Essays on Drug Therapy

Introduction

Migraine is a common type of headache disorder which is characterized by moderate to severe recurrent headache. Migraine headaches are generally severe and could last up to 3 days, wherein the pain affects half of the head but the pain is pulsating in nature. People with acute migraine headache may have suffer from sensitivity to light, vomiting, nausea, and sensitivity to smell and sound. In some cases, the pain may become severe and worsen after physical activity. In 1/3rd of patients with migraine, a short period of visual disturbance or aura occurs which is an indication that the pain ...

Abstract

COPD is an illness that primarily affects the respiratory system. It is a treatable and preventable illness that is characterized by persistent and progressive limitation of airflow into the lungs. in its severity, COPD is a condition that requires frequent hospitalizations due to exacerbations that occur once there is a trigger effect or the patient is exposed to an allergen. Within the US, COPD is regarded as the third leading cause of death and there is evidence to show that up to 11 million persons have been diagnosed with COPD (Global initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease Inc, 2015). ...

1. The patient is diagnosed to have congestive heart failure. This is a heart disorder resulting to pulmonary vascular congestion with a reduced cardiac output. Among the diagnostic symptoms of the disorder include pulmonary complications, such as pulmonary edema, obstructive sleep apneas and pleaural effusions (Figueroa and Peters 2006). It is also characterized by the main symptoms of orthopnea, fatigue, dyspnea, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea and peripheral edema (Grimshaw, Khunti and Baker, 2001), which are all present in the clinical symptoms presented by the patient Mabel. During the exacerbation of the congestive heart failure, the patient will benefit from continuous ...

The purpose of this paper is to review the etiology, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, inheritance patterns, and recent advances in disease management of cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a progressive and lethal disease resulting from an autosomal recessive gene (Singh, Rebordosa, Bernholz, & Sharma, 2015). The major problem associated with cystic fibrosis is the repeated lung infections that over time severely damage the lungs, scar and widen the passageways and limit the ability to breathe (Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, n.d.). As of 2013, there are an estimated 70,000 cystic fibrosis patients globally with 33,000 of them in the United States ( ...

Introduction

The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive report on a case study conducted on an individual who is displaying symptoms of hypertension. The paper explicitly explores as a chronic disease and some of the aspects that will be touched on include its epidemiology, Pathophysiology, differential diagnosis, treatment plan, drug analysis and follow up care.

Hypertension, also commonly referred to as high blood pressure is a body condition in which blood vessels, specifically the arteries high and persistent pressure. This high pressure makes it hard for the heart to pump blood to all the other parts of the body. Hypertension inadvertently ...

1) What is the pharmacodynamics effect of angiotensin-converting enzymes inhibitors (ACEI'S and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB'S) in reference to the cardiovascular system? 

The pharmacodynamics effect of angiotensin-converting enzymes inhibitors (ACEI'S) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB'S) in reference to the cardiovascular system is based on its overall function of inhibiting the function of angiotensin II and aldosterone hormone production (Woo & Wynne 12). These drugs are purposely used to control high blood pressure, and they tend to act on the renin angiotensin aldosterone system to lower blood pressure. The mechanism of action ARBs is quite different from ACE inhibitors which act by inhibiting the formation of angiotensin II, which increases blood pressure by stimulating smooth muscles and water retention ...

Patient AO is currently treated with atenolol 12.5 mg daily with doxazosin (8 mg daily), hydralazine (10 mg qid), sertraline (25 mg daily), and simvastatin (80 mg daily) for hypertension and hyperlipidemia. The patient also has a medical history of obesity and has gained 9 pounds recently. According to Arcangelo and Peterson (2013), age is a significant factor in determining treatment for hypertension and hyperlipidemia. In adult patients, adverse events will be unlikely. However, decreased hepatic and renal functions in elderly patients may influence drug therapy recommendations.

It is recommended that the treatment starts with diuretics and beta blockers if possible ...

