Practice Test Geeks(LPCC) Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors Certification Practice Test
← All LPCC Flashcard Decks

Pharmacology Fundamentals Flashcards

7 cards from real LPCC practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Pharmacology Fundamentals flashcards as text

  1. A client with opioid use disorder is prescribed naltrexone. How does naltrexone's mechanism differ from methadone's mechanism in treating opioid use disorder?

    Answer: Naltrexone is an opioid antagonist blocking reward; methadone is a full agonist reducing cravings and withdrawal

    Naltrexone blocks mu-opioid receptors without activating them (antagonist), preventing euphoria, while methadone is a full mu-opioid agonist that reduces withdrawal and cravings.

  2. Which pharmacokinetic process describes how a highly lipid-soluble drug like diazepam initially has a rapid onset but shorter duration of action due to redistribution?

    Answer: Volume of distribution and redistribution

    Diazepam is highly lipid-soluble, giving it rapid CNS onset, but it quickly redistributes into peripheral fat tissues, shortening its clinical effect despite a long elimination half-life.

  3. A client on lithium is prescribed ibuprofen for back pain. What pharmacokinetic interaction is most clinically significant?

    Answer: NSAIDs reduce renal clearance of lithium, raising levels and increasing toxicity risk

    NSAIDs inhibit prostaglandin-mediated renal blood flow, reducing lithium excretion by the kidneys and causing lithium levels to rise dangerously.

  4. What is the pharmacological rationale for using benzodiazepines to manage acute alcohol withdrawal rather than antipsychotics?

    Answer: Benzodiazepines enhance GABA activity, compensating for the CNS hyperexcitability that results from chronic alcohol suppression of GABA

    Chronic alcohol use downregulates GABA receptors; upon cessation, CNS hyperexcitability occurs, and benzodiazepines restore GABAergic inhibition to prevent seizures and delirium.

  5. A client on an antidepressant develops urinary retention, dry mouth, blurred vision, and constipation. Which class of antidepressant is most likely responsible?

    Answer: Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs)

    Tricyclic antidepressants have significant anticholinergic properties that block muscarinic receptors, producing the classic side effect cluster of urinary retention, dry mouth, blurred vision, and constipation.

  6. When a client is transitioning from phenelzine (an MAOI) to fluoxetine (an SSRI), what is the minimum recommended washout period to prevent serotonin syndrome?

    Answer: At least 14 days after stopping the MAOI before starting fluoxetine

    A minimum 14-day washout after stopping an MAOI is required before initiating an SSRI to allow MAO enzyme regeneration and prevent potentially fatal serotonin syndrome.

  7. Which of the following best describes the concept of 'bioavailability' in pharmacokinetics?

    Answer: The fraction of an administered drug that reaches systemic circulation in an active form

    Bioavailability refers to the proportion of an administered drug dose that reaches systemic circulation unchanged and is available to exert a pharmacological effect.