I came across this useful table of benzodiazepine equivalents and decided to share it with you. Converting one drug to another always comes with challenges and benzodiazepines are no different. It’s not always easy to know exactly what to do or how to convert...
When giving a presentation the other day, I received a question about how to handle gabapentin abuse. It is a tough question, much like opioid, benzo, stimulant, or any other controlled substance. Recognizing the risk of abuse potential, in August 2016, Minnesota...
With changing antidepressants, there are lots of considerations to consider. Are we going to augment, switch to a different antidepressant in the same class, or switch to a different class? Are we changing up the medication regimen because of side effects or...
Urine drug screens are often confusing if you don’t interpret them on a regular basis. I think a big reason for confusion is a lack of education on what these tools can do and what they look at. I would definitely classify myself as needing to learn more about...
KL is a 79 year old male with a history of Parkinson’s disease. About 2 weeks ago, he had been having worsening symptoms of rigidity and his wife is concerned with this newer development. At that time, his Sinemet dosing was increased from 25/100 TID to 50/200 TID....
Selection of antipsychotics is challenging, and in my experience, you never know for sure which medication will work for each patient. Here’s a few important clinical pearls regarding the use of antipsychotics. Typical (1st generation) antipsychotics are generally...
