When doctor prescribe you with medications?

Question

Well first I want to say that this may sound like a retarded question but Im not 100% sure on it .... because I've never really taken medications for any reason

but recently i had a minor surgery and they gave me a few medications...

and on the bottle it says "take every 6 hours"

do i LITERALLY take it every 6 hours? meaning i take it while im asleep too (set an alarm clock and wake up and take it or only in the daytime while im awake)

someone told me to only take it in the day time and sleep at night and dont wake up take it

so would i take it at 6am, then 12pm, then 6pm,, then 12am?

Answer 1

If it is for pain take it as you need it.  If it is an anti-inflammatory or an antibiotic it can wait till morning.  The bottle is a suggestion if you miss the time by an hour or all together just take it as soon as you remember and don't worry.  Never double up because you miss a dose.  It is a guideline to keep you from over dosing.

Answer 2

Yes, it means four doses in a 24 hour period, as close to six hours apart as is practical. Six and twelve would be a reasonable structure.

Answer 3

Actually, great question.  The distinction is not that intuitively obvious and there can be definite confusion between "take four times a day" and "take every six hours."

As the PP said, it depends on the medication.  If it is pain medication, and you can sleep through the night without it, there is no harm whatever in taking it as soon as you get up even if that means that you are waiting more than six hours between doses.

Generally speaking, if you are not in the hospital, we don't expect you to wake up during the night just to take your medication.  So usually, for anything they send you home with, the understanding is that you will not be taking it at night.  (For people who may need to maintain a higher level of medication at night, like diabetics or people with epilepsy, the usual solution is to take a higher dose at bedtime, not to wake up just to take another dose.)  So I'm pretty sure they don't mean for you to take it around the clock, but if you're in any doubt, give your doctor or surgeon a call and ask.

Hope you're feeling better!