Hey, guys...
So day before yesterday, there was my Forensic Medicine viva and the examiner asked me the causes of impotency. And I immediately started blabbing about Stress, Phimosis, Hypospadias, Peyronie's disease, I even mentioned Parkinson's disease. The examiner interjected me and asked the most common cause. I guessed heart disease and the related medications and he denied. Then he said it is excess consumption of alcohol and asked me not to underestimate alcohol and it's various interactions and correlations ever.
So here I am, trying to summarize the interactions of alcohol with the major classes of drugs.
Disulfiram-like Reaction
I am not going to go into the details of the mechanism. Just, in brief, Disulfiram-like reactions entails flushing(due to dilatation of blood vessels), nausea, vomiting, sweating, hypotension, so reflex tachycardia which can be deleterious to a patient of coronary artery disease(CAD).
Now let us try to use CAD as a mnemonic here while learning certain other things as well.
1. It starts with C, a lot of drugs starting with C have this reaction, like Cefamandole, Cefoperazone, Cefotetan, Chloramphenicol.
2. Patients with CAD have Pain, so let us now manage that some analgesics starting with P(for Pain), Phenylbutazone, Phenacetin.
3. Patients with CAD can have attacks of Angina, for which we give Nitrates, so let us take that. Drugs with Nitro group: Nitroglycerin, Isosorbide dinitrate, Nitrofurantoin, Metronidazole. Why leave Sulpha group behind?
Drugs with Sulpha group: Sulphamethoxazole, Sulfisoxazole.
4. CAD often co-exists with Diabetes Mellitus(DM). So let us manage that with some Sulfonylureas; Tolbutamide, Tolazamide, Chlorpropamide and even the 2nd gen drug Glyburide.
5. Patients with DM are immunosuppressed. Hence, they are predisposed to Mycoses and TB. Manage them with Griseofulvin and Isoniazid respectively.
That's all! :)
Do go through the other posts in this series, 2nd Part, 3rd Part, and 4th Part
-VM
