I've seen a few people post that taking their meds with food helps them to kick in. In my experience when I take them with food it decreases their effectiveness. Just curious what others have to say!

Thanks!

Lupus
your poll doesn't give the option for "more effective without food".

kelbel,

I thought that was what "less effective with food" meant.

No?

They are more effective with food that has a high fat content.Doesn't have to be alot of fat to potentiate the effects, just some.jmo

A couple of those categories should be voted on simultaneously. Effectiveness with/without food, and nausea with/without food.

Either way, the nausea is usually always caused by lack of food. All narcotics irritate the GI tract and thus you NEED something to go with that painkiller.

But I guess yea, if you take it with excessive food it would decrease absorption rate.

So then probably the best combination is something light with your meds, like a banana and a soda, to minimize irritation.

Unless it's injected in which case usually just the first time you'll experience that deap-seated nausea, but it usually dissipates.

On thing that makes me have to take as many as I do
(I don’t take much but could be lees if)
I take my pain meds with in ½ hour or less I feel like I have not eaten in weeks!
Even if I have just ate a big meal. I try not to eat as I know I don’t need to but can’t help it I will eat 2 big Macs then that makes the meds stop helping the pain so take more again
Eat another 2 big Macs or more. I hate that I don’t get that high feeling anymore I hate feeling like that so that good. So it not like I am getting high and needing to eat like weed or something. And the more I eat the more weight I lose I am now only 80bls don’t get that one! You look at me and think I never eat. It feels like a losing battle. I hate that.
But no mater how much or little I eat it stops the meds from working on my pain.
I try to eat a big meal about ½ before taking them sometime that help me from getting so
Hungry but not often. I would have to say taking with food is less helpfull

Here's what I have found...let me know what you think. Take your meds on an empty stomach and then eat within 10-20 minutes. The food will "push" things through and increase the onset of pain releif. This technique offers the quickest way to get the meds in the bloodstream, but it may cause them to not work as long. Once I started this, it has become my routine, and it can be utilized anytime you need something to absorb quickly...taking meds on a full stomach can cause the med to "get lost in the shuffle".

Try what I suggest and you will be happy .

LS_74

For me, my meds are more effective on an empty stomach. I didn't see that option on the poll??? More effective with food or less effective without food??? Maybe I'm reading it wrong, it's 4:00 am and I'm on day 3...no sleep. Nothing makes sense to me anymore!

You are absolutly right landshark. That works for me everytime. I'm glad you posted that!

My most effective dose is my first morning dose. I try to take it about 10-15 minutes before actually getting out of bed but my bladder has a mind of it's own. I either usually wake up because I have to "go potty" so bad that my bladder hurts, or because my back is hurting so bad that all I can do is fantasize about sleeping.

Either way, I usually have to actually get out of bed and take my first dose while I am in the bathroom. Thankfully it kicks in pretty fast on an empty stomach and I will hobble my way out to the couch until it does actually "kick in."

I will sit there with the heating pad against my back and after I start to loosen up a little, I'll usually go toast a couple of eggo nutri-grain waffles which I eat plain about 20-60 minutes after I take my meds. It's just become a habit to put those dry waffles in my stomach to avoid nausea and because they are light, they don't usually effect my meds.

But as the day wears on, any subsequent doses usually seem about 1/2 as effective at giving relief as that first morning dose is. I tend to think that this is not necessarily due to food intake, but has more to do with the fact that once you get up and start moving around and everything, your body starts creating it's own endorphins which will lessen the effect of the medications as well...but I am not a doctor. (I'd love to hear from chemsynth on this particular issue, though.)

Also, I will take a couple of low dose aspirin with a caffeine tablet to combat the onset of a headache which I almost always get, but those are sinus related and mornings are my worst times with my sinuses as well.

I mention this only because I know that most people drink some form of caffeine in the morning...coffee, tea, whatever whereas I do not. Just the smell of coffee brewing gives me an upset tummy and can bring on some wicked heart-burn. I don't know why, but I have always had that problem. It doesn't help that my husband likes his coffee strong enough to strip paint off the walls.

I have heard that caffeine can effect the meds one way or the other too. I don't know much about that one though.

It all depends upon the med, some are delayed by food while others will just sit there unless you eat something first and get the gastric juices flowing. This is the "simple" answer without going into various absorptions of different classes of meds etc. But overall the answer for YOU should be pretty easy to figure out. One day eat first and the next day take it on an empty stomach and see what happens....It will not take long to figure out how to take YOUR medication. Hope this helps.

That is so wierd, I am the same way, morning dose is the strongest, but the as the day goes by, they get weaker. My last dose feels like I didn't take hardly anything. Thats why I don't eat all day until right before I go to bed. Anybody else feel like their meds get weaker like that?

I voted for 'less effective with food' only because that's the closest answer to what I believe you're referring to. Taken on an empty stomach, the active ingredient is absorbed faster, creating a higher probability of experiencing the euphoria, that many associate with relief.
With or without food, the pain killers are still absorbed into the bloodstream, unless you're gorging yourself or purging, and ultimately provide equal pain relief. On an empty stomach, the relief is faster and more intense, it also doesn't last as long. You just have to weigh your options and decide if you want them to "kick in" in 30min or last for 5-6 hrs.

I'm not insinuating that you're only taking them for the buzz, just offering my personal opinion and experience, so please don't take offense.

