medication

[Nina Lamanno-Auker]

I am going to start Relutek. I am trying to find a time that will work since they say every 12 hours and 1 hour before or 2 hour after eating. I get up at 5:30am most days so I was thinking that might work 5:30a & 5:30p.
How major is it to take the medication as close to the same time each day.
Anything else I should know

[BarryG]

Hi Nina;

You know, I struggled with the same decision when I started Rilutek last March. I had a pretty regular daily schedule of getting up around 6:30 am and going to bed at around 10:30 or 11:00 pm and I had trouble working the every "12 hours on an empty stomach" requirements of the pills into my day. Because I am one of those people who absolutely has to eat as soon as I wake up I figured out that the best times for me were 10:30 am and 10:30 pm. That time was far enough after breakfast and supper as well as being long enough before lunch to work well. That worked for a while until I started to have more trouble swallowing and found that I was always hungry and always eating. The result was that I never had an empty stomach for the pills. When I asked my doctor about it and how important it was to take the pills at the same time each day on an empty stomach he said that it was more important to not lose weight than it was to keep to a rigid schedule.

I don't know if you have trouble swallowing pills but I found that my taste buds really suffered from the Rilutek when I tried to swallow them with water. I would put the pill on my tongue and then wash it down. Bad news, you don't want to have that thing in your mouth for any longer than it takes to get it down. I now take mine with yogurt or apple sauce, anything to help it go down fast and keep it off my tongue.

I'm sure that like most drugs this one does work better when the instructions are followed but at least for me it was either modify them or stop taking it. Good luck and I hope my story has helped.

[Jennifer51]

when I started taking it (in the uk) the advice leaflet does not say about taking it on an empty stomach. So I was taking it with meals. I learnt from this forum about the empty stomach and checked on the website, which does say empty stomach, so I told the pharacist, who looked in his..bible...and in the uk it does not say about an empty stomach either. However I want the best benefit from the drug so now take it on an empty stomach..I find 9.30 works quite well. I too cannot take any pills with water now (Ihave bulbar) so use mashed potato or similar to take any pills.

[Al]

I try to take it as directed but quite often at night the wife makes a hot muffin or something and I end up eating right before or after taking it. It's been 5 years and it hasn't killed me yet. Lol. I'd try to keep a schedule but not worry if you eat.

AL.

[brendapals]

I've been on Rilutek since 7/1/08, supposed to take it two times a day.

Well, most days I take it at 630am and 930 pm. then there are the days that I completely forget to take the 930pm dose. I'm with Al-hasn't killed me, even though I haven't been on it as long, but I haven't worried about a whole lot either.
-b