I was told wen taking tablets twice daily,u should give it at least 8 hours in between?why?

Question

would it make a difference if i take it 7 and a half hours later instead of 8?

Answer 1

7 1/2 hours wouldn't matter, but they want the first tablet's contents out of your blood before you take the second.  This has the maximum length effect while preventing potential overdosing.

Answer 2

The short answer is no, 7 1/2 hours would probably not be significantly different from 8 hours.

The longer explanation of this is; when you ingest a drug and it is absorbed into your body it disperses throughout your tissues at some maximum concentration initially which drops off over time. The reasons for this drop can include your body processing the drug (like alcohol in your kidneys), excreting the drug (like vitamins through urination) or sequestering the drug (like THC into your body fat).

The effectiveness of a particular drug is highest when it is at the maximum concentration in your tissues, so by taking a drug spread out over time you are maximizing the amount of time in a day when your body has high levels of the drug.

Taking a drug twice a day at an 8 hour interval will give one 16 hour interval where the drug concentration falls very low. A 12 hour interval would give the maximum average concentration of the drug in the body over the course of a day.

There are some other factors to consider:

The specific number of hours they recommend is only an approximation since no two people will have identical rates of drug removal from their system.

Also, the time frame may be chosen based on a convenience factor, i.e. a drug that is supposed to be taken with a meal (for best absorption in the body) might be assigned an 8 hour dosage schedule since breakfast and dinner are normally about 8 hours apart. That way the doctor isn't trying to get you to totally change your eating habits just to take these pills.

EDIT:

One of the answers reminded me of a point I didn't mention; having TOO high of a drug concentration can be bad for you, so you wouldn't want to take both pills at once. Plus, your body would spend most of the day at a very low level after those two left your system, which wouldn't be good either.

Answer 3

It depends on the medication.  Please check with your pharmacist for correct answers to questions like this.