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Hi every one.
I thought it might fun to list things we've observed or learned the hard way about different drugs. I thought we could start with amiodorone (sp). Then go on to something else.
1. Be careful if the patient is also on digoxin because Amio. Can increase a dig level by 100% in a few days.
2. When Amio infiltrates it isn't pretty
Everyone add something they experienced
Found amiodarone, so I looked it up, there are a couple pics here of the blue/gray tints... weird..
http://www.mf.uni-lj.si/acta-apa/acta-apa-02-3/derma3-5cl.html
My pet peeve is doctors who prescribe Darvocet for their older patients, which IMHO is merely Tylenol with confusion. I've seen perfectly rational folks come completely off the spool with the stuff.....which is maybe why it's listed as one of the drugs that should not be given to the elderly. You'd think physicians would have caught wind of this before now, but a lot of 'em either haven't kept up, or they just don't want to give up prescribing something they're comfortable with. I personally won't give it unless the pt. has been on it for some time and I know they're not going to react badly; otherwise, I'll try to talk the doc into some other type of analgesia, because I really hate it when I have to peel a pt. off the ceiling, or spend half the shift trying to convince them I've killed the pink and purple rats they think they saw in the corner........!
In my experience, amiodarone can raise your INR and potentiate the effects of coumadin, and also give you a low heartrate if you are not careful. In many instances it also causes nausea, and ends up being discontinued anyway.
I've given phenergan with horrible results before, so I advocate its discontinuance. Seems like every patient I giveit to has a psychotic episode.
dianah, ASN
8 Articles; 4,740 Posts
Are you alluding to Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia?