How Medication Works: Overview

June 1, 2009 by The Medibolism Team  

First it is important to understand how most drugs works in general, by a simple example. Say for instance you have a glass of water in front of you to take a drink you would pick the glass up, bring it to your mouth and take a drink. This action is done by you without thinking. It is an automatic response to an electrical impulse signal sent from one part of your brain which enters a nerve cell. On its journey to your arm it will pass down many more nerve cells. At the end of each nerve cell a chemical substance called a neurotransmitter is released, this chemical carries the nerve cell signal between cell ends. The end product would be to cause action in the arm that would pick up the glass of water.

Many drugs can alter this cell information procedure by effecting receptor sites on the cell. Some drugs are known as agonists, which means they intensify the cell activity, while others are known as antagonists, which help reduce activity in the cells. In a medical example it would work along the same lines. Inflammation is a good medical example. Inflammation is caused through the action of certain natural hormones and other chemicals on blood vessels and blood cells. Anti-inflammatory drugs block the action of the hormones, or slow them down.

There are many drugs that use this same pattern when treating various aliments. If for instance you were on a drug that was treating you for a mental health complaint and one of the side effects from this drug was a sedative effect in the initial stages, then the automatic action of picking up your glass of water may become a lot more difficult because of the way the drug is interfering with the normal electrical signal (slowing it down).

Drugs can change the way these cells work by reducing, or increasing the normal level of activity altering the transmitted signal by which messages are sent from one part of the body to another part… Now that is out the way, onward and upward (me thinks)…