Almost all doctors will prescribe medicinal drugs to facilitate treatment and healing. However, you are well informed that drugs may alter the working of your body causing multiple side effects that may be problematic to manage. No worries! You may inquire about your condition and obtain advice about the efficacy of prescription drugs. It is interesting to note that various medicines may have an impact on your body’s metabolism too. While you may be aware that the chemical reactions taking place within your body constantly are defined as metabolism, you may have to study or research further to understand the relationship between Metabolism and Medicine.
Remember that you may have to consume medicines or be injected with formulations containing many medicinal drugs. Statistics reveal that almost 40% of Americans have to consume at least one medicinal drug every day. Moreover, they also buy and use over-the-counter drugs frequently as well.
Metabolism and Medicine: What is the relation?
It is important to gain knowledge about how a particular drug is processed by your body. It is sure to have an impact on your metabolism as well. Known as medication metabolism, you would be interested to learn that it is the liver that is majorly responsible for the metabolism of the medicines. The liver contains a host of enzymes capable of breaking down the drugs to its chemical components to activate them. Oftentimes, a few of the drugs are rendered inactive by the enzymes too.
However, the liver may also convert the drug into a more potent form that may be used immediately by the body. P-glycoproteins may improve absorption of the drugs into the bloodstream thus increasing its efficacy.
Several opioids & antidepressants can pass through the blood-brain barrier swiftly thus ensuring the desired effect.
The metabolic rate of your body to drugs will just not increase its effect but may impact its toxicity too. This can be the best way to explain the effect of a drug both on deriving success and failure.
Some of the aspects that require a thorough understanding include the following:-
- Rapid Drug Metabolism – There is no benefit to consuming a drug that metabolizes rapidly. The doctor may have to prescribe a slow drug or increase the dosage to have the desired effect on the patient
- Slow Drug Metabolism– Such drugs tend to linger in the body long after the right effects are observed in your body. While this may be a good thing it is associated with the development of side effects too
However, it is not the medicinal drug alone that impacts your metabolism of medicines. Your body is likely to react uniquely to the same drug that may been successfully tested in other patients too. The medical professional will place you in any of the following categories to understand how your metabolism will be impacted by the said drug:
- Poor metabolizer
- Intermediate metabolizer
- Extensive metabolizer
- Rapid or ultra-rapid metabolizer
It is important to understand the complex association between Metabolism and Medicine. Remember to read up on the topic and inquire about the impact that a prescribed drug may have on your metabolism.
