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  1. Diuretics

    Diuretics are particularly useful in treating the water and salt retention caused by heart failure.

    Common side effects like muscle cramps arise from the loss of too much sodium, potassium or magnesium. Prescribers should be aware of the risk of diuretic-induced hypokalaemia.

    There are three main types of diuretic, each of which works by affecting a different part of the kidneys:

    Loop diuretics- prescribed for fluid retention (oedema), particularly in the lungs. These drugs are very fast acting, but of short duration and induce dramatic water loss.

    smaxwell - 10/10/2014 - 9:03am

  2. Interindividual variability - pharmacodynamics

    Variation in the response to equivalent drug concentrations arises because of various factors, such as differences in receptor number and structure, receptor-coupling mechanisms and physiological changes in target organs resulting from differences in genetics, age and health. For example, the beneficial natriuresis produced by the loop diuretic furosemide is often significantly reduced at a given dose in patients with renal impairment while confusion caused by opioid analgesics is more likely in the elderly. 

    smaxwell - 13/10/2014 - 7:55pm

  3. Introduction to the dose-response relationship

    When the relation between drug dose (X-axis) and drug response (Y-axis) is plotted on a base 10 logarithmic scale, this produces a sigmoidal dose–response curve (Fig A). This representation is more useful than a linear plot because it expands the dose scale in the region where drug response is changing rapidly and compresses the scale at higher doses where large changes have little effect on response.

    efaccena - 19/11/2015 - 9:43am

  4. Heart failure

    Heart failure (HF) is caused by the heart’s inability to pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. In response, the body activates compensatory mechanisms, such as the sympathetic nervous system which leads to tachycardia, sodium and water retention, vasoconstriction, and over time, ventricular hypertrophy, all geared towards increasing cardiac output. Leading causes of HF are coronary artery disease and hypertension.

    efaccena - 11/03/2019 - 11:56am