In clinical practice, we always encounter patients who ask if and how they can take certain drugs. Such questions are really troubling. The following is a little answer: in general, the drug is better absorbed before meals and works faster; it is poorly absorbed and slower to take after meals. However, you can’t just focus on the effect of the drug without regard to the body’s reaction, so the time to take the drug should be decided by the nature of the drug, the gastrointestinal tract irritation, the patient’s ability to tolerate and the time needed to produce the effect of the drug. First, take the medicine before meals The medicine that acts on the part below the stomach, 0.5 to 1 hour before meals. Easy to digest and absorb, and will not be diluted by the food in the stomach and affect the efficacy of the drugs closely related to gastric acid is suitable to be taken before meals, such as drugs acting on the following parts of the stomach (such as liver disease, kidney disease and enteritis, etc.), tonic drugs, expectorants, appetizers, gastric motivation drugs, weight loss drugs, gastric mucosa protectors, digestive aids, some hypoglycemic drugs, quinolone antibiotics, some hypotensive drugs, etc. ” Examples: such drugs include domperidone tablets, aluminum thioglycollate tablets, compound digestive enzyme capsules, sulfonylurea oral hypoglycemic drugs, acarbose (taken when taking the first bite of food), norfloxacin, captopril, bitter medicine berberine tablets, astringent and adsorbent medicine montelukast, topril, dipyridamole (1 hour before meals), “especially the hypotensive drug captopril tablets, food will affect its The absorption of the drug after meals is reduced by 30% to 50% compared to the absorption of the drug on an empty stomach. Second, take the drug after meals The drug that acts on the part above the stomach, 15 to 30 minutes after eating. Drugs taken after meals generally have a greater stimulating effect on the gastrointestinal, toxic side effects, so it is not appropriate to take on an empty stomach. The purpose of “eating after meals” is to moderate the stimulation of the stomach and reduce toxic side effects. For example, stomachic and certain hypoglycemic drugs, eat after meals can reduce toxic side effects, enhance stomachic and hypoglycemic effect; food can increase its bioavailability of drugs, it is appropriate to take after meals, such as macrolide antibiotics, antipyretic and analgesic drugs, anorectic drugs, guanidine hypoglycemic drugs, etc.; the role in the stomach above the heart, lungs and other parts, to make the drug stop in the upper focus for a longer period of time, it is best to take after meals 15 ～The best way to take the medicine is to stand up and stand down. The most scientific posture for taking medication is standing, which is a natural vertical state of the esophagus, which is conducive to the downward slide of drugs into the stomach and facilitates absorption as soon as possible. Pharmacy experts believe that sitting, especially when lying down to take drugs, easy to make the drug stick to the esophageal wall, not only can not be transported to the best absorption site, and the esophageal wall will also be stimulated by the adhering drugs, corrosion and other damage, especially capsules once the drug is stuck in the esophagus, and then drink water is difficult to reach the stomach in a short time. Therefore, it should be avoided as much as possible. To sum up, there are rules for taking drugs, and the efficacy of taking them before and after meals varies, so please follow the doctor’s advice.