Diltiazem is among the many drugs used to treat angina, hypertension and arrhythmia or irregular heart beat.

It belongs to a class of drugs called benzothiapines. These are calcium blockers that are also sometimes prescribed for migraine as well.

Eases Coronary Burden

Diltiazem, which was approved by the US Food and Drugs Administration in 1982, is a very strong vasodilator, which means it dilates the coronary blood vessels, increases blood flow and decreases resistance. This reduces the pressure on the heart.

It is also a potent vasodilator of the peripheral blood vessel. It decreases resistance in the veins and arteries and therefore reduces hypertension or high blood pressure.

Diltiazem is a calcium channel blocker. This means it blocks calcium from entering the cells of the muscles in the heart as well as those that surround the arteries. This is why it is called a vasodilator of the coronary vessels as well as the peripheral vessels.

Calcium Channel Blocker

What effect does Diltiazem have as a calcium blocker? When calcium enters the heart muscle, it causes the heart to contract, forcing it to pump more blood. One of the effects of this increased pumping is that the arteries narrow and worsen hypertension.

By blocking calcium, the force of contraction as well as the heart rate decreases. It relaxes the muscles around the arteries, which then dilate.

Angina is another name for heart pain. This is caused by decreased oxygen supply to the heart muscle. Also, the harder and faster the heart pumps blood, the greater the oxygen supply needed.

Since Diltiazem makes the heart pump slowly, it decreases the amount of oxygen needed for the heart to keep running. This is how the drug treats angina.

There are different classes of calcium channel blockers depending on the selectivity of action. Benzothiazepine calcium channel blockers are an intermediate class of calcium channel blockers.

History of Coronary Problems

Since Diltiazem slows the heart muscle, it is contraindicated for individuals with a condition known as cardiomyopathy. Some calcium channel blockers also slow the conduction of electrical activity within the heart.

Diltiazem is usually taken orally and tablets may be taken with or without meals. When used against angina, this medication is used as a preventive drug and not when pain occurs.

Also, though taken to treat several heart conditions, Diltiazem may worsen or complicate some of them. Hence you need to tell your doctor if you have a history of any type of cardiac problem.

All about Diltiazem is a post from: Prescription Drugs

It’s a drug that’s run into a lot of trouble. A narcotic pain reliever recommended for mild pain, Darvocet ran into trouble with the United States Food and Drugs Administration in the first six months of 2009.

FDA Warning

It has two active ingredients – acetaminophen and propoxyphene. Acetaminophen basically brings down fever while propoxyphene is a narcotic pain reliever. Also, acetaminophen enhances the effects of propoxyphene.

Propoxyphene has been used in pain-relieving medications for more than 50 years. But new concerns and pressure from the public had led the FDA to recommend that Darvocet be taken off the market.

The FDA admitted that Darvocet may raise the risk of suicide and accidental deaths. It said the benefits of Darvocet outweighed the risks. Besides, it was pointed out that Darvocet was not more effective than other pain relievers to justify it staying on the market.

Interestingly, Darvocet and other medications including propoxyphene were withdrawn from the United Kingdom in 2005 after a phased withdrawal.

Double Trouble

Opposition was simultaneously brewing from another quarter – to the other ingredient in Darvocet. According to the advisory committee of the FDA, acetaminophen may increase liver toxicity, liver failure and even death.

If acetaminophen were to be banned, so would scores of everyday pills that millions of Americans pop every day. That is because acetaminophen is the generic name for some of the most popular pain relieving drugs available in the market.

These are both over-the-counter medications as well as prescription drugs for pain and the common cold.

The red flag went up when emergency personnel observed that around 55,000 cases suffering from an overdose of drugs like Darvocet ended up in hospital emergency rooms across the country.

Some of these may not be deliberate cases but individuals who did not realize that merely popping a few extra pills could result in potentially life threatening circumstances.

Change in Labelling

In July 2009, the FDA finally decided not to ban the drug. Instead, it directed the manufacturers to include a boxed warning on the packaging and include a medication manual highlighting potential risks.

So Darvocet managed to get off with a slap on the wrist but there is another problem with this drug. It could cause addiction because it is a mild opiate.

All about Darvocet is a post from: Prescription Drugs

It’s a drug that has received some unwanted notoriety. Demerol, a moderate to strong pain reliever, is said to have killed pop icon Michael Jackson in June.

Unwanted Publicity

That’s because the aide who injected him didn’t know that Jackson had also been administered a surgical analgesic earlier that day.

