Discussion Post and Response – Not an essay

2/3 of Page for Post (Pick any medication just not the same as this classmate that response is required for)

The prompt for this week is to gIve an example of a medication that affects the nervous system and explain how it does that using concepts from Chapter 12.

This can be a medication you use in practice or an example from your book or other reference. Try your best to find one your classmates have not already talked about and explain the process in your own words.

Please give both the generic name and common trade name of the drug, what it is most commonly used for and potential side effects.

1/3 of Page for Response to classmates post

Classmates post: Please write a response
One of the drugs we use commonly in the Critical Care area is Norepinephrine also known as Levophed. Norepinephrine (Levophed) is a catecholamine agent with potent alpha-1 and mild beta-1 properties. Norepinephrine has no beta-2 activity, so the vasoconstrictive effects are unopposed (Hallengren, strand, Eksborg, Barle, & Frostell, 2017).  Consequently, norepinephrine is a  potent vasopressor and weak positive inotrope. Norepinephrine is indicated for hypotension due to distributive shock states including septic and neurogenic shock. As a result, Norepinephrine is recommended as the initial vasopressor per the Surviving Sepsis Campaign recommendations.

Due to its massive effect of alpha-1, blood pressure, MAP, SVR, and CO are increased with Norepinephrine (Girbes & Hoogenberg, 1998). Adverse reactions include tachycardia, hypertension, ventricular dysrhythmias, and myocardial ischemia. Because of strong vasoconstrictive effects, high doses of norepinephrine can impede tissue perfusion, particularly of the skin, viscera, and kidneys (Yamamura et al., 2018).

References

Girbes, A. R. J., & Hoogenberg, K. (1998). The use of dopamine and norepinephrine in the ICU. In Yearbook of Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 1998 (pp. 178-187). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Hallengren, M., strand, P., Eksborg, S., Barle, H., & Frostell, C. (2017). Septic shock and the use of norepinephrine in an intermediate care unit: Mortality and adverse events. PLoS One, 12(8), e0183073.

Yamamura, H., Kawazoe, Y., Miyamoto, K., Yamamoto, T., Ohta, Y., & Morimoto, T. (2018). Effect of norepinephrine dosage on mortality in patients with septic shock. Journal of intensive care, 6(1), 1-7.