Some patients often do not pay much attention to the details of drinking water when taking medication. A tablet of medicine and a sip of water? Two capsules for half a glass of water? Or many people think that when taking medicine, you can swallow the medicine with water, what does it have to do with how much water you drink?
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In fact, drinking water is very important for taking medicine. Improper use of water, light will make the drug can not achieve its maximum efficacy, serious may cause adverse reactions to the drug.
The more medicine you take and the better? Not necessarily
Swallowing the medicine raw everyone knows is not possible, so why drink more water? The problem is that not all medicines are as much water as possible. We need to analyze it on a case-by-case basis.
Medications to relieve diarrhea: If you take too much water after taking it, it will affect the fixation of the drug and inhibit the virus germs in the digestive tract. Therefore, in general, the instructions for such drugs will clearly indicate the ratio of drugs to water, such as 1 bag of montmorillonite powder, which needs to be poured into 50 ml of water and mixed and taken quickly. Even after taking such drugs, drinking water should be reduced within 1 hour.
Drugs that protect the gastric mucosa: such as sucralfate, aluminum hydroxide gel, etc., if you take a lot of water, it will only digest the gel formed by such drugs to protect the gastric mucosa, resulting in the diffusion of acid ions. Therefore, drink as little water as possible during taking such drugs to control water intake.
Some traditional Chinese medicine syrups: In order to play a throat-emollient and antipruritic effect, honey is added during the production process, so that the agent can cover the surface of the mucous membrane after taking, which is conducive to the exertion of medicinal effects. Therefore, when taking Chinese medicine syrups, it is generally recommended to drink less water.
Drugs to prevent the onset of angina: such as nitroglycerin tablets, musk heart pills, etc. should be taken directly under the tongue, absorbed through the sublingual veins, and should not drink water within 30 minutes after taking.
Antidiuretics: such as vasopressin, desmopressin, should not drink water during the period of use, otherwise it may cause water retention or hyponatremia and its complications.
The dosage forms of drugs vary greatly, and the amount of water used varies greatly
Water dispensing of punches and traditional Chinese medicine granules: 150 to 200 ml. When brewing, you can refer to the method of decoction and take it with 150 ml of water at a time. Now common proprietary Chinese medicines on the market are often in the form of granules, which themselves need to be taken with warm water. For example, cold and heat granules, use 150 to 200 ml to rinse and take, and then rinse your mouth with a mouthful of water after drinking.
Precautions: According to the dosage of traditional Chinese medicine decoctions, it is best to brew into 150 to 200 ml of decoctions, not too thin or too thick.
Dosage of water in the capsule form: at least 300 ml. Capsules are made of colloid, in case of water will become soft and sticky, drink less water can not go down, stuck in the esophagus slowly dissolved and produce adverse irritation to the esophageal mucosa, severe cases can cause esophagitis. If such adverse stimuli persist for a long time, they can even cause cancerous cells of the esophageal mucosa.
Precautions: In order to ensure that the drug is delivered to the stomach and avoid damage to the esophagus, when taking capsules, the amount of water to drink should not be less than 300 ml. Also, when swallowing the drug after taking it, you should bow your head slightly, so that you can take the drug more smoothly and avoid a choking cough reaction.
Tablet water dispensing: 150 ~ 200 ml. Most tablets, such as day and night, Carretan, etc., can usually be taken with 150 to 200 ml of water. If there is very little water, it is difficult for the drug to completely disintegrate with only a small amount of gastric juice.
Precautions: Do not drink too much water, otherwise it will dilute gastric juice and accelerate gastric emptying, which is not conducive to the absorption of drugs.
Water distribution of irritating drugs: more than 500 ml. Some irritating drugs, if there is not enough water in the stomach to dilute, can not completely disintegrate into small particles, will stimulate the gastric mucosa due to local concentrations too high leading to inflammation or ulceration. Irritating drugs such as tetracycline drugs, regardless of the dosage form taken, should increase the amount of water sent, and drinking 500 ml of water can reduce its irritation to the digestive tract.
The amount of water dispensed by drugs with special metabolic processes: more than 1500 ml. Drugs such as benzbromomarone and compound sulfamethoxazole sulfapyridine tablets can increase the content of uric acid in the urine, resulting in uric acid crystallization. Please drink more water during medication to increase urine output and help urinary acid to be excreted, and the amount of water you drink at the beginning of the medication should not be less than 1500 ml.
Author: Gao Yang/Wang Hailian, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University
The article is selected from "Family Medicine • Happy Health"