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Doxycycline Pharmacology and Clinical Pearls
On an episode of the Real Life Pharmacology Podcast, I broke down doxycycline pharmacology and some important aspects that you need to remember as a healthcare professional. Here are a few practice...
Bactrim Phenytoin Interaction – Case Study
In the case scenario below, I outline a case where the Bactrim phenytoin interaction leads to phenytoin toxicity. An 81-year-old female has a history of GERD, OA, and seizures. She hasn't been...
Stopping Medications Leads to Stopping More Medications
Just like adding medications can lead to adding more medications (prescribing cascade), we can think of this strategy in reverse in an attempt to try to stop polypharmacy. Stopping medications can...
SSRI and NSAID Interaction; Is It Relevant?
The SSRI and NSAID interaction kind of drives me crazy. It is one of those interactions where you don't really know how seriously to take it. SSRI has the potential to impact platelet function....
Comparing Namenda XR and Memantine – Cash is King
I feel like I'm still seeing quite a bit of Namenda XR being used. Namenda XR comes in with a price tag of about $500 dollars per month. The generic version of Namenda (memantine) is an immediate...
Spiking Blood Sugars and Adverse Effects
About 10 days ago, a 76-year-old male called you to tell you that his spiking blood sugars are higher than they have been in a long time. His blood sugars were in the 300-400 range. He used to never...
How to Study for the BCPS Versus NAPLEX Exam
I get asked lots of questions about the BCPS exam as well as the NAPLEX. One question that has come up more than once, is how do I study for the BCPS versus NAPLEX exam? BCPS Versus NAPLEX: Format...
How to Avoid Failure – Transitions of Care
Working in long term care, I've seen a lot of cases where transitions of care have been messed up. I remember one specific case where 8 medications were incorrectly changed at a hospital stay. This...
Furosemide Versus Torsemide – Is There a Difference
Being a clinical pharmacist, you get asked a lot of questions about the differences amongst agents in the same class. The issue of differences between furosemide versus torsemide recently came up. I...
Prerenal Acute Kidney Injury – Must Know Drugs
Prerenal acute kidney injury is absolutely something that happens in real life practice. One of the reasons that this is something that is seen on a somewhat regular basis is that the drugs that can...