Medicinal instructions describe the time to take a medicine. The terms used to do so are defined below:
Before meals: 30 to 60 minutes before meals
After meals: Within 30 minutes after meals
Between meals: Two to three hours after meals, when hungry
Before bedtime: Just before going to bed
The above definitions assume that you regularly eat three meals a day. Take a medicine at normal meal times even if you do not have a regular schedule (for example, if you don't normally eat breakfast or often have no time to eat a meal because you are working).
2. Time to take a medicine determined by its effect
Physicians generally prescribe a medicine so that it can be taken three times a day, after each meal. This is because the food in the stomach will relieve medicinal irritation, because getting into the habit of taking medicine after each meal will prevent you from forgetting to take it, and because the interval is appropriate for many medicines.
However, some medicines do not exert their effects when they are taken after a meal. For example, antiulcer agents are ineffective when the stomach contains a great deal of food. Physicians instruct that such medicines be taken between meals. Physicians instruct that some stomachics be taken before meals, as they are ineffective otherwise.
(2)Useful information on how to take a drug
1. Is it true that medicines should not be taken with tea?
It is often said that medicines should not be taken with tea. This applies to iron preparations, because the tannin in tea reacts with an iron component to inhibit its absorption.
However, this may be incorrect, as recent studies have demonstrated that iron preparations maintain their effects almost completely when they are taken with green tea.
2. Risky combination of antibiotics with milk or juices
Antibiotics are generally sensitive. Because calcium, magnesium, and iron inhibit tetracycline antibiotic absorption, such medicines should not be used with those containing these components.
Tetracycline antibiotics should not be used with milk, as milk contains a great deal of calcium.
In addition, avoid taking commonly-used penicillin and erythromycin antibiotics with acidic, juices, as such juices enhance their dissolution.
3. The enhancing of medicinal effects by alcohol
Alcohol enhances the effects of hypotensive medicines, antihistamines, tranquilizers, and antidiabetics. Avoid taking these medicines not only with alcoholic beverages such as beer and sake, but also when the stomach contains alcohol.
4. Medicines that lose their effectiveness when chewed
Some anti-inflammatory and constipation medicines are coated so that they dissolve not in the stomach, but in the small intestine. Such medicines, when chewed, may dissolve in the stomach and irritate the gastric wall or lose their effectiveness. Therefore, they should not be chewed.
5. Medicines unsuitable for medicinal wafers
Recent medicines offer improved drinkability due to the development of capsules and sugar-coated tablets. Bitter powder medicine should be contained in a medicinal wafer. However, some medicines cannot exert their effects when contained in the wafer. Such medicines include bitter stomachics, which promote the secretion of gastric juice by stimulating the stomach with the bitterness of their crude drug component.
6. Be careful about medicine storage conditions.
Because high temperature or humidity or direct sunlight may degrade medicines, keep them in a cool, dry, shaded room.
Do not keep medicines in a refrigerator, as they may be degraded by the humidity from the water droplets generated when they are removed. Other undesirable storage places include window ledges exposed to sunshine and humidity, and warm kitchens and bathrooms. In addition, medicines easily degenerated by light, such as eye lotions, are supplied in a special light-shielded bag. Keep them in the bag. Keep your medicines in a fixed place.
