I’ve been asked to discuss the relationship between Digoxin levels and potassium…so I will. Digoxin toxicity was discussed earlier this week, and obviously the kidney plays a big role in both digoxin levels and potassium homeostasis. Individuals with low potassium may...
Elderly patient was on Amiodarone for treatment of chronic arrhythmia. Amiodarone has multiple clinical quirks and unique side effects associated with it. In my mind, it’s definitely a high risk/high reward type drug. The patient had begun to experience some shortness...
Alright, new topic…let’s roll…I’m going to tackle some psych tonight, because I always get asked questions about these meds! The topic of psych medications in general is very challenging to say the least, I believe it is much more of an art than science – i.e. when...
I’m going to cover sulfonylureas tonight; this class is a mainstay in the treatment Type 2 diabetes. Other than metformin, these drugs are probably the most frequent oral class used. The most frequent names that come to mind are glipizide, glimepiride, and...
Today, it’s the DDP-4 inhibitors! DPP-4 inhibitors can be expensive which may limit their use from time to time. These drugs work to increase the amount of incretin in the body. You can look back at my post on Byetta/Victoza which should be under the diabetes...
I’m going to flip back to oral diabetes meds to cover a new agent that has recently been approved. It is a new class of diabetes med, but generally means it’s going to be quite expensive. This drug is Invokana (canagliflozin). It basically lowers glucose by causing an...