Psychoactive drugs are chemical substances that affect neurotransmitter transmission in specific parts of the brain. The chronic use of psychoactive drugs results in drug addiction; a compulsive urge to continue using the drug, physical and or psychological dependence on drug and a tendency to increase the dosage of the drug. Compulsive drug-seeking behavior and psychological dependence have biological and psychological dimensions. The psychological dependence implies the compulsive self-administration of the drug, caused by both its reinforcing or rewarding effects and the unpleasant experience, such as abstinence syndrome produced by the sudden interruption of its consumption. The biological dependence implies that addiction ...

Diabetes Types, stats and pathology

Introduction 2 Statistics 2 Types of Diabetes 3 Type-1Diabetes 3 Type-2 Diabetes 4 Juvenile Diabetes 4 Gestational Diabetes 4 Prediabetes 5 LADA 5 MODY (Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young) 5 Causes, Symptoms, and Diagnosis 6 Medical diagnosis 7 Causes 8 Monitoring diabetes and Drug Therapy 10 Insulin Shots and therapeutic agents 10 Dietary Considerations and Nutrition Therapy 11 Conclusion 11 Introduction Diabetes is a challenging disease for current health care that is causing a heavy financial burden to the society. Estimations have ...

The United States of America has witnessed increased cultural diversity in the last few decades. Unfortunately, research has indicated that there is great disparity in the quality of health care disseminated to different cultural groups in the society. Evidence is increasingly showing that people belonging to minority communities particularly receive less quality health care. Contrary to popular belief however, the low quality of health care among minority communities is not simply attributable to their economic status but can be attributed to an aggregate of several factors. Efforts aimed at eliminating these disparities should be focused on understanding cultural contexts ...

Abstract

Organ transplantation is an important life-saving procedure for those people, who have some problems in their organs. However, the problem of organ transplant rejection is an important issue in this case. In this problem, patient’s immune system starts rejecting the organ as a foreign body. This problem of rejection of the organ can be acute or become chronic. Several diagnostic procedures have also been developed to reduce the problem of rejection of an organ. Scientists have done a lot of research in this regard. Acute rejection needs immediate care. In order to reduce the problem, specialists will check the area ...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic disease that refers to both the Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. These two conditions are variants of IBD that often share some pathophysiological similarities and differences. The incidence of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis may be influenced by familial or hereditary predisposition (Brant, 2007) that may be relevant in the case of the 38-year old male patient suffering from ulcerative colitis and whose aunt was previously diagnosed with a Crohn’s disease. According to Baumgart (2012), a heritability studies of IBD revealed a prominent genetic component. This hereditary disposition is about 75 to 80 ...

The Joint Commission has implemented several changes to show quality and performance improvements. First it has expanded the performance measurement requirement for accredited general surgical/medical hospital from four core measures sets to six (The Joint Commission, 2014). This change was implemented from January 2014.According to the new performance measurement, out of the six measure sets, four are mandatory for the hospitals that serve special patient populations addressed by both the measure sets as well as the related measures (The Joint Commision., 2014). For hospitals that experience more than 1100 births annually, a fifth measure set will be mandatory, and this ...

Government, on behalf of society, has long grappled with discovering ways to protect communities from sexual offenders while, at the same time, determine effective ways to treat the offenders. Sexual offenses span a wide range of behaviors from public indecency to fondling to buying or selling children for the purposes of prostitution. One difficulty in creating services for sex offenders is that as a group they are as heterogeneous as the general population. No distinct group of causal factors has been identified, and there are numerous types of offenders. Sexual offenders come from every segment of our society, may be any ...

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious disease and the number of cases is increasing worldwide among the public. Each year worldwide, over More than 12 million people are diagnosed with TB and over 4000,000 people die due to the disease. The large population and poor standards of living can have a major impact on TB epidemics. Can there be a new alternative to traditional use of drugs for treatment of tuberculosis? Most of the drugs approved by the FDA have no lasting effect on patients with tuberculosis, since the strains of bacteria have acquired resistance leading to a state of Multi-drug resistance. An ...

A good example of drug therapy to treat behavior problems is the use of stimulant in children with DHDA. There has been an ongoing debate around it, and the big question is whether or not it is safe to prescribe drugs, especially stimulants to children. There have also been questions on whether or not drug therapy is effective on the long run, and if they bring any side effects. Those against drug therapy say that the other behavior techniques can provide better results in the long run. After all, there has not been a full agreement about whether the ...

