why is my dad on dopamine for copd?

Answer 1

Dopamine administered as a drug doesn't cross the barrier to the brain, first of all. So it probably doesn't do what you THINK it does. It certainly has no effect on quitting smoking (they usually use nicotine replacement therapy for that!).

What it IS usually given for is to increase cardiac output and blood pressure. For a person with compromised lungs, this may be seen by his doctors as an alternative to other treatments such as carrying an oxygen tank around. They can't fix the lungs themselves, so they make the other systems work a little harder to compensate so your father won't be oxygen-deprived. I hope it works!

Answer 2

My late mom-in-law also had COPD. What a terrible illness to have to suffer with...
Dopamine is given for different reasons, I think... but one is to curb the urge itself to smoke .
"Overall, these results imply that smoking behavior can be manipulated
within the same subjects in opposite directions by alternately stimulating
and blocking dopamine, which strongly suggests the importance of
dopamine in reinforcement from cigarette smoking," said lead researcher
Nicholas H. Caskey of the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare
System and the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA's David Geffen School
of Medicine. (Source: HealthScoutNews

Answer 3

COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Dopamine HCl is indicated for the correction of hemodynamic imbalances present in the shock syndrome due to myocardial infarction, trauma, endotoxic septicemia, open-heart surgery, renal failure, and chronic cardiac decompensation as in congestive failure.

Patients most likely to respond adequately to dopamine HCl are those in whom physiological parameters, such as urine flow, myocardial function, and blood pressure, have not undergone profound deterioration. Multiclinic trials indicate that the shorter the time interval between onset of signs and symptoms and initiation of therapy with blood volume correction and dopamine HCl, the better the prognosis. Where appropriate, blood volume restoration with a suitable plasma expander or whole blood should be accomplished prior to administration of dopamine HCl.

Answer 4

i dont know what that is so explain a little more next time