Medicine sensitivities
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Medicine sensitivities or drug intolerance/sensitivity refers to an inability to tolerate the adverse effects of a medication, generally at therapeutic or subtherapeutic doses. Conversely, a patient is said to be "tolerating" a drug when they can tolerate its adverse effects. It is not to be confused with a drug allergy, which is a form of drug intolerance, but requires an immune-mediated component. It is also not to be confused with drug tolerance ("drug resistance," or tachyphylaxis) which refers to a lack of adverse effects even at higher than average doses. Some instances of drug intolerance are known to result from genetic variations in drug metabolism.[1]
It is a common problem for ME/CFS patients.
Symptom recognition[edit | edit source]
- The International Consensus Criteria lists sensitivities to food, medications, odors or chemicals as an optional criteria for diagnosis, under the section C. Immune, gastro-intestinal and genitourinary Impairments.[2]
- 2018, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website ME/CFS page Monitoring the Use of All Medicines and Supplements[3] gives guidance for healthcare providers on medications for ME/CFS patients.
Many patients with ME/CFS are sensitive to medications. This is particularly true of any medication that acts on the central nervous system, such as sedating medications: therapeutic benefits can often be achieved at lower-than-standard doses. Patients with ME/CFS might tolerate or need only a fraction of the usual recommended doses for medications. After initial management with lower dosing, one or more gradual increases may be considered as necessary and as tolerated by the patient.[3]
Prevalence[edit | edit source]
- In a 2001 Belgian study, 48.5% of patients meeting the Fukuda criteria and 54.8% of patients meeting the Holmes criteria, in a cohort of 2073 CFS patients, reported new sensitivities to food or drugs.[4]
Learn more[edit | edit source]
See also[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ "Drug intolerance". Wikipedia. March 12, 2018.
- ↑ Carruthers, BM; van de Sande, MI; De Meirleir, KL; Klimas, NG; Broderick, G; Mitchell, T; Staines, D; Powles, ACP; Speight, N; Vallings, R; Bateman, L; Baumgarten-Austrheim, B; Bell, DS; Carlo-Stella, N; Chia, J; Darragh, A; Jo, D; Lewis, DP; Light, AR; Marshall-Gradisnik, S; Mena, I; Mikovits, JA; Miwa, K; Murovska, M; Pall, ML; Stevens, SR (August 22, 2011), "Myalgic encephalomyelitis: International Consensus Criteria", Journal of Internal Medicine, 270 (4): 327–338, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2796.2011.02428.x, PMID 21777306
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Monitoring the Use of All Medicines and Supplements | Clinical Care of Patients | Healthcare Providers | Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) | CDC". www.cdc.gov. July 10, 2018. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
- ↑ De Becker, Pascale; McGregor, Neil; De Meirleir, Kenny (December 2001). "A definition‐based analysis of symptoms in a large cohort of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome". Journal of Internal Medicine. 250 (3): 234–240. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2796.2001.00890.x.
