Are Therapeutic Drugs Really Safe?

Whenever we feel a mild headache, we immediately pop 1-2 tablets of analgesics into our mouths, thinking it will be fine. Not everyone is aware that "all drugs are poisons;" in fact everything that enters our body is a potential poison. This is because they all pass through the liver and become an additional load for the liver to metabolize.

Even the natural herbal medicines that most claim to be 100 % side-effect- free, have dire consequences when taken in excess amounts. We only have to research independent sites in the internet, to know that sellers do not disclose everything about their products.

A branch of toxicology, which is therapeutic drug monitoring, deals with the determination of the sub-therapeutic, therapeutic and toxic dosages of drugs, so that these could be utilized for individualized treatment of patients.

This branch of toxicology has the purpose of determining this therapeutic concentration so that a steady state of the drug could be maintained in the patient's body to ensure effective therapy of the disease.

This steady state is maintained by knowing the half-life of the drug. The half-life is the amount of time it takes for the drug to go down to half of its original concentration. This then, would be the basis of the dosage of the drug; whether it would be every 4 hours, every 8 hours or every 12 hours. For a drug to be able to cure a disease, this constant (steady-state) concentration should be maintained.

This steady state concentration of a drug could be maintained depending on the patient's body function. If the liver is dysfunctional, the amount of drug concentration in the blood would increase, because the liver could not metabolize it properly; likewise with dysfunctions of the kidneys. This is because the liver converts the drug into metabolites, while the kidney excretes the by products.

If there is marked dysfunction in the 2 organs, then corresponding adjustments should be done with the given dosage of the drug. A lower dosage should be given to patients with liver or kidney dysfunction. If this is not done, then drug poisoning might occur which would be detrimental to the health of the patient.
The age, weight and body mass of the patient are also factors in determining the dosage of the drug. Drugs should be taken specifically as the doctor instructed, because of these various factors that could affect their therapeutic effects.

Any drug has side effects in your physiological system, and you must bear this in mind to avoid popping a pill every time you feel something. If you can help it, refrain from taking these pills. The best course of action is to ask your doctor's advice before ingesting any type of drug.