How long should you wait before and after meals to take medicine?

Many people reduce the effectiveness of medicines because they don't grasp the time of taking medicines well enough. Therefore, for many patients, in order to better grasp the time of taking medicines before and after meals, they want to fully understand how long the interval between taking medicines before and after meals is. A detailed introduction is given below, so many patients can continue to learn more about it.

I often hear patients who have picked up medicine in the ward ask: "Doctor, should I take this medicine before or after meals?" Generally speaking, in addition to stating the time and interval of taking the medicine, some drug instructions will also specify "take before meals", "take during meals" or "take after meals". But how long before a meal is considered "before a meal"? How long after a meal is considered "after a meal"?

Many patients are not very clear about this issue. If the patient understands "take before meals" as taking the medicine immediately before meals, and understands "take after meals" as taking the medicine immediately after meals, then there will be some problems. Usually, taking the medicine before meals means that the medicine needs to be taken 30 to 60 minutes before meals. This is mainly to allow the medicine to enter the intestines faster, facilitate intestinal absorption, and reduce the adverse effects of food on its bioavailability.

Taking the medicine after meals means that the medicine should be taken about 30 minutes after a meal. This can reduce the irritation of the drug to the gastrointestinal tract and facilitate the absorption and utilization of the drug. Most medicines can be taken with food.

In addition, taking medicine during meals means taking the medicine after eating a small meal, and you can continue to eat after finishing the medicine. This is mainly because the oils in food help the absorption of drugs and can take effect in a timely manner. Taking medicine on an empty stomach means taking medicine 1 to 2 hours before a meal or about 2 hours after a meal. This can avoid the effects of food on its absorption, and the medicine can quickly enter the small intestine to exert its effect.

How long should the interval be between taking medicine before and after meals? The above specifically introduces the interval between taking medicine for many patients. Therefore, after a comprehensive understanding, in order to make the medicine you take play a greater role, you must have a comprehensive understanding of the above content, and use the medicine reasonably before and after meals, so that you can recover from the disease as soon as possible after taking the medicine.