Demerol is a popular pain relieving medication that has meperidine hydrochloride has its active ingredient. It is available as an indictable as well as an oral solution and tablet.

The major drawbacks of the meperidine in Demerol, which is a narcotic analgesic, are respiratory and circulatory depression. It could also result in complete chest failure and cardiac arrest.

Another potential problem with Demerol is that patients tend to develop tolerance to the drug. Being a weak narcotic drug, there is also potential for addiction and abuse.

Potential for Abuse

Abuse implies deliberate misuse while dependence implies that the body needs increasingly large amounts of the drug for it to be effective.

Demerol is usually injected. It is more effective as a preventive measure for pain rather than treating it as a symptom. Hence, Demerol is usually given regularly at short intervals.

Demerol is a good pain reliever but like all drugs, it needs to be prescribed for the right kind of pain. Pain encompasses a broad spectrum of symptoms. It is also caused by different conditions.

External causes include trauma or injury, sprains or fractures. Internal causes include diseases such as cardiac angina, osteoarthritis or the presence of infection that leads to inflammation and pain.

Pain Management

Pain can be acute, that is, short, sharp, immediate and intense. Or it could be chronic or long-lasting. Pain accompanies many medical conditions and often needs to be managed with a multidisciplinary approach.

Demerol is one of the many drugs that are used to relieve pain and it is similar to morphine. Of course, Demerol is very mild unlike morphine, which is an extremely potent opiate drug administered for extreme pain.

Since it also results in an altered state of consciousness, morphine is also called a psychoactive drug, whose active ingredient is papaver somniferum from the poppy or opium plant.

Hence, though Demerol and morphine are both opiods, they are used for entirely different purposes though they are both used in the treatment of pain.

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Depakote is prescribed mainly for psychiatric conditions and to treat seizures of different kinds.

Manic Phase

It has an active ingredient called valproic acid or its derivative divalproex, which can also be effective in the treatment of the manic phase of bipolar disorder.

Research is yet to understand just how Depakote works though it is believed to act on a neurotransmitter called Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) in the brain.

Let’s take a look at the conditions most benefited by Depakote. One of these is bipolar disorder. This is a mental disorder and is also called manic-depressive disorder.

Most serious psychiatric disorders usually have a biochemical basis. That means they usually relate to an imbalance in chemicals, usually neurotransmitters, in the brain and nervous system.

In bipolar disorder, an individual exhibits two completely opposite and extreme types of behavior – manic and depressive.

The manic phase is characterized by extreme hyperactivity, talking non-stop and extreme agitation. The depressive phase is just that – depressive.

In some individuals, there are periods of normal moods in between, while in others, both phases are cyclic, one immediately followed by the next. Bipolar disorder is a psychotic condition and is usually characterized by hallucinations and delusions.

Mood Stabilizer

Pharmacological treatment of bipolar disorder is the prescription f a mood stabilizing drug. The most widely prescribed of these are lithium carbonate and lamotrigine.

Lamotrigine is a preventive against the depressive phase of bipolar disorder while lithium appears to ease suicidal thoughts and impulses. Both drugs used in combination with each other have also been found to prevent the manic phase of bipolar disorder.

Another drug, almost as commonly prescribed as lithium is sodium valproate as a mood stabilizer, which is in fact an anticonvulsant just as is lamotrigine.

As An Anticonvulsant

Depakote sis prescribed as an anticonvulsant for individuals who experience epileptic seizures. An anticonvulsant essentially inhibits the excessive and rapid firing of nerve impulses in the brain.

Depakote basically works on the GABA neurotransmitter and is also sometimes prescribed for the treatment of dysfunctional anxiety.

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It’s not the pill but it is believed to be a very reliable form of contraceptive. Called Depo-Provera, this is an injectible contraceptive that is a form of progesterone.

Types of Contraceptives

Contraceptives are of various types and women have been using them for ages. There are mechanical contraceptives, injectibles like Depo-Provera, oral contraceptives. All of them interrupt or inhibit or alter certain functions of the female reproductive system.

The combined oral contraceptive pill or simple The Pill is a tablet that contains both estrogen and progesterone. Depo-Provera, on the other hand, is a high-dose progestogen-only contraceptive.

What it does is it inhibits follicular development and prevents ovulation. This is mainly how it works. The progestogen in the injectible decreases the pulse frequency of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) release by the hypothalamus.