Introduction

Angina refers to pain or tightness experienced in the chest area (Jevon, 2012). Angina is divided into stable and unstable angina. Stable angina takes place on exertion and occurs when the heart muscle demand for blood is more than the supply. On the other hand, unstable angina may occur in variety of clinical situations. This may include patients having coronary artery disease. Patients having unstable angina usually undergo diagnostic and therapeutic procedures that are used on other coronary artery diseases patients (Braunwald, 1997). Unstable angina emanates from the increase in myocardial oxygen demand or in a reduction in myocardial ...

Behavior Therapy

Behavior therapy is the use of learning procedures to eliminate maladaptive behaviors such as schizophrenia, phobias, and anxiety (Myers, 2010, p. 652; Passer & Smith, 2010, p. 592). Behavior therapy is based on the thinking that observable behavior is the problem, rather than a symptom of some invisible, underlying issue (Passer & Smith, 2010, p. 592). Behavior therapy helps people to unlearn some behaviors such as fear of public speaking or anxiety. It can also help in arresting other conditions such as autism. The major approaches used in behavior therapy are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is a type of ...

Prostate cancer develops in the prostate, and although it usually takes time to develop, it can be aggressive and progress quickly. The cancer cells will spread locally first, but they will often metastasize to other organs and tissues, such as the bones and lymph nodes, when the disorder progresses to advanced stages. Symptoms of prostate cancer can include difficulty urinating, nocturia, increased frequency, and various other bladder-associated symptoms. However, symptoms usually do not occur in prostate cancer until the disorder reaches advanced stages, so proper screening and prevention methods are required to promote patient safety. According to the ...

Introduction

Identifying and describing a researchable Problem Essential hypertension is a term used to describe high blood pressure of unknown etiology. According to Messerli, Williamsand Ritz (2007) this condition increases the risks of cerebral damage, renal dysfunction and cardiac disease. In industrialized nations there is a 90% risk of developing hypertension during an individual’s life time. It means blood pressure readings above 120/80 moving towards 140/90(Messerli et.al, 2007). Approximately, 43 million Americans are hypertensive and using antihypertensive medication. This is 24% of the adult population. There are racial variations with blacks showing an incidence of 32.4%; whites 23.3% and ...

Diabetes is a group of metabolic conditions that are similar in terms of disorder development, symptoms, and potential complications. Three main groups of diabetes include type 1 diabetes mellitus, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and gestational diabetes. All types of diabetes are characterized by similar symptoms, such as polyuria and hyperglycemia, but the causes of diabetes are often different and require a personalized approach to drug therapy and lifestyle management. The onset of type 2 diabetes usually occurs because adipose tissue and muscle cells lose insulin sensitivity or because the pancreas loses the ability to produce enough insulin (Arcangelo & Peterson, 2013). ...

- When assessing a patient, one must use the DSM-IV, or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, to determine what psychological disorder one has (Feldman, p. 455). The DSM-IV uses five axes of information in assessing patients. In Axis I, there is contained all the diagnoses of every aspect of a psychological disorder except mental retardation and the personality disorders. These kinds of disorders include anxiety disorders, ADHD, bipolar disorders, depression, schizophrenia, anorexia, bulimia and more. In Axis II, the DSM-IV covers information related to personality disorders and mental retardation. These personality disorders include schizoid, borderline, antisocial, narcissistic, avoidant, obsessive-compulsive, ...

Psychotherapeutic agents are the pillars to disease treatment and symptoms alleviations. The major factors considered when choosing a suitable psychotherapeutic agency are safety, efficacy, and tolerability. This paper evaluates psychotherapeutic agents in view of the case of MM, a 60 year old African American female who presented at a clinic with three months lack of sleep. She works in a high stress environment as a chemical engineer. Tests and readings conducted revel the patients BP is 156/80, T = 98.8, SpO2 = 99%, TSH = 3.4, cholesterol = 200 mg/dl, LDL = 128 and HDL = 40mg/dl. She commonly experiences gastroesophageal reflux (manifested as heartburn) and indigestion after eating food. ...

