Conclusion:
The drug Phenobarbital is the saving grace of those that suffer from brain disorders, epilepsy, and seizures. Phenobarbital serves as a central nervous system depressant and it's primary use as a sedative hypnotic. The drug serves as an anti-convulsant and brings relief to the patient in order for them to be able to sleep; for this fact it can be used short term to treat insomnia. The drug slows the brain and nervous system activity and is unfortunately very addicting. However, those taking the drug are introduced to the side effects and are benefiting from the drug. Also to say that it is not an over the counter drug and must be prescribed. In all, the drug has a lot of benefits that overrule the side effects. Phenobarbital is a great drug for those that need to relieve the pain that brain disorders, epilepsy, and seizures.
- Celina Mora
Reflection:
This drug Phenobarbital is really great, in total honesty, because of the advantages the drug has. This blog was also a great experience. The drug is relief to those that suffer from these chronic diseases. The drug is a last resort when there is no other way out. I am glad there is something that can relieve the pain for those who must live with it day to day.
- Celina Mora
Friday, May 29, 2015
Reflection and Conclusion
Conclusion:
In conclusion my drug phenobarbital, is
used to help patients that suffer from convulsions. The drug is legal and is
used in cases where there is no other option but this drug. The drug is not an
over the counter drug, this means you cannot walk into a pharmacy and buy it. A
certified doctor must provide a prescription before you can buy the drug.
Phenobarbital like many drugs can and are often abused by a person who overdose
or simply grow dependent of the drug. Slowly they consume more and more of the
drug, they build up a tolerance and in order to feel the same effect they have
to consume more of the drug. This behavior continues until the body can talk no
more. It I easy to get addicted to the drug but it is not as easy to stop
consuming the drug, it is a slow, long and painful process to leave the drug
and the effects vary on a wide scale. Overall the drug is a good option, as
long as all of the rules and indications are followed very close, everything in
life has a good and bad side.
Reflection:
This blog has been a good experience
because I have gained knowledge about a drug I did not even know that existed. It
is sad to know that there are people out there that suffer form convulsions and
seizures. Everyone deserves a chance to live, which makes this drug good since
it is the cheapest. Information on this drug however seemed to be limited in
certain areas. One of these areas would be on the production area; the websites
were not really specific on how to produce this drug nor where they specific on
what the drug contain. I think this was done intentionally because some scientists
and doctors don’t want people on the streets producing the drug since it is relatively
cheap to produce. If people on the street were able to produce it on the street
then they could misuse it, they may sell it and making prices higher, or there
is the possibility that the drug is not regulated and therefore not safe.
-Alejandro Guzman
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Phenobarbital slows the activity of your
brain and nervous system. Therefore, the drug is used to prevent seizures, for
short- term treatment of insomnia, and even as a sedative before surgery.Phenobarbital should not be taken if
pregnant for it can cause addiction or withdrawal symptoms to the unborn baby.
This drug also affects the efficiency of birth control pills; so, if sexually
active one must consult with a doctor for a safe plan or use another form of
contraception. It is not recommended to drink while on Phenobarbital. Phenobarbital
can also cause severe allergic reactions like hives, trouble breathing;
swelling of the lips, face, tongue, or throat. If you experience this you must
consult to medical help. Abuse of this drug or an over dose can be fatal and
the dosage must be closely monitored.
-Celina
Friday, April 10, 2015
Legal Issues That Pertain To The Drug And It’s Use Or Abuse
Legal Issues That Pertain To The Drug And It’s Use Or Abuse
Phenobarbital
is a drug that is used to treat epilepsy and prevent seizures.People
chose to use Phenobarbital because it is relatively cheap to produce and that
has a positive impact on the price. In fact according to the International Drug
Price Indicator Guide, a packet of 1,000 tablets with a dose of 100 mg can cost
anywhere from $4.82 to $9.58. To get a better idea of how cheap this drug is we
can compare it to Carbamazepine. Carbamazepine is a drug that is also used to
teat epilepsy; in fact most scientists say that both drugs are almost
identical. What do these drugs have that make them different? The answer lies
in the price. A packet of 1,000 Carbamazepine tablets of 100 mg costs $9.25 to
$15.03. Most people would say that there isn’t much of a difference in the price
but the reality is another. It is important to realize that there are people
who are poor and need this medication and if they can limited resources for
medications they will chose the cheaper one because they can afford it. The
price difference in reality is a matter of life and death: whether one person
can afford it and live or not afford it and die.
A
big misconception is that phenobarbital is the most popular because of its
effectiveness. This was true…in the 1950’s and in the 1960’s, in fact now a
days with our modern technology we are able to produce even more effective
drugs that unfortunately more expensive.
