Basic Principles of Pharmacology

Question 1

Pharmacotherapeutics

Answer 1

The use of specific drugs to prevent, treat, or diagnose a disease

Question 2

Pharmacokinetics

Answer 2

how the body absorbs, distributes and eliminates the drug

Question 3

Pharmacodynamics

Answer 3

what the drug does to the body and what mechanisms it uses to do this effect

Question 4

Cryotherapy

Answer 4

Desired effect; decreased pain, edema and inflammation, muscle relaxation and decreased spasticity

Complementary drugs: anti-inflammatory steriords or analgesics (asprin and NSAIDs)

Antagonistic Drugs: peripheral vasodilators may make acute local edema worse

Other; some forms of cryo may produce vasoconstriction that temporarily impedes diffusion of drugs to the site of inflammation

Question 5

Superficial and Deep Heat

Answer 5

(hot packs, paraffin, infared, fluidotherapy. diathermy, ultrasound)

Desired effect: decreased muscle/joint pain and stiffness, muscle spasms and increased blood flow to improve tissue healing

Complimentary drugs: NSAIDs, opiod analgesics, local anesthetics, skeletal muscle relaxants, peripheral vasodialtors

NOTICE they are opposites

Antagonist Drugs: nonselective cholinergic agonists (stimulate muscle and we want them to relax, may stimulate neuromuscular junction) and systemic vasoconstrictors (decrease blood flow while heat works to increase blood flow)

Question 6

Systemic Heat

Answer 6

(large whirlpool or hubbard tank)

Desired effect: decreased muscle.joint stiffness in large areas of the body

Complimentary drugs: opioid and nonopioid analgesics (muscle relax and pain relief), skeletal muscle relaxants

Antagonist drugs: none

BUT hypertension may occur if patient in whirlpool is taking vasodilators and antihypertensive drugs

Question 7

Ultraviolet Radiation

Answer 7

Desire effect: increased wound healing, management of skin disorders (acne, rashes), decreased pain

Complimentary drugs: antibiotics and anti-inflammatory steroids (glucocorticoids)

Antagonistic drugs:
many drugs can cause hypersensitivity that results in skin rashes and itching

Question 8

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

Answer 8

desired effect: decreased pain

complimentary drugs:opiod and nonopiod analgescis, certain antisezuire drugs

antagonistic drugs: opiod antagonsitis (naloxone, naltrexone)

Question 9

Functional Neuromuscular Electrical Stimmulaiton

Answer 9

desire effect: increased skeletal muscular strength and endurance, decreased spasticity and muscle spasms

complimentary drugs: low-dose androgens and skeletal muscle relaxants

antagonistic drugs: skeletal muscle relaxants…nonselective cholingric agonists may stimulate nm junction

Question 10

Acetaminophen

Answer 10

Tylonol, Acephen, Feverall, Panadol

Non-inflammatory, headaches general pains

Question 11

Levodopa

Answer 11

Larodopa

Question 12

Phenobarbital

Answer 12

Lumibnal, Eskabarb

Question 13

Diazepam

Answer 13

Valium

Question 14

Aspirin

Answer 14

Bayer Aspirin, Bufferin, Ecotrin

Headache, general aches and pains. anti-inflammatory

Question 15

Ibuprofen

Answer 15

Advil, Genpril, Iprin, Ibu, Motrin IB

Headache, general pain from inflammation

Similar to Naproxen, some respond better to one than the other

Question 16

Naproxen

Answer 16

Aleve, Naprosyn

Headache, general pain from inflammation

Similar to Naproxen, some respond better to one than the other

Question 17

Generic Drugs vs Brand name

Question 18

Describe the phases of the drug screening process by the FDA

Answer 18

1. Preclinical Testing - initial animal lab tests for effects and safety
2. NID Application approval for human testing
   - phase 1; small number of healthy ppl (is it safe?)
   - phase 2; limited number of patients with target disorder (is it effective)
   - phase 3; large number of patients
3. NDA approved, and postmarking surveillance for any rare adverse effects

Question 19

What might speed up the drug approval process?

Answer 19

typically a 7-9 year process but can be sped up for critical diseases if it seems promising or if the condition does not have current medications

Question 20

Orphan Drugs

Answer 20

Drugs for relatively small populations (less than 200k) with rare diseases

research and development can be difficult with small pop. and can be expensive so sometimes funding is provided

Question 21

Off-labeling prescription

Answer 21

the use of a drug to treat conditions other than what it was originally approved to treat

insurance companies might not cover the medicine then

legal and common in US

Question 22

What is a risk with OTC meds, and what is a PTs role in adminstering them

Answer 22

can cause serious interactions with a patient prescription meds or can delay the use of more effective medications

PTs should not directly prescribe or administer PTC but can provide info about the use of them and potential benefits

Question 23

What was the controlled substance act?

Answer 23

1970, CSA, listed substances in 5 categories with 1 - highest potential for abuse and 5 - lowest abuse potential

Question 24

What is the main goals of drug therapy

Answer 24

To restore normal physiological function or to prevent a disease process from occurring

Question 25

Define potency vs Maximal Efficacy and how they would look on a dose-response curve

Answer 25

Potency - more potent drug requires a lower dose to produce the same effect (than another drug)

Maximal efficacy - the max response a drug can have (NOT related to potency)

Question 26

Threshold dose and Ceiling effect

Answer 26

Threshold - a certain dosage of a drug needed to see the response

Ceiling - taking anymore/higher dosage won’t increase response (think all receptors are filled so any more in circulation cant bind to create effect)

Question 27

What is Quantal Dose-Response Curves

Answer 27

Shows the percent of the population experiences a specific response (no headache) (on y axis) plotted against the dose (x axis)

Absolute response - presence or absence of something (yes or no)

Question 28

Median effective Dose (ED50)

Answer 28

The dose at which 50% of the population responds to the drug i a specific manner

Question 29

Median Toxic Dose (TD50)

Answer 29

The dose at which 50% of the population experiences an adverse affect

Question 30

Therapeutic Index

Answer 30

An indicator of drug saftey

TI = TD50 / ED50

The larger the number, the safer the drug (it takes a much larger dose to evoke a toxic response than it does to cause a beneficial effect