PHAR 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Postpartum Bleeding, Ephedra, Ergometrine

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Pharmacology and Toxicology
• Course: PHAR 100
• Professor: Bill Racz

Document Summary

Drug any substance received by a biological system that is not received for nutritive purposes. Throughout history medicine and religion have often been intertwined ie) medicine man and priest are one. Intoxicating substances often used by healers to reach new plane of consciousness. Ie) mescaline used n. a causes hallucinations, psilocybin in mexico. Poisons ordeal trials in west and central africa. Would weed out sorcerers by administering lethal doses of poison. Amazon blow darts tipped with curare poison which inhibits ach action at neuromuscular junctions causing smooth and skeletal muscle peristalsis resulting in death. Derivatives of curare are used today as muscle relaxants in surgery. Ingestion causes severe vasoconstriction of extremities leading to burning in the limbs (st. a(cid:374)tho(cid:374)y"s fire) a(cid:374)d ga(cid:374)gre(cid:374)e. also (cid:373)irrors the effects of lsd causing hallucinations and convulsions. Also causes contractions of smooth muscle so can cause abortions. Used to be used by midwives to speed child birth but too high a dose killed fetus.