Complementary+Medicines+Answers+2007

=Complementary Medicines Answers 2007= **1. A 28 year old female customer asks for your advice about using cranberry for a urinary tract infection. She** **explains she has a urinary tract infection, the third one she has experienced this year.**

**b) What advice would you give the customer about the suitability of using cranberry for treatment and prevention** **of urinary tract infections?** **c) What kinds of cranberry products are available?** **2. A number of reports of drug interactions involving the herb St John’s wort have appeared in the medical** **literature.**
 * a) Would cranberry be suitable as a treatment for the urinary tract infection?**


 * a) When taken orally, preparations containing St John’s wort have been found to reduce the plasma** **concentrations of a range of conventional drugs including digoxin, indinavir and cyclosporin. What are the two** **mechanisms by which St John’s Wort may reduce the plasma concentration of these other drugs?**

**c) Why might a change from one brand of St John’s Wort to another affect the extent of the interaction with** **another drug?** **3. Different types of ginseng including Korean ginseng (**// **Panax ginseng**  //  **) and Siberian ginseng (**  //  **Eleutherococcus** **senticosus**  //  **) are sometimes used as “adaptogens”. What do you understand by the term “adaptogen”?**
 * b) There have also been reports of St John’s wort causing “serotonin syndrome” when it has been used in** **conjunction with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Explain the mechanism by which this is** **thought to occur.**
 * 4a. What do you understand by the term “phytoestrogen”?**


 * 4b. Why are products containing isoflavones promoted for the relief of menopausal symptoms?**