When should I take antibiotics?!
Question: When should I take antibiotics?
The label put on the box by the pharmacist says "Take ONE four times a day. Take this medicine at regularly spaced intervals and complete the prescribed course."
Does this mean like every six hours? I got in at 12.30am and took one then, then one at 6.30am, the next at 12.30pm, but my mother says that this isn't necessary - I just need to have four throughout the day. I disagree, since the label says regularly spaced, but she says I should take it at 10am, 2pm, 6pm and 8pm. When is it a good time to take it? I reeeally want this antibiotic to work, since it's the second I'm on because of resistance to the first... I never spoke to my Doctor about it, since she prescribed over the phone and now it's the weekend, so I can't ask her or the Chemists!
Answers:
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
Hi Harriett,
Izzy (And your mom) are completely correct! What matters most is that you take them 4 times a day, until the prescription is gone.
If you can't take them exactly every 4 hours, take the next one when you can. But it shouldn't be difficult to get 4 in every 4 hours during your awake time.
Take care!
* You take them as prescribed by your Doctor....If he/she said every four hours, then that's what it is, not every six. Every four, or as closely to it as you can.
You take them every 6 hours so they will stay in your system. In the hospital when we have an order like this we give the medicine at 12am, 6am, 12pm, 6pm. If you take them all in a 12 hour period then you will have a drop during the night and it can affect you getting better quickly. Take them every 6 hours as ordered at evenly spaced times.
I'm a nurse.
Just spread it evenly through your waking day. the exact time doesn't matter, the aim is to try and have a constant level in your body (sleep time excluded in the calculation.
In hospital we used to give the qids at 6am, 12 noon, 6pm, 10pm (lights out!), but not always on the precise minute.
As evenly as you can.