As we have shown in many of our articles, it is sometimes possible to relieve pain without medication with the help of natural remedies. Nevertheless, some illnesses require taking medicine which has been advised by doctors to help improve your health or get over your symptoms. The problem is we often adopt some bad habits which can have a harmful effect on the effectiveness of the treatment. Here are 5 examples that you should look out for!
If you haven’t already read our article on the ways to help care for your ill child, it is worth having a look as there are lots of useful tips on how to effectively treat an illness.
1) An inappropriate drink
The only drink that you should take in general in water (if it is at room temperature it is even better!). Water is often the first thing that comes to hand and will help treat your symptoms along with the medication. However not all drinks will help the effectiveness of the medicine. A simple grapefruit juice can change the effect of the medicine. Tea, even if it is delicious and makes you feel better, can in fact slow down the medicines absorption while milk can decrease the effect. When it comes to coke and cafe, they breakdown the medicine very quickly.
2 Bad eating habits
Normally you need to take your medicine at the same time as your meal. You’ll find that what we eat is more important than you might think! You can look at the warnings for food products and your medicine however, in general, mint as well as foods with high levels if fiber encourage the elimination of the medicine’s good elements. This includes oats, mushrooms, cauliflower, summer fruit, pulses, green vegetables, squashes and food products with wholemeal flour.
3) Taking your medication at any time
You must always respect the amount of time allowed between each dosage as stated on the medicine box, even for a simple sorehead medicine. It is even more important to stick to the stated dosage and always respecting the same time will help to maintain an adequate level of activity in the body, especially in the case of antibiotics. Without sticking to these guidelines your medication won’t be as effective as it should.
If you have lots of medication and you are worried about mixing up the times and dosages you can draw a chart onto the medicine container with the date and time it should be taken. Tick the box every time you take the medicine. A medication diary could also help.
4) A pill cocktail
It is not because the doctor has prescribed you several medicines that you should take each one after the other. If you haven’t been told otherwise, space out taking each medication by at least 10 minutes just to be safe and to avoid making a cocktail of medicine that is all taken at the same time!
5) Stopping the treatment when you feel like it
If you have been prescribed a week of antibiotics but you feel better after 4 days should you stop taking the antibiotics? This is not a good idea as this could lead to the illness coming back. Remember that the medication calms the symptoms but it also helps to get rid of the origin of the problem.