Each of us, unfortunately, is faced with a situation when it is necessary to take medicine. The commonplace flu, migraine, toothache, and suddenly upset intestines force us to take pills orally, that is, to swallow them. The procedure is unpleasant, but necessary.
Doctors recommend, as a rule, to drink medicines with water. She is not always at hand, and sometimes I also want to sweeten taking a bitter tablet with a sweet drink. Is it worth replacing water with tea, coffee, milk or juice?
Let's try to figure out why the question: "Can I drink pills with tea or other drinks?" the answer is always one: "No!".
Tea and Health
Tea is the most famous and consumed drink in the world after water. Different types of tea are obtained from one plant: black, green, white and oolong. They differ from each other in the way of processing the leaves of one plant - Chinese camellia. Tea is drunk with milk, lemon, various spices, honey. Someone loves a hot drink, while someone is pleased to refresh themselves with iced tea.
Since ancient times, the healing properties of this plant are known. The beneficial properties vary depending on the type of tea.
However, all types of drink contain:
- water - up to 95 percent;
- carbohydrates (readily soluble) - from 3 to 4.5 percent;
- insoluble carbohydrates - from 6 to 18 percent;
- caffeine - from 1.5 to 3.5 percent;
- lignin - from 6 to 10 percent;
- phenolic compounds - from 7.5 to 15 percent;
- minerals - from 3.2 to 4.2 percent;
- proteins - from 20 to 22 percent.
Regular black tea as a drink has the following main positive properties:
- helps to strengthen the cardiovascular and circulatory systems;
- acts antiseptically on the pathogenic flora of the gastrointestinal tract in case of indigestion and intestines;
- possesses tonic properties;
- removes toxins from the body and causes sweating.
Green tea is better studied, many beneficial properties are attributed to it. The main ones are:
- Antiseptic properties for colds and flu. Helps to reduce elevated body temperature, stops inflammatory processes.
- Promotes the removal of toxins and radionuclides.
- It alleviates the condition in diseases of the kidneys, liver, gastrointestinal tract, and genitourinary system.
- Reduces the risk of developing atherosclerosis, improves memory, attention.
- It relieves mild depression, drowsiness, invigorates and tones.
- Indicated for obesity.
- It is an antioxidant.
- It is used to prevent inflammation of the oral cavity and caries.
It would seem that tea has many positive properties. Why can not it be used when taking medications?
Tea and pills
As a rule, when prescribing pills to a patient, the doctor focuses on the pattern of drug use, not always recalling how to drink the drug. Unless otherwise specified, all tablets are washed down with cold boiled water in sufficient quantities.
Can I drink pills with tea or coffee?
Tea and coffee contain caffeine. They tone the nervous system well and are quite stimulating drinks. If a sedative, a pressure-relieving medicine, or an antidepressant is prescribed, taking a pill with tea or coffee will cause severe overexcitation, insomnia, or trigger an increase in blood pressure.
Tea's rich tannins, in combination with certain chemicals, form insoluble sediments. They can negate the treatment and even cause significant harm to health (after all, the patient hardly knows how his tablet will behave when meeting with tea or coffee compounds). So, for example, preparations containing iron, interacting with tannin, form an insoluble precipitate.
Attention! You can not drink tea:
- alkaloids (papaverine, codeine, etc.);
- oral contraceptives;
- antipsychotics and psychotropics;
- antibiotics
- preparations containing nitrogen;
- drugs that stop ulcerative processes and stimulate the digestive tract;
- cardiac and vascular preparations.
The above list is far from complete. Therefore, when you have a question: “Is it possible to drink tablets with black tea?”, It is better to set aside a cup of tea and drink the preparation with water. The same goes for green tea. The answer to the question: “Can I drink pills with green tea?”, Negative.
Coffee and pills
We tried to answer the question: “Can I drink pills with tea?”, But maybe someone thinks that when taking the drug, coffee will be more harmless? Not at all.
You need to know that coffee not only contains tonic and stimulating caffeine. The effect of the drug in combination with the drink becomes unpredictable: coffee can accelerate the action of the pill or slow down. All this is extremely dangerous.
A coffee drink promotes the rapid withdrawal of antibiotics, which, when taken with it, become useless. Moreover, with the frequent use of antibiotics with coffee, the patient's body becomes insensitive to the drug of a particular group, and the doctor will have no choice but to replace it with a stronger one.
Drinking painkillers (aspirin, paracetamol, citramone) with coffee drinks, instead of benefit, the patient harms the liver and kidneys.
Thus, the answer to the question is already obvious: "Is it possible to drink pills with hot tea or coffee?". No you can not. First, it is difficult to predict the outcome of such an interaction. And secondly, you don’t want the tablet to dissolve directly in your mouth and become completely useless?
Pills and citrus fruits
Everyone knows the benefits of lemon, grapefruit, mandarin and orange. Citrus juice contains many vitamins, minerals, which makes them very attractive for maintaining health and vitality.
However, patients taking medications need to be careful about consuming citrus fruits. The fact is that they contain the enzyme furanocoumarin, which is heavily broken down by the liver. If a tablet is taken together with such fruit (juice), then the liver will not be able to split the medicine in time, it will completely enter the blood, exceeding the permissible concentration. The consequences of this “therapeutic” effect are unpredictable.
Doctors have proven that several tablespoons of grapefruit juice or other citrus (lemon) can lead to an overdose of the drug and increase its concentration two hundred (!) Times.
Therefore, do not take chances. To the question: "Can I drink pills with tea with lemon?" the answer is no. Not only tea is harmful when drinking pills: lemon juice can also lead to irreversible consequences.
Pills and honey
The question often arises: "Is it possible to drink tablets with tea with honey?".
Honey has unique healing properties. It is widely used as an anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, immunostimulating product.
But honey is not shown to everyone. It can not be taken with an allergy to bee products. With great care, this delicacy should be consumed by diabetics and people with high blood sugar.
It must be remembered that honey is a complex organic compound that changes its composition and properties when it enters hot water (tea). What compounds are formed in the body when taking a drug and honey dissolved in tea is not known. Therefore, drinking tablets with tea with honey (even so useful!) Is not worth it.
Pills and alcohol
I want to remind you: when taking medicines, you should give up alcohol. At all! For when taking many pills, the effect of alcohol on the body becomes deadly.
In no case should you take the following tablets with alcoholic beverages:
- Tranquilizers, psychotropic and antipsychotics.
- "Clonidine" and drugs that dramatically lower blood pressure.
- Beta blockers.
- Anticoagulants.
- Insulin and drugs for diabetics.
- Antibiotics.
- Vitamins of group B, C and folic acid.
Pills and mineral water
Drink the tablets most correctly with warm boiled water. It is suitable for all types of drugs.
Sometimes doctors recommend taking a pill with warm alkaline mineral water. It is believed that almost all drugs in an alkaline environment are absorbed faster. The mineral water used to take medications should be gas free.
Erythromycin tablets (and the like) must be washed down with such water. In its absence, the drug is washed down with a solution of boiled water with drinking soda.
It is allowed to drink vitamins with milk, and some sedatives and antibiotics with acid juices. But only on the recommendation of a doctor!
Conclusion
In order for the medicines to benefit and contribute to a quick recovery, they must be taken correctly. When prescribing pills, the doctor paints a schedule and rules for taking pills. Do not neglect these tips. If you yourself have prescribed treatment (this, of course, is bad, but it happens), carefully read the leaflet with a description of the drug and follow its recommendations.
In extreme cases, drink the tablets only with water. Be healthy!