Unfortunately,
like many drugs, phenobarbital can be abused. What is drug abuse? Drug abuse is
when someone does not follow the doctor’s directions on how and when to take
the drug. Phenobarbital abuse is sometimes compared to alcohol intoxication
since they share some of the same symptoms: slurred speech, confusion, poor
judgment, irritability, insomnia and somatic complaints. However the previous
stated symptoms is only when there is a little abuse of phenobarbital. When
people overdoes on phenobarbital in great amounts then it can be lethal. Once a
person is dependent of phenobarbital there are some characteristics we must be
on the look out. The first characteristic is to obviously want to continue
taking the drug; the second characteristic is the tendency to increase the does
and the frequency of the drug. The last characteristic of phenobarbital
dependence is when a person needs to consume the drug in order to maintain calm
and relaxed. When we have reached the point of phenobarbital dependence the
only way to deal with the problem is phenobarbital GRADUAL withdrawal. For a
gradual withdrawal it is normal to see some reactions, such as: anxiety, muscle
twitching, tremor if hands, weakness, dizziness, distortion in vision, nausea,
vomiting and insomnia. However sometimes complete withdrawal is chosen over
gradual withdrawal and the reactions are the same along with convulsions and
delirium. It is also important to also note that not everyone is the same and
the symptoms and reactions may not all be displayed.
-Alejandro
For More Information:
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
Drug History Part 2
How was your drug discovered?
The drug Phenobarbital has a long history; in fact the
discovery began in 1865, over a century ago. In 1890 at the German Chemical Society meeting
a German chemist names August Kekule reported that he had been working with chemical
structures and he had noticed that many of the structures he worked with had
one thing in common, they had ring like shapes.
He had researched these new structures for about 20 years and had
finally decided to speak up.
Despite the fact that Kekule set a great foundation for the
discovery of Phenobarbital he was no the one who discovered it. Twenty-two years after the Chemical Society
meeting a man named Alfred Hauptmann was a clinical assistant in Freiburg who
was annoyed at the fact that he was awakened at night by patients who had
seizures. So he gave them Phenobarbital as a hypnosis medication and noticed
something amazing… the seizures were being suppressed by the drug.
Astonished by this new observations; Hauptmann decided to
pick patients who had a long history of seizures. The test subjects were
administered different doses of Phenobarbital at different times of the day.
The Phenobarbital was administered as medication tablets for example some of
the tablets were 300 mg or 200 mg tablets.
He noticed that the difference in the amount of drugs given to the
patient was the determining factor of how effective the drug was.
In conclusion Hauptmann said that he recommended using
Phenobarbital in “genuine” epilepsy treatment. This is the earliest record of
the discovery of Phenobarbital but shortly after Hauptmann published his work
many other scientists around the world did the same or a similar experiment. Like
in Britain were the scientist Golla who also had the same success in proving
that Phenobarbital worked. This new drug discovery jumped from nation to nation
and pretty soon it was one of the drug of first choice when dealing with
epilepsy treatment.
In this picture we have August Kekule the chemist and the
ring structure he worked with:
In this picture we have Alfred Hauptmann the man who
discovered phenobarbital:
How is this drug manufactured?
To make the drug Phenobarbital there are eight possible ways
or reactions that are able to give us the desired drug. But the most used method or procedure to
create Phenobarbital is the following. We need to react ethyl oxalate ester and
pheylacetonitrile once they have reacted we need to add iodoethane into the
mix, this will give us “Product D”. Then we get “product D” and heat it up so It
turns into a decarboxylation reaction and yields “Product E”. from there
product E condenses with Urea and the product crystalizes and Product F is yield
also known as Phenobarbital.
In this picture we see a visual of how the drug is created:
-Alejandro Guzman
For more information Visit:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/epi.12026/asset/epi12026.pdf?v=1&t=i7sin5t9&s=7ca53cb15a1ea102d42ad603371d1bcb2b01d421
http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/phenobarbital#section=Top
The drug Phenobarbital has the molecular formula C12H12N2O3. The elements included in this drug are Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and Oxygen. Other forms of the drug Phenobarbital includes: Luminal, Phenobarbitol, Phenobarbitone, Gardenal, Phenema and more. The drug Phenobarbital is considered a barbiturate, which is a nonselective central nervous depressant. Barbiturates, are a synthetic compounds that, substitute for pyrimidine derivatives which contain the basic structure similar to that of barbituric acid (C4H4N2O3). Barbituric acid is a substance that has no central nervous system (CNS) activity. However, CNS activity can be obtained by substituting alkyl, alkenyl, or aryl groups on the pyrimidine ring- which is an aromatic heterocyclic organic compound. The drug is primarily used as a sedative hypnotic and an anticonvulsant in subhypnotic doses. It is chemically designated as 5-Ethyl-5-phenylbarbituric acid with the molecular weight of 232.24. Phenobarbital can be taken, orally, in tablets or elixir
- Mora, Celina
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