This Is When You Should Take Your Meds and The Worst Pain Anyone Can Experience

by Dr. David Efrig

Owls can’t rotate their heads 360 degrees…

But the early English believed that they could… and that an owl would turn its head all the way around to watch you until it strangled itself. Some cultures even believed that death would soon come for you if you were sick in bed and heard an owl screech. (And it turns out owls can only turn their heads 270 degrees.)

This folklore probably came from the fact that these creatures are nocturnal, and death was also associated with nighttime. And the term “night owl” likely started getting used to describe folks who preferred the twilight hours in the mid-1800s.

Today, scientists think genetics plays a big part in dictating if you’re a morning person or a night owl. This is called your chronotype – the times within a 24-hour cycle your body prefers to be asleep and awake.

It works with the 24-hour “clock” in your brain that conducts your sleep/wake cycle, or circadian rhythm.

Your body undergoes cyclical biochemical and hormonal changes throughout the day, creating varying environments for a med to act. So the time of the day you take your medication can affect how well the med might work, along with how well you might tolerate the med to minimize side effects.

Recently, research has shown that one widely taken drug might work best according to your chronotype…

Nearly half of all American adults have high blood pressure, or hypertension. Worse, a 2020 JAMA study showed that high-blood-pressure awareness, which had been on the rise for 15 years, was starting to decline. That’s not great news. After all, hypertension is called “the silent killer” for a reason – it can be taking place without producing any red-flag symptoms.

But for those who know they have hypertension, it’s estimated that roughly 76% take some kind of medication for it.

As for making sure your little pill does its job to the fullest, a recent study suggests that it could boil down to whether you’re a night owl or a morning lark.

Your blood pressure is naturally lower while you’re asleep and higher when you’re awake and alert… though maybe not if you’re battling hypertension and on the older side. Studies have found that some types of hypertension meds do a better job of reining things in if you take them at night. Examples include amlodipine and angiotensin-converting-enzyme (“ACE”) inhibitors.

But according to recent research, whether your hypertension meds work better if taken in the morning versus the evening can vary by your chronotype…

Published this month in the Lancet, a U.K. study followed 5,358 hypertensive folks – half took their medication in the evening and the other half in the morning.

Researchers used a questionnaire to determine which chronotype each patient had. They also looked at whether the participants became hospitalized for heart attack or stroke (both nonfatal).

The results showed that the larks who took their meds in the morning and the owls who took their meds at night had a lower chance of ending up in the hospital for a heart attack. Interestingly, the chronotype and medication type wasn’t associated with stroke hospitalization.

More research is needed for other medications and whether they work best by chronotype. But for now, let’s go over some other common medications and the optimal time in the day to take them…

  • Thyroid and osteoporosis drugs work best on an empty stomach. So they might be more suited to the mornings. Otherwise, make sure to take that pill at least an hour before eating, say, dinner, or two hours after that meal.
  • Diuretics (or “water pills”) help maintain a healthy blood pressure in folks with hypertension or heart failure by making you urinate. So you’ll want to avoid taking these too close to bedtime or else you might find yourself blearily getting up out of bed to use the toilet.
  • Steroid drugs like prednisolone are best in the morning. That’s because our “stress hormone” cortisol levels tend to be highest in the mornings. So popping your med with breakfast means you’ll be more in sync with your body’s natural levels.
  • Once-daily antihistamines for allergies might work better if you take it at night. These meds usually take almost half a day to reach peak levels in your bloodstream. That way, you’ll be armed when you wake up in the morning which is when symptoms tend to be the worst.

One last important note: these aren’t hard and fast rules. That is, they might not be applicable to all drugs. So make sure you check with your prescribing doctor and/or pharmacist if you’re thinking about changing up when you pop that pill or if you take multiple medications.

And whether it’s a “rise and shine” or a before-sleep nightcap, make sure you stay consistent.

Today, scientists think genetics plays a big part in dictating if you’re a morning person or a night owl. This is called your chronotype – the times within a 24-hour cycle your body prefers to be asleep and awake.

