Side Effects

Ever wonder about side effects? What is a side effect? Is it more than just unpleasant symptoms, or could it be something more serious?

Side effects: Problems that occur when treatment goes beyond the desired effect. Or problems that occur in addition to the desired therapeutic effect.

Example -- A hemorrhage from the use of too much anticoagulant (such as heparin) is a side effect caused by treatment going beyond the desired effect. (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=5489)

In a recent class of Physiology and Anatomy, my fellow classmates and I disscused with our teacher the cause and effect of "side effects" from drugs. The discussion enlightened me on this topic, but it also gave me some concern because the discussion relevantly coincides with the chapter on the Nervous System. Even though I am merely a student, the material covered in the discussion provided some "rabbit trails" to follow, and I want to shed some light on the subject. Hopefully you can find the answers yourself through your own research.

Your body has a nervous system. Your nervous system can be broken down into seperate catagories:

-The Central Nervous System (CNS)
-The Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
-The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
-Special Senses (Smelling, Vision, Hearing, etc.)

Your nervous system also consists of tissue (or "pieces parts") and that's were this is going. Your nervous system has two pathways; Going to the CNS (afferent pathway) and going away from the CNS (efferent pathway). http://medicaldictionary.com/ Your "afferent pathway" is the one that carries the signals to your brain. The part of your brain that tells you if you like what is being sent to your brain or not is the Thalamus. Thalamus is the reason you like bell peppers or don't like bell peppers. It tells your brain "This is is good, I like this".

But what sent those signals to the brain and then the Thalamus? That would be the receptors. Receptors consist of neurotransmitters, axons, dendrites, basal nuclei, ganglia, and this and that and whole bunch of other things that can be broken down into cells and then chemicals until we have nothing left but microscopic particles. That doesn't even skim the surface, so yeah, it's a hard chapter in Anatomy.

So what does this have to do with side effects? Let's start simple. You take a drug, pain goes away... How? All of your body organs, limbs, bones, and muscles have nerve receptors. You touch something cold with your finger, that receptor just told your brain "That's cold". You break a leg playing outside, your brain will scream "Pain".

To put it simple, the drugs you are taking were created by some doctor or scientist who spends his life studying Chemistry, Biology, and yes Anatomy. That dude will study your nervous system and look at your receptors. You want a drug that kills the pain in your leg, the doc will give you a drug that is composed of chemicals that will target the receptors of your leg, and block the receptor until the drug expires.

Just like that. So when you take that stuff, you're not doing better, but you feel good because there is no pain. But there is still a problem with whatever you blocked. Side effects are caused by the drug not being chemically specific. Meaning if you have a drug with a list of side effect the length of grandma's stockings, then that means the chemicals are hitting more receptors than they should be and those receptors are going off effecting parts of your body that didn't have a problem in the first place. And that can cause some major problems depending on what the drug was intended for in the first place.

So when you go to the doctor, or are looking for some pain relief, look at the side effects and consider the risks. Consider if killing the pain is worth it; can you get by with just one day of discomfort? I'll let you be the judge.