How can medicine work so quickly if the digestion process takes a long time?

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Bit of context, I didn’t sleep very well because of allergies. I went to take some allergy medicine but realized my stomach is still heavy from the meal I ate last night, so it may not be the relief I am searching for. To my surprise, the allergy medicine started kicking in rather quickly (I can breathe again).
Does oral medicine bypass food in your stomach? Or does it dissolve and is more dense than the stomach acid and sinks to your liver more quickly? How can allergy medicine/anti-inflammatories/anything work as advertised on full stomachs?

In: Biology

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

My two cents – you have membranes in your mouth called buccal ones (I believe buccal means cheek) – drugs can pass into the bloodstream this way

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