A nurse explains to a nursing student why opioid antidiarrheal ...

[RYAN BANYAN]

A nurse explains to a nursing student why opioid antidiarrheal medications are classified as drugs with little or no abuse potential. Which statement by the student indicates a need for further teaching?
 
  a. Formulations for the treatment of diarr-hea have very short half-lives.
  b. Opioid antidiarrheal drugs contain other drugs with unpleasant side effects at higher doses.
  c. Some opioid antidiarrheal drugs do not cross the blood-brain barrier.
  d. Some opioid antidiarrheal medications are not water soluble and cannot be given parenterally.

Question 2

A patient has taken levodopa Dopar for Parkinson's disease for 2 weeks but reports no improvement in the symptoms. Which response by the nurse is correct?
 
  a. Another agent will be needed to manage your symptoms.
  b. Double the dose to see whether an effect occurs.
  c. It may take several months for a response to occur.
  d. The prescriber may need to change your drug regimen.

[kkenney]

Answer to Question 1

A
The half-life of the opioid antidiarrheal drugs is the same as that of the opioid analgesics. The formulations of opioid antidiarrheal medications that are classified with low abuse potential are often combined with atropine, which has unpleasant side effects at higher doses. Some opioid antidiarrheal drugs are formulated so that they do not cross the blood-brain barrier. Others are not water soluble and therefore cannot be dissolved and injected.

Answer to Question 2

C
A full therapeutic response with levodopa may take several months to develop. Until the true ef-fect of the dose is seen, it is not necessary to change to another drug, increase the dose, or change the drug regimen.

[RYAN BANYAN]

Thanks for the timely response, appreciate it

[nanny]

Excellent