When Should You Take Your Drug: Before or After Your Meal

by Madhushree Ghosh
meal
  • The importance of taking drugs at the right time
  • What is the significance of eating drug before the meal
  • What is the concept behind taking drug after the meal
  • Can you take drugs with your food
  • How to decide what type of drug eat to when
  • What is the psychological difference between taking drugs before or after the meal

Also Read:-What Is Nutrition?

These days taking lots and lots of medicines, has been a new trend of staying healthy. No matter you have, high pressure, blood sugar, migraine, gastric, digestion, arthritis, vertigo, nerve-problem, nausea, etc. other chronic disease or any uncommon diseases, you must be prescribed under some regular medications for sure.

What most common problem face this time is when the right time to take these medicines properly is? We notice that many people of different ages ask questions about the right time for taking their medicines. So, today, let our discussion flow in this way with some related queries we often come across about the right time of taking medicines-

The Importance of Taking Drug at the Right Time:

Drugs and meals share an important and inseparable relation. Most of the medicines can be affected by when a patient consumed it. Eating drug at the right time helps our body to absorb the medicine more accurately and let them work more properly for the disease. Different medicines are prescribed to be taken at a different time to work on your health issue flawlessly.

So, if you want to deal with your health problems like an expert, you must know the importance of taking the drug at an accurate time without delaying or fastening the time of eating.

What is the Significance of Eating Drugs before the Meal?

If you are prescribed to take medicine before our meal that means, it works best in the empty stomach than a full stomach. Medicines for acid reflux, gastric or similar issues are mostly taken in an empty stomach because they work more efficiently to fight the signs of astrological issues when going in a blank abdomen.

The time before meal drugs may vary from medicines to medicines. Some medicines are prescribed to take before 1 or 2 hours before taking the meal. On the other hand, a few medicines are advised to eat only 10-15 minutes before taking food. Usually, rules to these types of the direction of eating medicines vary from the drug manufacturer to the medicine type. 

What is the Concept behind Taking Drugs after the Meal?

Some medicines are made with a higher amount of anti-inflammatory particles or some aspirin components or paracetamol types, thus they are prescribed to take after eating meals. Apart from these, vitamins, calcium, iron pills, antibiotics, etc. are also suggested to take after eating a heavy meal, instead of an empty stomach. Taking such medicines after taking meals helps to reduce the possibilities of acid reflux or other side effects.

Generally, strong medicines need a base of working and a full stomach gives those medicines that base perfectly. A well-feed body contains an increased ability to absorb medicines more efficiently than an empty body. Thus, most of the powerful medicines are advised to take after taking meals than before meals.

Can You Take Drug with Your Food?

A few medicines are suggested to take with foods instead of before or after taking the meal. Some patients claim that it is a lot simpler for them to consume drugs with foods instead of taking them before or after meals. Some people also said that swallowing medicines with foods is easier than taking them with plain water.

However, a few health experts claim that medicines may work slower in the way of body-absorption while taking with foods. Fortunately, a new study on medicines claims that giving medicines more time to absorb is actually a good thing. It gives our body a longer period to adjust with the effects of drugs appropriately, and more time to be compatible with the reactions of any medicine.

Only make sure you won’t break your pills, capsules or tablets anyhow while taking it with foods. Taking medicines during meals may be a good idea but merging it with your foods may be dangerous instead of being beneficial. Follow this rule even you are taking liquid medicine in place of a tablet or capsule. Also, never amalgamate a liquid medicine into any hot or cold drink, while taking it with foods.

How to Decide What Type of Drug to Take When:

To decide when the exact time to eat medicine is, you must follow a few rules to make things easier for a medicine-taker. These rules are as follows-

  • Ask your doctor or health expert about the perfect timing of taking their prescribed medicine before start taking it
  • Find out and read the label of a container of each medicine pack before eating as most of the drugs come with a clear as well as specific instruction of taking
  • If you are taking a medicine that does not exist in your prescription, talk to a doctor or health expert about it clearly and know about dosages accurately
  • If you are prescribed with a particular medicine by a doctor, make sure, he knows all the possible effects of those medicines, as it helps to decide the timing of that drug perfectly
  • Focus on the directions and precautions of medicine, which are written on the backside of a medicine pack, they gave us a clear idea of when to consume a drug perfectly
  • No matter you are taking medicines before, after or with your food, try to swallow it with lots of water than just one gulp of water
  • Try to consume medicines with lukewarm water but never merge them or mix them into the water
  • attempt to avoid taking medicines with any alcoholic or carbonated drink, as they may worsen the effects of medicines than enhancing them
  • And try to avoid taking vitamins or minerals pills with other medicines as they can interact with other drugs badly and may work in a reverse way than enhancing your health.

Also Read:-Every Amazing Dish From Captain D’s Nutrition Menu

What is the Psychological Difference between Taking Drugs before or After Meal?

The modern age psychologists claim that there is a deep psychological connection why some medicines are prescribed before meals and some after meals. Eating foods may trigger noticeable psychological changes in your body and influence the reaction of drugs effectively.

The level of blood flow, the activity of gut, the release of bile, the variation of pH level, the mobility in the gut, etc. are some possible changes that can be controlled by the psychological changes that occur in our body for consuming some specific foods. However, in short, the probable reactions of medicines depend on the drug type you are consuming more, rather than any other reason.