Medicine and Drugs (B1.3) Flashcards
Developing new medicines.
New drugs have to be thorougly tested before they are sold as medicines. Drugs are tested to see if they work, to find out if they are toxic and to see if they cause side effects.
Placebos.
Placebos - do not contain a drug. Half the patients have the drug, the other half are given the placebo. This is to check that the drug being tested really does have an effect on the patient.
Double blind trail.
Neither the the doctor nor patient knows who is given the drug. People taking part and asked to report any side effects.
Thalidomide.
Thalidomide was developed as a sleeping pill, but doctors realised it could control morning sickness in pregnant women. Unfortunately it had not been tested for use in pregnancy. So some babies had birth defects.
How effective are medicines?
STALINS - are drugs which lower the amount of ‘bad’ cholesterol carried in the blood. they are given to older people and are taken daily. Trials using very large numbers of people have shown that the incidence of heart disease and strokes have gone down by over 40%.
Drugs.
Drugs are chemicals which alter the body’s chemistry. You can become addicted to some drugs.
Both legal and illegal drugs may harm your body.
chemicals in cannabis may cause mental health problems.
Heroin and cocaine are vey addictive, (recreational drugs)
Legal and illegal drugs.
Recreational drugs are both legal and illegal.
recreational drugs cause changes in the brain and nervous system. some are very harmful.
Does cannabis lead to hard drugs?
Cannabis is an illegal drug which must be brought from drug dealers they can put the user in contact with hard drugs such as heroin.
The chemicals in cannabis smoke may cause mental health issues in some people particular teenagers.
Drugs in sport.
Some athletes use drugs to make their preformance better.
Steroids are one type of performance enhancing drug. (considered unethical by most people)
Gives an unfair advantage.
Steroids - build up muscle mass.