Introduction

- Identifying and describing a researchable Problem

Identifying 5 questions

Preliminary PICO question and description of each variable Conclusion 10 key words that can be used in literature review search Introduction

Identifying and describing a researchable Problem

Essential hypertension is a term used to describe high blood pressure of unknown etiology. According to Messerli, Williams and Ritz (2007) this condition increases the risks of cerebral damage, renal dysfunction and cardiac disease. In industrialized nations there is a 90% risk of developing hypertension during an individual’s life time. It means blood pressure readings above 120/80 moving towards 140/90 (Messerli et.al, 2007). Approximately, 43 million Americans are hypertensive ...

Introduction

The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive report on a case study conducted on an individual who is displaying symptoms of hypertension. The paper explicitly explores as a chronic disease and some of the aspects that will be touched on include its epidemiology, Pathophysiology, differential diagnosis, treatment plan, drug analysis and follow up care. Hypertension, also commonly referred to as high blood pressure is a body condition in which blood vessels, specifically the arteries high and persistent pressure. This high pressure makes it hard for the heart to pump blood to all the other parts of the body. Hypertension ...

Community Health Nurse

Hypothyroidism is a clinical syndrome in which there is either deficiency or absence of thyroid hormone in the body. This manifests as a decrease in the metabolic rate in the body, which is seen as a slowing in physical and mental activity in the body. (Orlander, 2013) Thyroid function is controlled by two other organs, the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. A defect in function of any of these two organs can lead to hypothyroidism. Moreover, localized disease of the thyroid gland itself can also lead to hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is usually a primary pathology in which there is inability of the thyroid ...

Introduction

Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is arguably among the most effective agency in delivery of elderly care in Green Valley, Arizona. During my two hour visit, I learnt a lot about the organization, ranging from the administration to the clients. My study covered the activities that take place within the organization, the services provided to the clients, the unique needs of the older patients as well as the challenges faced by the staff in delivery of services. The services offered to the clients are related to the health status of such older people. Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center ...

Binge Eating Disorder

Food is always considered a right that all people are entitled to have alongside clean water. Some nations thrive in food producing lands and livestock while there are nations that have scarce means to produce food. For those who could access food, there are people who would eat only a few due to their physical weight and people who would keep eating despite the consequences of too much food in the body. While many note that people who eat too much would become obese, they do not realize that there are many reasons as to why a person becomes obese and it ...

Pediatric Case Study

Part I. Cultural and Family Assessment

Culture and family are oftentimes neglected during patient assessment, especially when the person is viewed only in terms of disease, causes and treatment. However, providing holistic care that encompasses all aspects of the patient’s life has the potential to improve patient outcomes. In nursing theory, Callista Roy and Madeleine Leininger refer to culture as a belief system, a worldview through which the patient perceives health, care, nursing and the world in general (George, 2011). It is transmitted from one generation to the next through interaction in social institutions such as the family, school and ...

Patient Situation and Literature Review

Patients receiving chemotherapy treatment for cancer experience a great deal of extremely unpleasant and severe side effects. These include immunosuppression, anemia, thrombocytopenia, gastrointestinal symptoms, peripheral neuropathy, alopecia and fatigue (Chemotherapy side effects, n.d.). Effectively managing these symptoms increases patient quality of life despite serious and potentially terminal illness and promotes compliance with treatment in order to optimize the benefits (Perwitasari et al., 2012). Nausea and vomiting are particularly distressing symptoms among patients and nurses working in the oncology ward must be knowledgeable regarding the range of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic techniques which can be used for control. This paper presents the ...

At this time, several types of drugs are circulating and are being legally distributed through different channels. These drugs are not the type of drugs that are usually deemed to be illegal or harmful to the body. They don't include meth, ecstacy or the like. However, although they have been accepted by society, it cannot be dismissed that they are still "drugs" and may cause to a normal person one way or the other. Such drugs include the normal products that we usually consume such as coffee and tea.

Even in the health area, a lot of medications and products are ...