Essay Sample on Anticonvulsants: Carbamazepine - A Sodium Channel Blocker

Introduction

The anticonvulsants are a class of drugs also known as the antiepileptic commonly used for treating the epileptic seizures (Chbili,2017) Among these class, carbamazepine is one of the drugs with the generic name as carbamazepine, and the trade name is tegretol. The carbamazepine mode of action is known to be a sodium channel blocker binding to the voltage-gated sodium channels which are in their inactive conformation. Thus, through its mode of action, it prevents repetitive and sustained firing of an action potential. When taking carbamazepine drug there some of the important considerations needed. For instance, the drug should be taken with meals, and it should also be stored in the right temperatures, which is below 86oF (Chbili,2017). Also, before administering the carbamazepine drug, the doctor is supposed to do some blood tests to the patient like the liver and kidney functioning tests. At the same time, when travelling the patient is encouraged to carry their medications with them.

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However, carbamazepine's parameters are the same in adults and children. One of the parameters about the drug is that there is poor correlation between plasma concentrations of the dose in children. That means it is more metabolized to carbamazepine-10 and 11-epoxide in a younger age group than in adults. There is also an inverse relationship between CBZ-E/CBZ ratio with increasing age (Tomson, Battino, & Perucca,2019) Before taking the carbamazepine drug, and the doctor is supposed to teach their patients some of the side effects associated with it. Another point they should be aware of is not taking the drug if they have had a history of bone marrow suppression.

One of the application level NCLEX style question related to the carbamazepine drug is which facts does the doctor has to include when teaching the patient with bipolar disorder about the drug? Its rationale is to avoid taking it concurrently with other drugs to avoid toxic reactions.

Antibiotics (Cephalosporin)

Generically, Cephalosporin is called beta-lactams, and its trade name is Cefdinir. Although these drugs have the same mode of actions with the B-lactam antibiotics, they are less susceptible to B-lactamases (Aube,2018). Action wise, they form the bacterial cell wall through disruption of synthesis of the peptidoglycan layer. The administration consideration for these drugs is keeping the amount of medicine in the body at a constant level. Also, a patient is supposed to use medication until the full prescription is done despite the disappearance of symptoms earlier. Any side effects like itching, dizziness, vomiting, diarrhoea, and many others should be reported immediately.

One of the parameters associated with Cephalosporin is broadly varying. Hence it needs adjustment and regimens methods for each agent (Yuk-Choi, Nightingale, & Williams,2019). However, the dosage regimens are supposed to ensure the concentration of the cite of infection is free from the drug, making it maintain at the minimum inhibitory especially for those patients with a normal host of defence mechanisms. The patient teaching points for this drug is the allergic reaction which is related to penicillin and antibiotics. Also, patients are supposed to be taught in other places where they can get more information regarding the drugs.

One of the application- level NCLEX style question related to Cephalosporin is: the doctor needs to assess what allergy to the patient's history before administering Cephalosporin? And its rationale is penicillin because they are beta-lactam antibiotics which have similar actions and structure.

Differences and Similarities Between Carbamazepine and Cephalosporin

Carbamazepine is a drug that is classified in anticonvulsants group used in treating the epileptic seizures while Cephalosporin belongs to a class of antibiotics used to treat diseases caused by bacteria.

In treatment, the two drugs cannot be used together since carbamazepine can affect the way Cephalosporin works in the body and vice versa.

However, the two drugs have some similarities when their side effects. Both of them can cause the patient to be dizzy, have nausea, and vomiting.

References

Chbili, C., Hassine, A., Laouani, A., Amor, S. B., Nouira, M., Ammou, S. B., & Saguem, S. (2017). The relationship between pharmacokinetic parameters of carbamazepine and therapeutic response in epileptic patients. Archives of medical science: AMS, 13(2), 353.

Tomson, T., Battino, D., & Perucca, E. (2019). Teratogenicity of antiepileptic drugs. Current opinion in neurology, 32(2), 246-252.

Patsalos, P. (2018). The epilepsy prescriber's guide to antiepileptic drugs. Cambridge University Press.

Yuk-Choi, J. H., Nightingale, C. H., & Williams, T. W. (2019). Considerations in dosage selection for third-generation cephalosporins. Clinical pharmacokinetics, 22(2), 132-143.

Aube, J., Nathan, C., Smith, R., Gold, B. S., Hanson, P., Liu, C., ... & Schoenen, F. J. (2018). U.S. Patent No. 10,059,722. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.