Muscle relaxants are drugs that are administered to relax muscles. They are given to relieve the discomfort of muscle spasm or involuntary muscle contracture and also in cases of surgery to relax muscles and provide easier access for the surgeon. Some nonprescription drugs are available to combat painful contraction of the uterus during a woman’s [...]
Depression is a common, debilitating medical condition that costs billions of dollars in health care costs and lost productivity in the United States each year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). People experiencing depression feel hopeless, worthless and experience a loss of interest in everyday activities such as work, hobbies or sex. [...]
Definition
Anticonvulsant drugs are medicines used to prevent or treat convulsions (seizures).
Purpose
Anticonvulsant drugs are used to control seizures in people with epilepsy. Epilepsy is not a single disease-it is a set of symptoms that may have different causes in different people. The common thread is an imbalance in the brain’s electrical activity. This imbalance causes seizures [...]
Definition
Anticoagulants are drugs used to prevent clot formation or to prevent a clot that has formed from enlarging. They inhibit clot formation by blocking the action of clotting factors or platelets. Anticoagulant drugs fall into three categories: inhibitors of clotting factor synthesis, inhibitors of thrombin and antiplatelet drugs.
Purpose
Anticoagulant drugs reduce the ability of the blood [...]
Definition
Ophthalmic antibiotics are medicines that kill bacteria that cause eye infections.
Purpose
Ophthalmic antibiotics are applied to the eye, or under the eyelid, to treat eye infections caused by bacteria.
Description
The medicine described here, tobramycin (Tobrex), comes in the form of eye drops or ointment. It is available only with a physician’s prescription.
Recommended dosage
The dosages given here are [...]
Definition
Antibiotics may be informally defined as the subgroup of anti-infectives that are derived from bacterial sources and are used to treat bacterial infections. Other classes of drugs, most notably the sulfonamides, may be effective antibacterials. Similarly, some antibiotics may have secondary uses, such as the use of demeclocycline (Declomycin, a tetracycline derivative) to treat the [...]
Definition
Antiarrhythmic drugs are medicines that correct irregular heartbeats and slow down hearts that beat too fast.
Purpose
Normally, the heart beats at a steady, even pace. The pace is controlled by electrical signals that begin in one part of the heart and quickly spread through the whole heart. If something goes wrong with this control system, the [...]
Psychiatrists, family doctors or other doctors can prescribe medications for anxiety disorders. These doctors often work closely with psychologists, social workers or counselors who provide psychotherapy. Although medications won’t cure an anxiety disorder, they can keep the symptoms under control and help you lead a normal, fulfilling life.
Often, anxiety disorders can occur with depression. Sometimes, [...]
Masturbation is the fondling of one’s own genitals in order to achieve sexual pleasure. Simply touching, stroking, squeezing, rubbing or brushing the genitals – the penis and testicles in males and the vulva, labia and vagina in females – gives a person pleasure and is termed under masturbation. Masturbation usually ends with a similar climax [...]
Definition
Antiangina drugs are medicines that relieve the symptoms of angina pectoris (severe chest pain).
Purpose
The dull, tight chest pain of angina occurs when the heart’s muscular wall is not getting enough oxygen. By relaxing the blood vessels, antiangina drugs reduce the heart’s work load and increase the amount of oxygen-rich blood that reaches the heart. These [...]