It works with the 24-hour “clock” in your brain that conducts your sleep/wake cycle, or circadian rhythm.

Your body undergoes cyclical biochemical and hormonal changes throughout the day, creating varying environments for a med to act. So the time of the day you take your medication can affect how well the med might work, along with how well you might tolerate the med to minimize side effects.

Recently, research has shown that one widely taken drug might work best according to your chronotype…

*****

The Worst Pain Anyone Can Experience

Decades ago, parents would host “chickenpox parties”…

Before scientists developed a chickenpox vaccine, this was a way to expose kids to the virus. A major reason was to “just get it over with” so the child wouldn’t get chickenpox as an adult. One of my researchers remembers that her entire kindergarten class was out with chickenpox (she’d already had the virus years before).

At the time, it seemed like a good idea. Today, we know better.

If you had chickenpox as a kid, that virus never left you… Some of it lies dormant in the nerves along your spinal column.

Later in life, that virus can wake up, triggering excruciating blisters and redness on one side of the body… an infection called shingles. Turns out, shingles afflicts 1 in 3 Americans at some point in their lifetime.

Typically, it presents in a band along the torso, but it can occur anywhere…

I saw a number of shingles patients in my ophthalmology practice. That’s because about 20% of shingles cases develop in the eye and can lead to blindness.

It’s known as one of the most painful illnesses anyone can experience…

Folks who have had it often say their skin felt like it was on fire.

And unfortunately, a third of us will experience it at some point. Each year, around 1 million Americans get shingles.

It’s not surprising that it’s a major concern for our Health & Wealth Bulletin readers… if our inbox is anything to go by. Last month, we answered a reader’s question on shingles and within days, our inbox was full of shingles and shingles-vaccine questions.

So today, I’m answering some of your questions to help you decide if the vaccine is right for you…

Q: I had a relatively mild case of shingles when I was in my 20s. Now I am 75. Should I get the vaccine? – L.R.

A: Unfortunately, shingles is a “gift” that keeps on giving…

People tend to think that if you’ve had shingles once, you can’t get it again. But it turns out the chance of recurrence is about 4.5% in patients younger than 50. But the risk increases to nearly 6% for folks 50 and older.

And your risk increases over time. The older you are, the more likely you are to develop shingles. Also, if you have a compromised immune system (for instance, if you have rheumatoid arthritis or other autoimmune diseases), you’re more at risk of getting shingles.

The downside is that people with weak immune systems are also more likely to react poorly to the vaccine. But most folks reported only mild side effects: redness, swelling, pain, and irritation at the site of injection. Otherwise, this vaccine appears to be quite safe, and it reduces the pain and occurrence of the disease by at least 50%.

We recommend talking to your doctor to determine if the vaccine is the right call for you.

Q: Is it true you must have two shots two or three months apart? Is it $210 per shot? – R.M.

A: Here in the U.S., the only available vaccine is the Shingrix vaccine. And you do need two shots to be fully protected (the second within two to six months of your first shot). And it’s not cheap.

For the years we’ve followed shingles vaccines, we’ve never seen the price below $200 per dose. Despite the fact that around 99% of people aged 50 and older carry the dormant version of the virus that causes shingles – and that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people aged 50 and older get the vaccine – the cost isn’t covered for everyone.

Many private insurance policies will cover all or a portion of the cost. But it’s not covered under Medicare Part B. If you have Medicare Part D, your shingles vaccine is free.

And even if you have to pay cash… relative to the pain and suffering this disease causes, it could be the best health care money you ever spend.

Q: I’m 72 and had the Shingrix vaccine (both shots) five years ago. (I had chicken pox when I was in my late 20s.) Is it still recommended to get the Shingrix vaccine renewed every five years? – B.M.

A: The full protection of the vaccine usually lasts about five to seven years. After that, the effectiveness wears off as you age. If you had your vaccine five or more years ago, talk to your doctor about whether or not you should get a second one.