as not to affect the absorption of drugs. If you drink water when taking cough syrup, it will dilute the syrup in the pharynx, affecting the effect of the cough. Mailing and other drugs protect the gastric mucosa, because of the need to form a protective layer in the stomach, do not drink too much water, and affect the effect of drugs. Taking sulfa drugs requires drinking a lot of water because it is easy to form crystals in the urine and cause stinging pain. There are also some cases according to the condition, such as diarrhea when taking oral rehydration salts, fever when taking antipyretic drugs need to drink more water because diarrhea needs to replenish the body water, fever sweating will loss of water. In general, people should drink more water each day when taking medication to prevent drug-induced kidney injury.

Eight points to note when taking medicine

6. What kind of water should I use

It is best to take the medicine with warm water. Some people like tea, juice, soda, milk, and other liquids to serve. When taking certain drugs, may cause loss of potency, loss, or even drug intoxication. Tea contains a large number of tannic acid and will react with a variety of antibiotics, and alkaloids so that it loses efficacy. Acidic juice sodas reduce the effectiveness of alkaline medications. Calcium in milk can increase the toxicity of the heart-strengthening drug digoxin.

7. Appropriate medication time and interval

The correct medication time and interval are used to ensure the efficacy of drugs and reduce or avoid adverse drug reactions. The scientific interval is to divide the 24 hours of a day by the number of times taking the medicine. For example, three times a day means that the medicine should be taken every 8 hours. Take the medicine twice a day at 12-hour intervals. If the early, middle, and late administration method is adopted three times a day, that is, taking at meal time, the absorption process of the drug will be mainly completed in the daytime, and the concentration of the drug is higher in the daytime, and the adverse reactions will increase accordingly. At night, the concentration of the drug will be too low, which will affect the effectiveness. However, the taking of hypoglycemic drugs is an exception. The level of blood glucose is related to eating, and the taking of hypoglycemic drugs should be carried out according to the meal time.

On the basis of mastering the medication interval, we should also adjust the medication time reasonably according to the disease and drugs used. Taking hormones as an example, the peak of human adrenal cortical hormone secretion is around 7-10 a.m., so it is advisable to take medicine once in the morning to reduce the inhibition of endogenous corticosteroid secretion. Calcium supplements (such as calc D and calcium carbonate) should be taken near bedtime, as blood calcium levels are lowest between midnight and early morning. Therefore, taking calcium before going to bed can make it fully absorbed and utilized.

Eight points to note when taking medicine

8. Medicines are taken after and before meals

Time your medication according to the nature of the drug.

Taking diabetes drugs as an example, sulfonylureas such as gliclazide, glipizide, and glipizide must be taken 30 minutes before meals. Acarbose (tanging) should be taken with the first bite of the meal; Metformin should be taken after meals because it irritates the stomach. Gastric mucosal protective agents (such as aluminum hydroxide) in order to form a protective film, stomach-stimulating drugs (such as morpholine) in order to play its effects, antibiotics (such as amoxicillin, and cefradine) in order to avoid the influence of food on drug absorption, all need to be taken before meals. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin, need to be taken after meals because they irritate the stomach.

Conclusion: people eat grain, want to never get sick is not possible, ill to take medicine, take medicine but there are many considerations, we should not only pay attention to the phase grams of drugs cannot at the same time, also pay attention to the time and the number of drugs, applicable people, only in this way can protect their own health, but the disease is rapidly disappearing.

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About the Creator

Mary Hobbs

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