This in turn decreases the release of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) by the anterior pituitary. Lowered levels of FSH inhibit follicular development, preventing an increase in estradiol levels.

A by-product of the process is that Depo-Provera changes the composition of the cervical mucous, making it difficult for the sperm top penetrate it. In the event that an egg is fertilized, it finds it almost impossible to attach itself to the uterine wall.

How to Take Depo-Provera

Depo-Provera is long-acting, which means it does not have to be taken just before the desired action. It needs to be injected once every 11 weeks and is effective 24 hours after the first injection if administered in the first 5 days of the menstrual cycle.

Depo-Provera is believed to be extremely reliable, with a less than 1% chance of an accidental pregnancy. But this is so only if the woman takes every single one of the injections.

What Are The Side Effects?

Too good to be true? There are, however, several possible side-effects associated with Depo-Provera. Women planning to use this contraceptive should know what these are because once you start a course of injections; you will have to wait a full three months for the effects to wear off.

The usual menstrual problems associated with every drug that affects the female reproductive system are also associated with Depo-Provera. That includes bleeding, spotting and amenorrhea.

In fact, regular use of Depo-Provera over time stops menstruation altogether while still on the drug though. This effect is reversible though it takes a few months.

This is one symptom a lot of women worry about: weight changes. Weight loss due to a decrease in appetite may take place. But usually, women on Depo-Provera put on weight, as much as 3 pounds in the first 12 months while they are taking the injections.

All about Depo-Provera is a post from: Prescription Drugs

Detrol is used to treat urinary incontinence, overactive bladder and sometimes multiple sclerosis.

Uncontrollable Urge

What is an overactive bladder? Does it mean an urge to urinate that’s more frequent than normal?

An overactive bladder is experienced as a sudden and uncontrollable urge to pass urine. Hence, it’s not about frequency of urination but about having an uncontrollable urge. But this is a treatable disorder and benefits from drugs such as Detrol.

Detrol, whose active ingredient is tolterodine, relaxes the muscles in the walls of the bladder and prevent the sudden contractions experienced in overactive bladder syndrome.

A sudden uncontrollable urge to urinate is experienced when the detrusor muscle in the wall of the bladder contracts suddenly. The urge to urinate is quite unstoppable and immediate. An overactive bladder is sometimes called urge incontinence.

It is a condition experienced by older people and affects one-tenth of the American population.

Diagnosing the Condition

How do you know if you have an overactive bladder? The first sign of an overactive bladder is frequent urination. Another sign if an inability to wait till you get to the toilet and therefore soiling one’s clothes.

As if not distressing enough medically, this condition can be very distressing socially and psychologically. It can therefore be very debilitating. Many patients don’t seek medical help as they are embarrassed.

Others become homebound for fear of embarrassing themselves in public. Still others form mental maps of public toilets so that they can reach one at short notice whenever they do go out of the house.

What causes this condition? One cause could be blockages such as stones in the bladder. The condition is cured once the stones are removed. The condition is also a side-effect of certain medications and it subsides once the medication is stopped.

Overactive Bladder: Causes

 Another cause is damage to the pelvic area due to surgery. Many men experience overactive bladder syndrome after prostrate surgery. Others develop this condition due to neurological complications. This happens when there is a neurological disconnect between the bladder and the brain.

Treatment for an overactive bladder varies from person to person and includes pelvic muscle rehabilitation, biofeedback, pelvic-floor electrical stimulation, behavioral therapy, bladder training and drug treatment.

Detrol is one of the drugs that can effectively treat this condition. It relaxes the bladder muscle so that it cannot contract suddenly and involuntarily. Detrol takes around two weeks to take effect.

All about Detrol is a post from: Prescription Drugs

It’s a popular drug because the health issues it addresses are common. Diazepam is in fact so commonly used that it is almost part of the vocabulary of some people, especially those who suffer from insomnia and anxiety.

Highly Addicting

Unfortunately, Diazepam and the other benzodiazepines are also among the most abused drugs because of the pleasurable and psychoactive effects they produce.

All benzodiazepines are prescription drugs, which mean you need a doctor’s prescription to buy them. But addicts have found several ways to get around this hurdle, especially by ordering sleeping tablets online.

Scores of people die of an overdose of sleeping pills and just as much land up in hospital emergency rooms every day.

When is Diazepam Prescribed?

So what are the conditions Diazepam treats? Benzodiazepines like Diazepam act as sedatives, sleep-inducing drugs, anxiolytics, anticonvulsants and muscle relaxants. They are therefore prescribed for insomnia, agitation, seizures, muscle spasms, anxiety and alcohol withdrawal.

