On a previous post, I discussed some issues surrounding digoxin use in CHF. In this post, I wanted to cover strategies for managing an out of range digoxin level. Digoxin is a drug that we can and do often assess drug levels. In clinical practice, checking levels for...
I received a question about codeine and what to expect from its use. When I was first learning pharmacy back in the late 2000s, I saw a lot of codeine. Most frequently, I remember significant use of Tylenol #3. Thankfully, I don’t see it used very often anymore....
Many patients are labeled as having a “sulfa allergy”. This is typically going to be from a reaction to sulfa antibiotics (i.e. sulfamethoxazole). Sulfonylureas are one of the drug classes that have sulfonamides as part of their chemical structure so therefore a...
Recently, the American College of Rheumatology released new 2020 gout guidelines. In these guidelines, there are 42 recommendations that reflect new clinical evidence since the release of the 2012 guidelines. Full text 2020 gout guidelines can be found here. One of...
Avanafil, sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil are PDE-5 inhibitors available in the USA and indicated for erectile dysfunction. PDE-5 inhibitors prevent the breakdown of cGMP and it is also one of the drug classes that interacts with nitrates. Nitrates are one...