There are several ways in which you can take your medication. However, the oral route wins against everything else by a considerable margin when it comes to the most common procedure.
Depending on what your doctor has prescribed, you can take your medicine by chewing, swallowing, or placing it under your tongue.
Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?
Well, sorry to burst your bubbles, but no. Each type of oral medication is different from the others to some extent. Therefore, following the same procedure for each of them will not offer you adequate results.
How To Take Oral Medications? – An Informative Guide
Are you looking for a little oral medication help for your purpose? Then, be sure to stay with us till the end!
Capsules And Tablets
In general, you will have to take your capsules and tablets with water. However, if you were planning something else, make sure to be aware of the following points –
- You should never take certain pills, like Viagra or Lipitor, with grapefruit juice. It can inflict severe damage to your kidneys and liver.
- Milk can sometimes prevent your body from absorbing several antibiotics. Hence, if you are taking drugs like Cipro, try to avoid dairy products if possible.
- Some medicines work better when you take them on an empty stomach, while others offer the best results after eating. Hence, ask your doctors all about it when they are prescribing any medications.
- You must avoid breaking or crushing any capsule or tablet unless your doctor asks you to. Some pills come with a special coating and should be swallowed as a whole.
Sometimes, you may experience difficulties while swallowing a tablet. In that case, we would ask you to talk to your doctor about it. They might be able to provide you with a liquid substitute or a small tablet that’s easier to swallow.
Liquid Medicines
Liquid medicines are usually ideal for older adults and children, as it’s difficult for them to swallow tablets. Nonetheless, like the tablets, you will need to abide by some rules in this aspect too. Here are a few of them –
- Some liquid medications, especially for children, usually feature certain flavors to make them tasty. However, they are not unhealthy or detrimental to your health.
- Before taking any liquid medication, make sure to shake the bottle at least twice or thrice. This way, the “settled” portion of the medicine at the bottom will get mixed again.
- For liquid medicines, a teaspoon usually means five millimeters. Usually, the household spoons can contain more than the said amount. So, you will need to ask your doctor if they have any medicine cups or droppers for measurements.
- Keep the liquid medicine and the measuring tool together for the best hygienic results.
The dosage level of a liquid medication usually depends on the patient’s age. Thus, if it’s been prescribed for a child, ask your doctor about the correct dose beforehand!
Buccal And Sublingual Medications
A sublingual drug administration usually involves placing a medication under the patient’s tongue. It will, then, get absorbed by your blood and flow through the tissues from there. The following are a few tips that you need to follow while taking these medicines –
- Drink a lot of water at least 10-15 minutes before taking the sublingual tablet. This way, your body will produce enough saliva to dissolve the pill correctly.
- Avoid drinking water or brushing your teeth after taking the medication. It may wash away the dodge and weaken the effects of the drug.
- A sublingual medicine should be placed under your tongue, while you must keep a buccal pill between your gums and cheeks.
Final Takeaway
If you don’t take your medications correctly, it may affect your health adversely and cause concerning side effects. Therefore, we would ask you to follow your physician’s instructions as closely as possible.
If you still have any confusion, you should revisit your doctor and inquire about everything from top to bottom. Otherwise, you may make the same mistakes like everyone else and end up deteriorating your health even more!
