Your goal for this assignment will be to research and find at least one medicine that is used for treatment or symptom management for your selected disorder or injury. Regardless of whether your treatment is a cure or a method of symptom management, you need to determine how the medicine works. Note that you do not need to be able to describe the specific mechanisms; however, you should be able to state the process in simplistic terms. For example, you might find that the medication does not alter the process of cell damage; however, it enables the neurotransmitters in the cells that remain to be used more effectively. After establishing how the treatment works, determine how effective the treatment is and how long the treatment will last. Will the person have to take the medicine for the rest of his or her life, or is it given during a brief time period? In some cases, the timing of medication application must be considered, for example, a clot-dissolving drug given in the early stages of clot formation in an ischemic stroke is more effective and leads to a better prognosis than when the drug is given later in the process.
