Digitalis:

Digitalis is a great great plant 🙂 ! , it’s leaves are rich in Glycosides which are very popular in the treatment of many cardiac diseases especially  ” Digoxin glycoside ” 🙂

Digitalis is sub-classified into many species ” e.g: Digitalis Lanata ”

Let’s have a look on our today’s toon :whistle:

Mr heart has been taking digitalis with optimum dosage,” do you know the digitalis standard regimen  😉 ?”

as you see Mr Heart looks in Great shape :heart: , pretty muscular  😎 … thanks to digitalis content of cardiac glycosides :happy:

these Glycosides strengthen the muscles of the heart ” +ve inotropic effect “ enabling the heart to pump blood more efficiently

that’s why they are called ” Cardiotonic “

Cardio = Heart

Tonic = increase the muscle tone

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Mmmm …

that’s it about Digitalis action .. but wait ! , take a look again to Our toon 🙂

Noticed anything weird :blink: ?

Yeah , Mr heart is Sleepy :sleeping: … i’ll tell you why 🙂

Digoxin is awesome in the treatment of CHF ” congestive hear faliure ” , but nothing is perfect in this life :ermm:

Digoxin has a very narrow therapeutic index :ermm: ” tiny difference between therapeutic dose & toxic dose “ :unsure:

+ plus , it has long half life :ermm: ” slowly eliminated out of the body “ :unsure:

So , if Digoxin doses aren’t monitored & adjusted properly for each patient .. there would be a high risk of toxicity :dizzy:

Digitalis toxicity can lead to life threatening Heart Block “that’s the sleepy heart in the toon 😉 “

Do you know what is the Antidote for Digitalis Toxicity?

[tip] “Digibind“ is the antidote for life-threatening digoxin or digitoxin toxicity ,

it’s an anti-digoxin immunotherapy of purified Fab fragments extracted from animals ” e.g: ovine “

   it’s administered intravenously in saline solution over 30 to 60 minutes [/tip]

it’s also helpful to assess the patient for the most common early indicators of toxicity which are usually GI -related

 Common Gastrointestinal symptoms include :

• Abdominal pain
• Anorexia
• Diarrhea
• Nausea
• Vomiting

Early management & Dose adjustment would fully prevent the development of sever digitalis toxicity 🙂

:heart: God bless your hearts and souls  :happy: :heart:

further information about Digitalis glycosides ” Digoxin \ Digitoxin ” will be discussed later 🙂

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References :

Goodman & Gilman’s , The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics – 11th edition

Clinical Pharmacology Made Incredibly Easy – 3rd Edition