Why Are Some Patients Sensitive to Narcotics and Others are Not?

Blame cytochrome P450 2D6, also known as CYP2D6. Found in the liver, it is responsible for metabolizing drugs including many narcotics. It also determines how "sensitive" a patient is to these drugs. For example, codeine is not bioactive until it is metabolized by CYP2D6 into morphine, the bioactive form that helps with pain. As such, how "sensitive" a patient is to codeine is determined by how active their CYP2D6 is. The more active, the more quickly codeine is c…

10/15/2012 0

Continue Reading

Poor Quality Sleep Contributes to High Blood Pressure

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is known to cause all sorts of health problems beyond sleepiness. Medical problems include increased risk of stroke, heart attack, peripheral vascular disease, high blood pressure, etc. However, what researchers have recently found is that even if you do not have obstructive sleep apnea , if a person does not have enough "deep sleep" per night resulting in poor quality sleep, that also can increase risk of hypertension. Researchers collected data o…

8/30/2011 0

Continue Reading