In this video, Cathy covers four important antiseizure medications (phenytoin, topiramate, levetiracetam, primidone), medications for insomnia (zolpidem and eszopiclone), barbiturates (pentobarbital), and a general anesthetic agent (propofol).
Okay. in this video, we are going to recover the remaining nervous system medications. if you are in this video, we will be covering antiseizure as well as sedative hypnotic medications, alright. let’s talk about antiseizure medications. there are many antiseizure medications out there. ones to know, to include here on card 86.
So those are phenytoin as well as topiramate, through some of the common side effects for phenytoin, a key side effect that you definitely have to know is gingival hyperplasia. so that is basically an overgrowth of gum tissue. the gums become enlarged. other side so when a patient is on phenytoin, we are going
To need them to come in for frequent blood draws is pretty narrow and it’s hard to hit it just right with the dose. we don’t want to be too high because we’ll have toxicity, and we don’t want to so we’re going to need those blood draws pretty frequently to get the dose just right. we want the level to be between 10
And 20 μ/ml. side effects such as vision issues, dizziness, because of that side effect of metabolic then with levetiracetam, this can cause behavioral abnormalities, as well as fatigue and agranulocytosis. so agranulocytosis means it basically causes white blood cell counts to so we’re definitely going to want
To monitor them for signs of infection. and then lastly, with primidone. primidone so with primidone, this actually has a very narrow therapeutic range as well, just like we had with phenytoin. so again, our patient is going to have to go get frequent blood draws to make sure our dose is just right and within the
Proper range, which is between 5 and 12 μ/ml. alright. now let’s talk about medications that are used for insomnia. medications that fall these medications both work by increasing which helps to promote sedation and sleep. so the way i remember these medications is side effects with both of these medications include daytime
Sleepiness, which is very common, so these medications actually carry possibility for abnormal thinking and behavior. so some patient teaching you will want to do, also melatonin is another supplement sleep-wake cycle and may be effective for the patient as well who is dealing with insomnia. barbiturates are sedative hypnotic
Agents. pentobarbital can be used for preoperative sedation as well as in the treatment of seizures. it can also help to induce a coma in a patient who has high intracranial pressure. side effects include lethargy, hypotension, respiratory depression, as well as constipation. the way i remember this medication is that,
“I climbed over some barbed wire to get into the pentagon, and the secret service came and knocked me out with some pentobarbital and took me to jail.” so obviously it didn’t happen, but that’s my little story on how i remember pentobarbital. definitely want to closely monitor their vital signs, and you want to
Make sure that there is resuscitation equipment available at the beside. alright. the last nervous system medication that i’m going to go over is a general anesthetic agent propofol because michael jackson used that propofol is used in the induction and it also provides sedation for intubated patients. the mode of action of
Propofol is to potentiate bradycardia, hypotension, and respiratory when you are administering propofol to your patient, you’re going to want to continuously monitor their vital signs. also keep in mind that propofol does not treat pain, right? it has no analgesic effect. and then the other thing you need to keep
In mind is that you need to use because of the risk of bacterial contamination propofol, it starts with that p-r-o-p like prop. so if you are given propofol, someone will have that wraps up our nervous system we will start in on musculoskeletal medications. thanks so much for watching!
Transcribed from video
Antiepileptics, Hypnotic/Sedatives & General Anesthetic Agent – Pharm – Nervous |@Level Up RN By Level Up RN
