Author Question: A nursing student wants to know how carbidopa can be effective for treating Parkinson's disease if ... (Read 53 times)

Marty · **on:** Jul 23, 2018

A nursing student wants to know how carbidopa can be effective for treating Parkinson's disease if it prevents the conversion of levodopa to dopamine. The nurse explains that carbidopa:

a. can be taken with high-protein meals.
b. does not cross the blood-brain barrier.
c. has dopamine-like effects of its own.
d. reduces abrupt loss of effect.

Question 2

A patient who has been taking an antihypertensive medication for several years is recovering from a myocardial infarction. The prescriber changes the patient's medication to an ACE inhibi-tor. The patient asks the nurse why a new drug is necessary.

What is the nurse's response? a. ACE inhibitors can prevent or reverse pathologic changes in the heart's struc-ture.
b. ACE inhibitors help lower LDL choles-terol and raise HDL cholesterol.
c. ACE inhibitors increase venous return to the heart, improving cardiac output.
d. ACE inhibitors regulate electrolytes that affect the cardiac rhythm.

steff9894 · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 23, 2018

Answer to Question 1

B
Carbidopa inhibits decarboxylation of levodopa in the intestine and peripheral tissues, leading to more levodopa in the CNS. Carbidopa cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, so it does not have this action in the CNS. Carbidopa is not given with high-protein meals. Carbidopa does not have dopamine-like effects. Carbidopa does not affect abrupt loss of effect.

Answer to Question 2

A
ACE inhibitors have many advantages over other antihypertensive medications, the most impor-tant of which is their ability to prevent or reverse pathologic changes in the heart and reduce the risk of cardiac mortality caused by hypertension. They are useful in patients with high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, but they do not directly affect this comorbidity. They reduce venous return to the heart, thereby reducing right heart size. They do not alter serum electrolyte levels.