Operating Hours: M-F 9-6pm EST quick search: over 10,000 products Prescription Prices Price Calculator Shopping Cart Current Order 0 items selected Medical Information Personalized Medicine Pharmacogenetic Testing Side Effects Weaning Off Medications Health Topics Bulletins Weaning Off Medications New: Tools for Docs Pharmacy.ca Using This Site About Us Certification Careers Contact Us Bio-Burden Calculator (for Oral Medications) Bio-Load is the total amount of medication that a person's body must process, metabolize and/or eliminate. Bio-Burden is the amount of excess medication that a person must process, i.e. in excess of the amount needed to achieve a therapeutic benefit. Below is a simple Bio-Burden Calculator that automatically calculates the theoretical Bio-Burden for any long-term medication. The computation is based on a hypothetical ability to be well controlled on a lower dose of your medication than the commercially available strength you are currently on. Strength: This is the amount of a single medication you take at one time. It is usually expressed in milligrams (mg) or grams (g).   Times per 24 Hrs: Enter the number of times you typically take the medication in a 24 hour period.   % reduced: Enter the percentage you would like to reduce the dose by (0-100). Example: enter 15 for a 15% reduction   Number of Years: Enter the number of years you expect to be on the medication. Enter 0.5 for six months, 0.75 for nine months, etc.   BIO-BURDEN: Which is equivalent to days of extra medication that your body will have to process. The Bio-Burden number above is expressed in the same units you used in the calculation above, i.e. milligrams or grams. Please note that the Bio-Burden result calculated is a hypothetical number only. It demonstrates how much a small excess of medication can add to your body's drug clearance workload. More information and background on Bio-Load: Why should a patient's liver be detoxifying 75-milligrams per day of medication when 45-milligrams per day is enough? This is exactly what happens when drugs are prescribed at convenient commercial strengths rather than according to each patient's specific needs. Any medication that is taken at a dose greater than required for an effective therapeutic benefit is an unnecessary burden for the organs of detoxification such as the liver and kidneys. For example, on an annual basis, a patient who could be satisfactorily managed on 45-milligram per day of a product instead of the 75-milligram commercially available strength would be taking 66% (30mg/45mg )more medication than required for a therapeutic benefit. See calculations below: In our view, it is worth the additional effort to find the ideal strength for a patient on long term medication(s) in order to avoid unnecessary exposure to chemical substances. In our hypothetical example, the patient was exposed to as much as 10,950 milligrams of excess drug - their Bio-Burden. The chemical substance and metabolites represented by this additional and unnecessary amount of drug doesn't just disappear when it is finally excreted, it becomes an environmental burden as well. Return to main article... | home | prescriptions | non-prescription medicine | vitamins, herbals & nutrition | personal care | | allergy medicine | excessive sweating| arthritis | smoking cessation | hair loss | back pain | medical tests | 311 Sherbourne St, Toronto, On M5A 3Y1 1-416-960-7768 OCP Accreditation number 17533, owner is Central Medical Pharmacy Inc. Designated manager is Veronique Koo, B Sc Phm. Pharmacists are available for counselling during operating hours. The information provided on our site is for general information purposes only and is not intended to qualify, supplement or replace that of your medical professional. Your doctor or healthcare giver should undertake diagnosing and treating your medical condition. [c] © 1999 PurePharm Inc. All rights reserved Copyright and Legal Disclaimer.