Taking Medicine On An Empty Stomach

[PeaceBlondie]

It seems that every prescription I get in Thailand expects me to take my pills right after a meal. Sometimes I eat irregularly, or don't have my pills with me when I eat a meal. I seem to have a cast iron stomach, anyway.

Is this more prevalent in Thailand? I don't recall such an emphasis back in the West.

[PhilHarries]

That's the advice on packaging and from doctors worldwide IME.

I don't know why though, I'd have thought with food in the way the drug would be slower getting into the system. Maybe some drugs can irritate the stomach lining and with an empty stomach the concentration is greater so to be safe they apply the rule to all drugs. I know I've often taken tablets without a meal and suffered no ill effects.

It's the same with medicine and alcohol, I watched a documentary a while back where the question about taking antibiotics with booze came up. The doctor admitted that with some alcohol is ok but with others the potency is reduced so they advise a blanket "no booze" policy.

[Macx]

Depends on the meds, I suppose. I do get advice to take them either before or after meals. I never really took the docs advice until my uncle developed some sort of nasty stomach problem/ulcer because he kept taking meds on empty stomach against his doc's advice.

[Sheryl]

It depends entirely on the medication. Some should be taken on an empty stomach, some should be taken on a full on, and for some it makes no difference.

Sometimes, with drugs where it dioes nto matterm, they will still say take after meals as a means of getting peopkle to remember to take the medication reguallry (of course, that presupposes a regular meal schedule).

It is advisable in any case to read up on any medications you are taking so that you are adequately informed of side effects and interactions. The pharmacists will often have package inserts in English, can ask about that or else google.

For drugs that need to be taken with food, it is usually beause they are otherwise irritating to the stomach or cause nausea in soem people. It doesn't have to be after a full meal, just take a small snack with or just before the medication.

[sonicdragon]

Also, absorbtion of some drugs is increased in the presence of food, whereas with others it is decreased, and it depends on the type of food (eg some drugs should not be taken with or closely followed by/in advance of dairly products). Basically you should follow the advice of the pharmacist and/or doctor.

[pointofview]

How come drug dealers never tell you to take your E with a meal!

[chiang mai]

It seems that every prescription I get in Thailand expects me to take my pills right after a meal. Sometimes I eat irregularly, or don't have my pills with me when I eat a meal. I seem to have a cast iron stomach, anyway.

Is this more prevalent in Thailand? I don't recall such an emphasis back in the West.

The key issue is rate of absorption and the secondary one is potential damage to the lining of the stomach and the intestinal wall. Blood thinners for example, aka Aspent (Asprin) et al should only be taken on a (partially) full stomach else they will cause internal bleeding. Having a layer of food protection in the stomach dilutes the rate of absorption and negates that issue. I'm not in the medical profession but medical advice given to me previously and my personal experiences over the years confirms the foregoing to be correct.

[Beardog]

It definitely depends on both a cast iron stomach you can eat mot anything.I have a cast iron stomach & ate plenty of grease while turning wrenches & taking lunch-to busy to be bothered with washing my hands.(I was pretty stupid in my younger years.)

To this day if I had to have certain antibiotics with food I would get an ill effect. Rarely or a heavy medication (for pain) more so

Due to absorption rate. I usually do not worry to much about the food if I am not hungry or no time to eat, but I do pay attention to the times it didn't work out to well. I think it depends on the way each persons system reacts to the meds. I would agree though with a tough stomach there isn't to many things that can affect your stomach. If you were on Chemotherapy you would most definitely be drinking a ton of water(to remove the heavy metals from your kidneys) the stomach would still be fine.

Now if Balah (most likely misspelled) was a med....there isn't enough water in Thailand as even a case hardened stomach like mine has it's limits!

[deejah]

i often take meds, including aspirin, on an empty stomach

a pharmacist recently told me, not only does it cause stomach bleeding but also stomach scarring!!!

i have done it so many times i am certain i feel no ill effect

however i am now rethinking if i am doing the wisest thing

[PeaceBlondie]

I have to take 300 mg of Aspent (aspirin) every morning, and I do take it at the end of my breakfast of watermelon. I still have some doubts about the rest of the medications needing to be taken on a full stomach.

Thanks for all the helpful answers.

[Nataraja]

It's been my understading that we should take fat-soluble pills with food and water-soluble pills on an empty stomach.

[Prakanong]

It seems that every prescription I get in Thailand expects me to take my pills right after a meal. Sometimes I eat irregularly, or don't have my pills with me when I eat a meal. I seem to have a cast iron stomach, anyway.

Is this more prevalent in Thailand? I don't recall such an emphasis back in the West.

Some you do and some you do not.

EG NSAID's should always be taken with food but my blood pressuretablets can be taken on an empty stomach

The label should tell you - that is the inserted sheet in the box. That has to be approved by FDA's and what is put on their is highly controlled - for example see the latest trouble concerning Avandia - the FDA made GSK add warnings to the label.

[WaiWai]

Aspirin is notoriously hard on the stomach, so best taken with food.

[PeaceBlondie]

Some you do and some you do not.

EG NSAID's should always be taken with food but my blood pressuretablets can be taken on an empty stomach

The label should tell you - that is the inserted sheet in the box. That has to be approved by FDA's and what is put on their is highly controlled - for example see the latest trouble concerning Avandia - the FDA made GSK add warnings to the label.

Thanks, Prakanong. Maybe the pharmacies in Singapore use those insert sheets and so forth, but not in Thailand. My prescriptions just say (almost always), after breakfast, lunch and dinner. One of my medicines is Japanese and there's very little info available, since it's not sold in the West (Mevalotin, perhaps). I do take the aspirin at the end of a meal (esp. since it's so darn much aspent!).