Pharmacology Terms
Published (updated: ).
- Antagonism – Interaction between two or more drugs that have opposite effects on the body. Drug antagonism may block or reduce the effectiveness of one or more of the drugs.
- Bolus – A single dose of a drug or other substance given over a short period of time. It is usually given by infusion or injection into a blood vessel. It may also be given by mouth.
- Contraindications – A contraindication is a specific situation in which a drug, procedure, or surgery should not be used because it may be harmful to the person.
- Cumulative Action – The condition in which repeated administration of a drug may produce effects that are more pronounced than those produced by the first dose
- Depressant – Central Nervous System (CNS) depressants are medicines that include sedatives, tranquilizers, and hypnotics. These drugs can slow brain activity, making them useful for treating anxiety, panic, acute stress reactions, and sleep disorders.
- Habituation – The process of forming a habit, referring generally to psychological dependence on the continued use of a drug to maintain a sense of well-being, which can result in drug addiction.
- Hypersensitivity – Drug hypersensitivity reactions (DHR) include allergic, exaggerated pharmacologic, and pseudo allergic reactions to medications that result from an enhanced immunologic or inflammatory response
- Idiosyncrasy – “Drug idiosyncrasy” refers to untoward reactions to drugs that occur in a small fraction of patients and have no obvious relationship to dose or duration of therapy.
- Indication – In medicine, a sign, symptom, or medical condition that leads to the recommendation of a treatment, test, or procedure.
- Potentiation – In medicine, the effect of increasing the potency or effectiveness of a drug or other treatment.
- Refractory – In medicine, describes a disease or condition that does not respond to treatment.
- Side Effects – Side effects, also known as adverse reactions, are unwanted undesirable effects that are possibly related to a drug. Side effects can vary from minor problems like a runny nose to life-threatening events, such as a heart attack or liver damage
- Stimulant– Stimulants, especially those for recreational use, act on the central and peripheral nervous systems to produce a number of possible psychostimulant actions such as increased alertness, hyperactivity, and altered mood, and in addition can affect the cardiovascular system, ocular system, and disrupt temperature control
- Synergism – In medicine, describes the interaction of two or more drugs when their combined effect is greater than the sum of the effects seen when each drug is given alone.
- Therapeutic Action – Therapeutic effect refers to the response after a treatment of any kind, the results of which are judged to be useful or favorable. This is true whether the result was expected, unexpected, or even an unintended consequence
- Tolerance – A condition that occurs when the body gets used to a medicine so that either more medicine is needed or different medicine is needed.
- Untoward Effect – Adverse drug reaction (ADR, or adverse drug effect) is a broad term referring to unwanted, uncomfortable, or dangerous effects that a drug may have. . Side effect is an imprecise term often used to refer to a drug’s unintended effects that occur within the therapeutic range.