Diazepam is available mainly in tablet form though the benzodiazepine class of drugs varies in the way they affect the brain and nervous system. Some are short-acting while others are intermediate or long-acting.

The former are useful in the treatment of sleeplessness while the latter are taken to treat anxiety and agitation.

What exactly does Diazepam do? Benzodiazepines are stimulants as they increase the effect of a neurotransmitter called Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid or GABAA at the site of the GABAA receptors.

Stimulant or Depressant?

Since GABAA has a depressant effect on the central nervous system, Diazepam is often mistaken to be a depressant. But this depressant effect is very useful in the treatment of various conditions.

Take alcohol detoxification, for instance. Withdrawal symptoms are painful and extreme but drugs that contain chlordiazepoxide help ease this painful experience.

Chlordiazepoxide was, in fact, one of the first benzodiazepines to be discovered and is routinely used to aid in detox. Diazepam may also be used for the same purpose.

Diazepam is often prescribed for people suffering from acute anxiety and panic disorder. This is because it has an immediate calming effect on the nervous system.

Panic is characterized by shortness of breath, sweating, palpitations and needs a drug that acts immediately to depress these symptoms.

But there is a range of psychoactive drugs available to treat panic and anxiety including benzodiazepines, SSRIs, SNRIs and TCAs. The choice of drug will depend on an individual’s biochemistry as well as symptoms.

Doctors prefer to prescribe selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs but benzodiazepines are also used. The major advantage the latter have over SSRIs is that they alleviate anxiety much faster than antidepressants.

The only problem is that drugs like Diazepam encourage tolerance and have an addictive effect.

All about Diazepam is a post from: Prescription Drugs

Diclofenac is a commonly prescribed drug to relieve pain, inflammation and fever. It therefore acts as an analgesic as well as an antipyretic.

What is an NSAID?

But how exactly does Diclofenac ease the pain of, say, an arthritic limb or spondylitis? Diclofenac is called a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug or NSAID to distinguish it from steroidal drugs that have the same effect.

The most common NSAIDs are aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen, all of which can be bought over the counter.

The key to understanding pain lies in prostaglandins naturally produced by the body. Prostaglandins cause tissues to get inflamed, to hurt and for body temporary to rise. They also help blood to clot and protect the stomach lining from acids in the organ.

COX Enzymes

But how are prostaglandins manufactured? They are made by an enzyme called cyclooxygenase or COX. But it’s not as simple as all that. There are two types of COX enzymes – COX1 and COX 2.

And therein lays the rub. Both types of COX enzymes make prostaglandins that cause inflammation but it is only the COX 1 enzyme that makes prostaglandins that cause blood to clot and serve to protect the stomach.

Since NSAIDS inhibit the COX enzymes, they ease inflammation, pain, fever as well as promote bleeding and stomach ulcers.

But medical science was able to solve that dilemma. Researchers discovered that there were several types of NSAIDS. Apart from differences in strength and other things, researchers discovered that there were indeed some NSAIDs that only mildly block COX 1 enzymes.

Selective COX Inhibitors

They also discovered that some NSAIDs block only COX 2 enzymes and not COX 1 enzymes. Diclofenac is one of them and it is called a selective COX 2 inhibitor.

But preventing clotting is not always a bad thing. When the clot poses a danger to your heart or brain as in an embolism, you need an NSAID to prevent clotting like aspirin.

This COX 1 inhibitor is therefore used to prevent strokes as effects last for several days.

Selective COX 2 inhibitor Diclofenac is prescribed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and spondylarthritis. It can also treat gout, and to ease the pain that results from stones in the kidney and gall bladder.

Another condition that benefits from Diclofenac is acute migraine.

All about Diclofenac is a post from: Prescription Drugs

Diflucan sis a versatile drug as it is prescribed for a variety of fungal infections. It is an anti-fungal antibiotic and is used in the treatment of infections of the mouth, windpipe, throat, bladder, lungs, genital area and even blood.

Fungal Infection or Mycosis

Mild conditions that display mycosis or fungal infection are athlete’s foot or a yeast infection. One of the more common fungal infections is called Candidiasis or thrush. This too is treatable with Diflucan.

Candidiasis is a fungal or yeast infection caused by any of the candida species of fungus. Among these, Candida albicans is most common.

