Drugs used for addiction work in one of four ways. They either cause
1) the body to have a negative reaction to an ingested drug,
2) reduce the reinforcing effects of an ingested drug,
3) block the effects of the drug by binding to the receptor site, or
4) saturate the receptor sites with agonists that do not create the drug’s desired effect.
Naltrexone is known to be helpful for both opiate addiction and alcohol addiction. Naltrexone Continue reading »
The first priority when evaluating abdominal pain is to determine whether the pain is acute or chronic. Sudden and/or severe onset of pain should lead the clinician toward an emergent evaluation. Right lower quadrant pain is suspicious for an acute appendicitis, but by itself is not specific enough to warrant an emergent workup. A “gnawing” sensation is often described with ulcer disease, while pain that worsens after eating is associated with many conditions—pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, or even reflux. In the absence of hemodynamic instability, those causes are less likely to warrant emergent workup. Emesis with pain is not enough, by itself, to warrant emergent workup.
The location and radiation of pain is often helpful in determining the cause of abdominal pain. Pain from an Continue reading »