Medication taken with food

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ourhandsfull
ourhandsfull Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This is really tripping me up. I have to take a RLS medication right before bed that must be taken with food. What's a good light and healthy food that works for protecting the stomach from a medication? I can't keep eating crackers or bread, and anything too light that I have tried doesn't work to protect my stomach, so I end up sick. But the carbs right before bed keep triggering me to eat way too much. I stick to my diet easily all day long, then end up slipping up at bedtime. I know it sounds silly, but I've been trying and trying to figure this out and this one thing keeps slipping me up.

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  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
    edited July 2020
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    ourhandsfull wrote: »
    This is really tripping me up. I have to take a RLS medication right before bed that must be taken with food. What's a good light and healthy food that works for protecting the stomach from a medication? I can't keep eating crackers or bread, and anything too light that I have tried doesn't work to protect my stomach, so I end up sick. But the carbs right before bed keep triggering me to eat way too much. I stick to my diet easily all day long, then end up slipping up at bedtime. I know it sounds silly, but I've been trying and trying to figure this out and this one thing keeps slipping me up.

    What about saving some calories and include protein with the bread? Foods like deli meat are low calorie.

    If I have just crackers, I can easily overeat, but if I have less crackers but include protein and fat, I am satisfied for less calories. A common bed time snack for me is 6 crackers, 14 g peanut butter, 24 g cheese, and 30 g apple.

    Side note - have you had your iron levels* tested recently? I just learned there was a connection between RLS and low iron. I just found out I'm super low iron, and in the lead up to that, I noticed my legs were moving restlessly at night.

    *ferritin, hemoglobin AND crit
  • tequierosince06
    tequierosince06 Posts: 101 Member
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    What about greek yogurt? Or protein cereal. Tuna & crackers. Peanut butter sandwich with wheat bread & half a banana or a whole banana itself. Depends on how close to bedtime.
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 978 Member
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    What do you consider to be too light?

    I'd definitely save some calories for this and have a proper snack if you have to do this every night. Possibly too high in cals, but I like chopped apple and chopped cheddar cheese, together. The protein in the cheese works well against the carbs in the apple.

    Would a hard-boiled egg work? I don't know if you have them where you live, but dark chocolate coated rice cakes are reasonably low in cals but are a nice snack.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
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    ourhandsfull wrote: »
    This is really tripping me up. I have to take a RLS medication right before bed that must be taken with food. What's a good light and healthy food that works for protecting the stomach from a medication? I can't keep eating crackers or bread, and anything too light that I have tried doesn't work to protect my stomach, so I end up sick. But the carbs right before bed keep triggering me to eat way too much. I stick to my diet easily all day long, then end up slipping up at bedtime. I know it sounds silly, but I've been trying and trying to figure this out and this one thing keeps slipping me up.

    Still carbs, but maybe a potato. Potentially also helpful for the RLS (high magnesium).
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,677 Member
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    Milk or cheese or even a slice of cheese on bread, if you have the calories left at the end of the day.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    String cheese, which has each piece shrink wrapped, can survive quite well at room temp so you can even keep several days worth in the bathroom to eat before you take your drugs.
  • JackieFernandez87
    JackieFernandez87 Posts: 14 Member
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    How about a yogurt or applesauce or some oatmeal?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    ritzvin wrote: »
    ourhandsfull wrote: »
    This is really tripping me up. I have to take a RLS medication right before bed that must be taken with food. What's a good light and healthy food that works for protecting the stomach from a medication? I can't keep eating crackers or bread, and anything too light that I have tried doesn't work to protect my stomach, so I end up sick. But the carbs right before bed keep triggering me to eat way too much. I stick to my diet easily all day long, then end up slipping up at bedtime. I know it sounds silly, but I've been trying and trying to figure this out and this one thing keeps slipping me up.

    Still carbs, but maybe a potato. Potentially also helpful for the RLS (high magnesium).

    Ya, potatoes sure don't trigger me to overeat like foods made from flour.
  • Elphaba1313
    Elphaba1313 Posts: 191 Member
    edited July 2020
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    I take one of these too. I take mine with yoghurt - the amount depends on how many calories I have left, but I always save some especially for this.
  • ourhandsfull
    ourhandsfull Posts: 3 Member
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    hipari wrote: »
    What is required of the food for protecting the stomach? Just enough volume of anything?
    I don't know. I'm always surprised by how sick I get when it isn't enough. I've never had this issue with any other medication or supplement. I'll try to ask the pharmacist.

    Thank you to everyone who responded with suggestions! I appreciate every response, and I'll be trying out these ideas this week. Tonight will be yogurt. :)
  • 1BlueAurora
    1BlueAurora Posts: 439 Member
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    Maybe you could incorporate one of the recommended foods for RLS - Healthline.com has a list of foods that help. Get on the site and search "Restless leg syndrome diet.". Some of the foods suggested by other posters are on the list!
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
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    Overnight oats - made during the day lol - with kefir works for me when I'm on a med that messes with me. I have chronic stomach inflammation, and when it acts up, the only dairy I can tolerate is kefir. Go figure.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    For those types of medications that can mess with your stomach I find milk, cheese, yogurt, etc to be most beneficial...they kinda coat the stomach.

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