Addictive Effects

Drug Interactions in which the effect of a combination of two drug or more drugs with similar actions are equivalent to each idividual drug's effect.

Adverse Drug Effect

(ADE)

Any udisirable occurrence related to administering or failing to administer a prescribed medication.

Adverse Drug Reaction

(ADR)

Any unexpected, uninteded, undesided, or excessive response to a medication given at therapeutic dosages.

Adverse Effects

Any undisireable bodily effects that are a direct response to one or more drugs.

Agonist

A drug that binds to & stimulates the activity of one or more biochemical receptor types in the body.

Allergic Reaction

An immunologic hypersenitivity reaction resulting from the unusual sensitivity of a patient to a particular medication (a type of ADE).

Antagonist

A drug that binds to & inhibits tha activity of one or more biochemical receptor types in the body. (aka: inhibitors).

Antagonistic Effects

Drug interactions in which the effects of a combination of two or more drugs is less than the sum of the individual effects of the same drugs given alone; usually caused by one drug blocking or reducing the effect of another.

Bioavailability

A measure of the extent of one drug absorption for a given drug & route (0% to 100%).

Contraindication

Any condition that renders a particular form of treratment improper or undesirable.

Drug Actions

Cellular processes involved in the interaction between a drug & body cells (aka: mechanism of actions).

Drug Effects

Physiological reactions of the body to a drug. Can be therapeutic or toxic & constitute how the function of the body is affected as a whole by the drug.

Drug Interaction

Alteration in the pharmacologic activity of a given drug caused by the presence of one or more additional drugs.

Duration of Action

The length of time the concentration of a drug in the blood or tissues is sufficient to elicit a a therapeutic response.