Most common interactions of psychotropic drugs

RESUMO

Interaction between psychotropic drugs is an important issue due to the fact that very often a patient will take more than one drug. Interactions belongs to two main field Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic. Pharmacokinetic is related to Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion. Many drugs interacts at this level. Enzymatic Induction and Inhibition are one of the most important mechanism of interaction and psychotropic drugs. Cytochrome P 450 is a highly sensitive enzyme to induction and inhibition, and responsible for many of these interactions. Lithium has many interactions in the kidney, where his elimination can be strongly affected by drugs, as non-steroid antiinflamatories and diuretics. Anticholinergic effect addition is one very frequent pharmacodynamic interaction, e.g. with Tricyclic Antidepressants and Neuroleptics. Alcohol affects all available psychotropic drugs, enhancing their sedative effects, and interfering with their therapeutic effects. Surgery is a condition where drug-drug interactions are potentially dangerous, so doctors have to take care of this avoiding anticholinergic summatory effect.