Candidiasis infections can be mild and superficial oral or skin infections or virginities or potentially life-threatening diseases. Yeast infections are usually referred to as candidosis, moniliasisor oidiomycosis.

Urinary Infections

Diflucan is also effective in the treatment of urinary infections, which are fairly common. Fungi can sometimes invade parts of the urinary system like the bladder, ureters and urethra.

Urine itself is sterile but sometimes bacteria, viruses and fungi from the digestive tract cling to the opening of the urethra and reproduce and multiply here.

The urethra transports urine from the bladder for expelling outside the body, and when infected, it is most commonly susceptible to the Escherichia coli or E. coli bacteria. However, fungi too can infect the urethra.

Infections of different parts of the urinary tract include urethritis, bladder infection, cystitis, or kidney infection called pyelonephritis.

Pneumonia Treatment

Diflucan is also prescribed to treat common pneumonia. Just like urinary infection, pneumonia too can be caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi. Pneumonia is the sixth leading cause of death in America and 5% of patients admitted to hospital for the disease succumb to it.

Pneumonia is easily contracted as the organisms that cause it are present in the tiny droplets of water patients cough up, sneeze or exhale. They can also enter the lung from other parts of the body.

Pneumonia was a deadly killer before antibiotics were discovered. But with drugs like Diflucan, which is an anti-fungal antibiotic, it is very curable.

But do you know your fungus facts? Did you know that a fungus is a vegetable? Mushrooms, mold and mildew are types of fungi, which reproduce and multiply through spores.

Fungi live in the air, soil, on plants and in water. And like bacteria, some live in the human body. Only half the types of fungi in nature are harmful.

Since fungal spores are airborne, they are inhaled easily. This is why the lungs and skin are prime targets for fungal infections as they are the first points of contact with fungal spores.

Anti-fungal antibiotics are of different types. Some are topical applications while others like Diflucan are taken orally.

All about Diflucan is a post from: Prescription Drugs

Digoxin is a drug that is used to primarily treat cardiac problems such as congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation and cardiac arrhythmia. It is made from the leaves of a plant called digitalis that has a colorful history.

Which Conditions Benefit?

Before we examine the medicinal properties of digitalis, let’s briefly recap the heart conditions that benefit from Digoxin. Congestive heart failure is a condition where the heart, due to a faulty structure or malfunction, is unable to pump sufficient blood to the body.

Cardiac arrhythmia is also called dysrhythmia and is a generic term for heart conditions characterized by abnormal electrical activity in the heart. This abnormal electrical activity could make the heart beat too fast, too slowly or in an irregular manner.

All these conditions are potentially life-threatening and could result in a medical emergency. It could also give rise to palpitations, which are a warning signal that an individual can take note off and get checked.

Sometimes, though, patients are not aware of the arrhythmia and this could lay the ground for cardiac problems to build up without the individual’s knowledge. These could be conditions such as a stroke.

Though all these are serious problems, they are treatable with a range of drugs including Digoxin, which is synthesized from the digitalis plant.

Digoxin from Digitalis

The digitalis plant grows mainly in Europe, Asia and in some parts of Africa. It is thus called because the flower of the Digitalis purpurea species fits perfectly on the fingertip.

There are many varieties and the most common one is Digitalis purpurea, also called common foxglove. Drugs extracted from foxglove are called Digitalin. These contain cardiac glycosides or secondary metabolites that are also present in other plants.

It is these cardiac glycosides in Digoxin that is the active ingredient in the treatment of congestive heart failure and other heart problems. Cardiac glycosides increase the ability of the heart to contract in a regular manner. It is hence useful for patients with atrial fibrillation.

Digitalis, which is present in Digoxin, inhibits sodium-potassium ATPase, which sets off a chemical chain reaction in the bloodstream and nervous system.

 Digitalis toxicity or digitalis intoxication can result from an overdose of digoxin. Mild symptoms include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. But in extreme form, digitalis poisoning can cause heart block and either brachycardia or lowered heart rate, or tachycardia or an increased heart rate. The exact effects depend on the parameters of the individual’s heart.

Digitalis in Folklore

Digitalis has been a part of folklore as its properties have fascinated people down the ages. There are different species of the plant, each one containing deadly cardiac and steroidal glycosides. It is no surprise that digitalis has been nicknamed Dead Man’s Bells, and Witches’ Gloves.

But when synthesized appropriately, drugs like Digoxin produced from it are invaluable to science and medicine.

All about Digoxin is a post from: Prescription Drugs