You've probably found yourself in this scenario before: It's the middle of the night and you suddenly wake up with a pounding headache. You get stuck trying to find some kind of pill that will beat the pain fast. In a hurry, you probably swallow the medicine without water and go straight to bed.
Apparently, the latter is potentially dangerous. Lucie Fink, has shared a video on TikTok showing that a friend of hers drank a waterless tranquilizer in the middle of the night, then went to bed and when he woke up, guess what? He still had the medicine in his throat. Afterwards, he had to be rushed to the hospital.
Reason? The pill had "burnt a hole" in his throat and stayed there all night.
So how (and why) does this happen?
According to pharmacist Matthew Britt, what happened to the person in question could happen to anyone. Taking oral medications with water is important to ensure that the medication passes through the stomach and small intestine and does not get stuck in the throat. This will allow the medicine to be properly absorbed into the body and produce the desired effect.
You should also avoid going to bed directly after taking a pill. That's because "some medications can cause irritation or damage" to the esophagus or intestine if you don't take them with a glass of water and stand, or sit, for at least 30 minutes after swallowing the medication.
What's more, taking pills the wrong way makes them less effective!
Source: Self
