BackWhat is important to know about taking medications
It is impossible to imagine modern medicine without medication, because today almost no therapy is complete without the use of medicines. Obviously, the use of medicines implies its own nuances and subtleties, and in order to achieve a positive effect from their use, it is necessary to choose the right drug in each specific situation. But only half of the success depends on this, because the essential nuance is the right dosage of the medicament. Because exceeding it threatens the development of adverse consequences (side effects or signs of overdose), and reducing it will not make it possible to achieve the necessary positive effects.
Thus, when prescribing medication, the doctor must solve two key tasks:
Achieving a positive effect
Avoiding negative consequences when taking the drug
For these purposes, medicine uses a special tool called therapeutic drug monitoring, which is used in the selection of an individual dose and frequency of medication for each patient. For many drugs, the administration of medium doses without taking into account individual characteristics can lead to unpredictable consequences. This is especially true for such drugs as: antiepileptic drugs (valproic acid, carbamazepine, phenobarbital), immunosuppressants (cyclosporine, tacrolimus), antidepressants, some antibiotics (vancomycin), etc.
There are many indications for the use of therapeutic drug monitoring in the treatment of patients. It is important to know the concentration of drugs in the following cases:
- Ineffectiveness of the drug when taken in medium doses;
- The appearance of signs of poisoning;
- Problematic cases with special physiological or pathological conditions;
- During pregnancy
Special attention should be paid to the last point, because during pregnancy, due to various physiological processes occurring during pregnancy, the effect of using medications may change.
Today, drug monitoring of such drugs as valproic acid (depakin, convulex), karabmazepine, tacrolimus, cyclosporine is made in the OLYMP branches of clinical diagnostic laboratories. Also, drug monitoring of a number of drugs is performed for our patients on the basis of the German Synlab and Limbach laboratories, including: vancomycin, phenobarbital, morphine, infliximab, naloxone, captopril and many others. To conduct these analysis, you can contact any treatment room of the OLYMP CDL branches, of which there are more than 190 in Kazakhstan.