Seizures
What are the 3 phases of a seizure?
prodrome, ictal, and post-ictal
What is Parkinson's Disease?
A common age-related degenerative brain disease that mainly affects muscle control
What is dementia?
A general term for loss of cognitive functioning that can be caused by a variety of different diseases/disorders
What is a migraine?
A type of headache can cause severe, throbbing pain that is typically on one side of the head and can be accompanied by other symptoms like nausea and vomiting
What does the medical term "aphasia" mean?
loss of speech
What are two things besides seizures that some antiseizure medications can be used to treat?
Neuropathic pain, insomnia, migraines, Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS), and some mental health conditions like bipolar disorder, anxiety, etc.
Low levels of what neurotransmitter are associated with Parkinson's Disease?
Dopamine
What is Alzheimer's disease?
A progressive disease that causes the brain to shrink and the individual to have gradually worsening memory, learning, and cognitive skills. It is the most common cause of dementia
Name one antimigraine medication we learned in this unit (brand, generic, or both)
Imitrex (sumatriptan)
Relpax (eletriptan)
Maxalt (rizatriptan)
Common chronic neurological disorder that causes repeated seizure activity in the brain
Epilepsy
What is the difference between a focal seizure and a generalized seizure?
Focal seizures start in one area of the brain and may cause changes in awareness, behavior, or sensation, or abnormal movements, typically on one side of the body.
Generalized seizures occur on both sides of the brain at the same time and usually cause loss of consciousness/awareness and possibly also abnormal movements, typically on both sides of the body.
Dopamine agonists can also be used to treat what other neurological disorder we discussed?
Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS)
Name one other neurological condition besides Alzheimer's that we discussed that can cause dementia
Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease
What is the difference between the active ingredients in Fioricet and Fiorinal?
Fioricet uses acetaminophen as the analgesic component whereas Fiorinal uses aspirin
Chronic condition that causes widespread muscle pain and tenderness, fatigue, cognitive and sleep problems
Fibromyalgia
Which of our antiseizure medications from this unit are controlled substances? What schedules are they?
Luminal (phenobarbital), CIV
Lyrica (pregabalin), CV
Name one medication that is used to treat Parkinson's Disease (brand, generic, or both)
Requip (ropinirole)
Mirapex (pramipexole)
Sinemet (carbidopa/levodopa)
Cogentin (benztropine)
What class of medication is Aricept? How does it work to treat symptoms of Alzheimer's and Dementia?
Cholinesterase inhibitor - stops the breakdown of acetylcholine which is involved in memory and muscle contractions
Which medication that is used to treat tension headaches is a controlled substance (brand, generic, or both)? What schedule is it?
Fiorinal (aspirin/butalbital/caffeine), CIII
What condition causes weakness, numbess, pain or tingling/burning sensation, usually in the hands and feet, due to nerve damage
Peripheral Neuropathy
Name one of the antiseizure medications (brand, generic, or both) that is listed as a narrow therapeutic index (NTI) medication
Dilantin (phenytoin)
Valproate, Depacon (valproic acid)
Tegretol (carbamazepine)
Luminal (phenobarbital)
How do the active ingredients in Sinemet work together to help treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease?
levodopa (a CNS agent) is converted to dopamine in the brain; carbidopa (a decarboxylase inhibitor) prevents the levodopa from being broken down before it reaches the brain
What class of medication is Namenda? How does it work to treat Alzheimer's?
NMDA Receptor Antagonists - they block the NMDA receptors in neurons to prevent glutamate from attaching to the receptors and allowing excess calcium into the cells which could damage them
What class of medication are all of our "triptan" antimigraine medications? How do they work to help with migraine symptoms?
Selective Serotonin Receptor Agonists.
They narrow the blood vessels in head, stopping pain signals from being sent to brain and blocking release of some natural substances that cause pain, nausea, and other migraine symptoms
Named for a famous baseball player who died from the disease, this degenerative neuromuscular disease causes progressively worsening muscle control and ultimately death
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease