Best Time Of The Day To Take Deworming Drugs

Parasite worm

Deworming drugs are drugs that kill parasitic worms in or on the body. There is a general advice that these drugs should be given at night. Others say it should be taken with food. There is no base for that as I am yet to see a reason.

Deworming Drugs

There are many types of deworming drugs. Their mechanism of action vary. This is because they have different types of worms.

For intestinal worms, the deworming drug needed should be the one that stay on the intestinal tract. To target intestinal parasites, deworming drugs is taken on an empty stomach to stay within the gut.

Using some deworming drugs with food will increase their absorption rate. When they are absorbed, little of the drug will be available for intestinal worms.

What Is A Parasitic Worm

Parasite worm are simple organisms that plague another organism for survival. Economic parasite worm are those that live in or on their host. The host include humans, animals and plants. They feed on the host energy and food supply without contributing anything. This is because they do not generate their own food or energy for survival.
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Parasite worm that infect humans can live anywhere in the body that is favourable. This include the hair, under the skin, nails, and the intestine. There are different treatment for each groups. The one that live in the intestine can be treated with oral drugs.
Intestinal parasite worm all have similar characteristics.

They infect humans after ingestion of their eggs or larva. They go straight to the intestine where they inhabit, feeding on digested food in the intestine. They all have different mechanisms of attachment to the walls of the intestine. The females lay eggs in the intestine or better still, travel to the anus to lay the egg. They lay their eggs during the night between 3-4 a.m. That is when clinical symptoms develop. This is why they are consider to be active only at night. During defecation, the eggs are passed away for another circle of infection.

Drugs Use In Treating Intestinal Worm Infection

There are many drugs for treating intestinal worms. Some drugs are better for some worm than others. However, majority of these drugs have broad spectrum of activity. This means that one drug can handle many worm infection although at various levels.
Mebendazole is one of the first choice of drug for treating intestinal worm infection. A single dose of 500mg is all it take to destroy intestinal worm. It is not active against the egg or larva form. A second single dose can be taken after two weeks. This is to clear the body of new worms that develop from the eggs or larva. It is active with or without food. It can be taken anytime of the day. There are some worm infection that requires a twice daily dosing for three days. The interval can be 10-12 hours without consideration for meal.
Albendazole is another important drug for treating parasitic worm infection. Is is poorly absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract due to low solubilities in water. To increase absorption rate, it is given with food. This stimulate the release of stomach acid which will in turn lower stomach pH. A lower pH increase the solubility of albendazole. Because albendazole dissolve better in lipids, fatty foods allow it to cross the lipid barrier created by the mucus surface of the gastrointestinal tract.
To treat intestinal worm infection, albendazole is better given on empty stomach. This reduce the absorption and increase the quantity of the drug that will get to the parasite in the intestine. A single dose of 400mg is all it takes to destroy parasite worm in the body. It can be taken anytime of the day also.
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Best Time Of The Day To Deworm

There are other deworming drugs. There is none that encourages the use of these drugs best at night. They only specifies if it can be taken with or without food. Theoretically, it is not a good idea to give worm expellers at night. This is because the parasite may have move farther away from the intestine to the anus. At this area, it will be difficult for the drugs to reach it as majority of it must have been absorbed. The few that get there may not be able to destroy the parasitic worm.
So when next you buy a worm drug, take it at your convenience. Not with food and at night.
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