Key Terms 2 Flashcards
Acute Pain
Pain that is sudden in onset, usually subsides when treated, and typically occurs over less than a 6-week period
Agonist
A substance that binds to a receptor and causes a response
Allopurinol
Drug Profile A xanthine oxidase inhibitor which prevents uric acid production and is useful in preventing gout attacks
Analgesic Ceiling Effect
What occurs when a given pain drug no longer effectively controls a patient’s pain despite the administration of the highest safe dosages.
Analgesics
Medications that relieve pain without causing loss of consciousness.
Anesthesia
Loss of the ability to feel pain, resulting from the administration of an anesthetic drug or other medical intervention.
Anesthetics
Drugs that depress the central nervous system to produce diminution of consciousness, loss of responsiveness to sensory stimulation, or muscle relaxation
Antagonist
A drug that binds to a receptor and prevents (blocks) a response.
Arthritis
Inflammation of the joints
Balanced Anesthesia
The practice of using combinations of drugs rather than a single drug to produce anesthesia.
Chronic Pain
Pain resulting from any disorder that is often difficult to treat. Typically it is pain that lasts 3-6 months
Gate Theory
The most common and well described theory of pain transmission and pain relief.
General Anesthesia
A drug-induced state in which the CNS is altered to produce varying degrees of pain relief throughout the body as well as depression of consciousness, skeletal muscle relaxation, and diminished or absent reflexes.
Gout
Hyperuricemia; the arthritis caused by tissue build-up of uric acid crystals.
Inflammation
A localized protective response stimulated by injury to tissues that serves to destroy, dilute, or wall off both the injurious agent and the injured tissue
Local Anesthetics
Drugs that render a specific portion of the body insensitive to pain at the level of the peripheral nervous system, normally without affecting consciousness. (may also be called regional anesthetics)
Malignant Hyperthermia
A genetically linked major adverse reaction to general anesthesia, characterized by a rapid rise in body temperature, as well as tachycardia, tachypnea, and sweating.
Morphine Sulfate
Drug Profile A naturally occurring alkaloid derived from the opium poppy, is the drug prototype for opioids and narcotics.
NSAID’s
Non Steroidal Antinflammatory Drugs (abbreviation) - A large, chemically diverse group of drugs that are analgesics and also possess antinflammatory and antipyretic activity but are not steroids
Neuromuscular Blocking Drugs
NMBA (abbreviation) - A group of drugs that prevent nerve transmission in certain muscles, leading to paralysis of the muscles. They are often used with anesthetics for surgical procedures
Neuropathic Pain
Pain that results from a disturbance of function or pathologic change in a nerve.
Opiate Analgesic
Natural narcotic drug containing or derived from opium that binds to opiate receptors in the brain to relieve pain.
Opioid Analgesics
Synthetic narcotic drugs that bind to opiate receptors to relieve pain but are not themselves derived from the opium plant.
Opioid Tolerance
A normal physiologic condition that results from long-term opioid use, in which larger doses of opioids are required to maintain the same level of analgesia and in which abrupt discontinuation of the drug results in withdrawal symptoms.