Piller thanks for posting that. I dont eat anything because I want the relief fast, but after reading your post it seems that if I eat with them they will last longer? Is this really true? If so I will change my ways. They last, with me anyways, 2-3 hours tops, and I get so mad. I will try this. Thanks, I didnt know.

I sometimes wish that I was more familiar with this "euphoria" that people seem to experience. I don't know if I have just been dealt a raw deal in this department or if I just have a really stubborn body chemistry.

The only difference I notice is how soon I can start moving around a bit easier. Maybe I don't ever feel "euphoric" because my actual pain relief at best is usually pretty minimal. Maybe it's that I've been on and off these types of meds for 14 years, although I don't ever really remember feeling exceptionally good with any of the variety of meds I've taken.

If feeling flushed and un-naturally tired are considered "euphoria" then I am definitely missing it since that's been about the extent of my own experience. Usually now though, I am just left with minimal pain felief and an overwhelming feeling of being tired and "run-down" as Khilee has described before.

Then again, my sister (who used to smoke pot like it were cigarettes) once talked me into trying it and I never felt so out-of-control sh1tty in my whole life. My hearing was muted, I got a migraine headache, I felt paranoid and everything seemed to be in super slow motion. I was watching the clock waiting for the c r a p to wear off and I swear that was the longest night of my life. I went to the bathroom and I remember feeling like it took me a half an hour to get my jeans back up. Nothing good about it whatsoever. I never understood why anyone would enjoy that, but then again different things react differently in different people.

May just be me.

That's how it works for me. Someone mentioned eating 10-20min after you take your meds, on an empty stomach, and that's what I actually do. Lots of factors play a role in how you react to medication-weight, gender, brain chemistry, amount of water you drink, level of exercise, etc.. Try taking them with food and see if they do last longer? Oxy doesn't last as long as Hydro, IMO. So your pain med, itself may be the reason you only feel 2-3hrs of relief. Also, the first dose of the day being the best comment, has to do with your brains neurotransmitters being replenished from sleep, a longer amount of time between the dose before bed and the one when you get up, and some more of the residual meds not being locked into the receptor sites. More receptors available=more relief. Keep in mind this is all pseudo-science junk, that I've pieced together from years of experience, reading, speculating and studying chemistry and biology, but never having the patience to finish either course of study.

I'd like chemsynth to jump in and let me know how much of what I'm saying has any real science behind it?

Consider yourself lucky. Euphoria often leads to abuse and "chasing the high". I wish my pain meds gave me no euphoric feeling, when I began taking them. Now my tolerance is so high or I've burned up all the pleasure receptors, that all I get is a mild "fuzzy" feeling, in the morning then I just feel normal the rest of the day, with less pain.

I just read on one of those pharmacy hand out sheets for hydro that it works better on a empty stomach if you can tolerate. It's so strange that this topic came up and I happened to see that. I've always taken on empty stomach because it works better for me. I'm not a "newbie" anymore!!!!! YEA!!!!

Trix

I believe you're absolutely right. Your body, or God, or whoever is protecting you from getting addicted. Alcohol and cigarettes make me vomit and MJ makes me paranoid-Those are my bodies way of telling me "STAY AWAY!". I wonder if-more like when, they'll discover the gene that prevents addiction?

I think about that a lot Pillar...why are some people so easily pre-disposed to addiction and others aren't at all.

You are very insightful! (I really admire and respect that.)

I was always the naggy anti-drug pain in the a$$ friend in high school. I don't think it was a "holier-than-thou" thing, or a "save the world" complex...I think I just genuinely worried about everyone. Not to mention that my strong Leo personality can't help but make me look down my nose at certain things as a gross lack of self control and a sign of weakness. Even though I know that's not the case and I try hard to remember that, it's always a battle to fight that streak of insensitivity (or better than that...complete lack of understanding.)

Khili, I do the same thing. I hardly eat all day, and like Angto, I have the best results from pain with my morning dose. Actually, I could not get out of bed and function without taking the meds and then I lay back down for at least an hour and let them kick in.

I feel that by night time dose, it does not feel as if it cuts the pain near as much as the morning dose. How strange. I thought it was just me!!!!

Bottom line: I take my pain meds on an empty stomach 99% of the time.

JMO

I agree also that taking the medicine followed by food 15 minutes later helps keep the onset fast whilst also helping counter any nausea.

Thanks Wildlavender, for replying. I thought it was just me. The only thing I eat all day is a cookie or cracker when I take my meds, just to have something in my stomach to help with side effects. BTW, love your username.

Thanks khilee~~~ I love lavender, and I tend to be wild sometimes, so, I married the two names, and then became "Wildlavender". I am single though....

I use a lot of "essential oils" from the herbal and health stores.

Have a great day!

without food for fastest effect.

hydro and two pots of coffee for me ,forget breakfast ill grab a honey bun around noon to go with the coffeeha!ha!
hydro just makes me crave coffee like crazy!!!
then eat a good meal at night plus a bar and im done.ben

Hydro increases my cigarette consumption. That aside, I take Hydro on an empty stomach and add food approx 15-30 minutes later.

Actually, food itself cranks up those receptors and is a bit of a pain reliever in itself, so taking hydro followed by food would indeed increase the effectiveness. Not eating at all will increase pain.

Good point. Plus severe pain kills the appetite, so sometimes one can only manage food when pain relief is on the way.