Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) is a poorly understood chronic pain syndrome affecting over 45% of the American population. The nervous system has an amplified response to stimulation on both the ascending and descending paths, but we are poorly able to measure the disease with diagnostic testing.
What are the cardinal symptoms of FMS?
The cardinal symptom FMS is known for is chronic pain above and below the waist, on both sides of the body, widespread muscle soreness, and traveling pain throughout the body.
How is FMS diagnosed?
FMS is diagnosed on the basis of physical examination to rule out conditions such as tendonitis, muscle inflammation, and rheumatoid arthritis along with the presence of widespread body pain (Banasik, 2021).
Once diagnosed, what are the treatment options being explored? What do the medications found in your treatment options target in the pain pathway?
The most common treatment option for FMS includes medications such as analgesic tablets to relieve body aches, anti-seizure drugs to reduce FMS symptoms, and antidepressants to treat anxiety associated with the disease.
Osteomyelitis involves infection within the bone, a very serious disease needing immediate treatment.
What are the three ways that infection reaches the bone? Why is this knowledge important to treatment planning?
The infection reaches the bone if an injury exposes the bone to germs, if a patient has diabetes, or due to an inflammation in any nearby soft tissue.
What are the differences in symptoms between children and adults with osteomyelitis?
In young children, osteomyelitis is often present with symptoms of lethargy or irritability along with high fever and chills in the body. Whereas, in adults, the infection is often reported with symptoms of swelling, pain in the infected area of the bone, redness over the part of inflammation, and impaired bone growth that worsens with bone or joint movement (Banasik, 2021).
Define the term sequestra, noting its role in healing the infection.
The pathological definition of sequestra in osteomyelitis infection is referred to as a reservoir for the complication of the infection. The sequestrum becomes encased in a new bone called involucrum in a thick sheath of periosteal (Banasik, 2021).
Skin is our body’s largest organ, impacted by normal aging across the lifespan, as well as infectious, inflammatory, allergic, and infestation disorders. Because it can be easily viewed, skin can actually give diagnostic clues to the types of any dermatologic and systemic diseases that may be present.
Psoriasis is one of the more common inflammatory skin conditions. What is the typical appearance of the skin for patients with psoriasis? What is the treatment for that disease?
There is no proper cure for psoriasis but medication is prescribed to reduce the severity of symptoms such as immunosuppressants and topical retinoids for reducing inflammation, calcineurin inhibitors to reduce plaque buildup, and biologics to reduce inflammation by suppressing the body’s immune system (Banasik, 2021).
Eczema is an allergic type of skin disease, the cells having a genetic defect that impacts the lipid layer of protection for the skin. How does the treatment of mild and severe eczema differ from that for psoriasis?
The goal of treatment for mild as well as severe eczema and psoriasis is the same to reduce the severity of symptoms but medications vary such as oral antihistamines for relieving itching in eczema and a typical corticosteroid or biologics like methotrexate to control inflammation in psoriasis (Banasik, 2021).
Explain why polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis may cause a child to have differences in their leg and arm lengths in adulthood.
Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis is an autoimmune disease in children that grow over a period of time in which the body attacks some of the healthy tissues of the body as it would react against invading microbes. In children suffering from JIA, the lining of the joint is infected or enlarged causing tenderness in the bone or joint that leads to limiting bone movement. In the inflamed membranes of the joints, enzymes present there cause further damage as they erode the cartilage of the bone (Banasik, 2021). This way, a growing child develops differences in his/her arm and leg length due to the abnormally developing bones in size or shape.
Excess energy that contacts the skin from thermal, chemical, or electrical forces will create varying degrees of damage. Burn wounds are described by zones, depth, and percentage of the total body surface affected. That combined description helps the medical team to classify the injury, plan correct treatments, and anticipate the outcomes. But burn injury and response extends beyond just the skin. Using one to three sentences, briefly summarize the impact of a severe burn on each of these systems.
Cardiovascular
Burn patients with cardiovascular disease have a higher risk of cerebrovascular disease and heart failure because burn injury has direct impacts on the heart and circulation.
Respiratory
Burn injury in patients who are already suffering from respiratory disorders causes shortness of breath, swelling of the nasopharynx, coughing, dizziness, sneezing, and severe pain in the head.
Renal
The severe life-threatening impact of burn injury in patients with renal problems is acute renal failure where the kidney loses its ability to conserve adequate electrolytes, concentrate urine, and excrete wastes (Banasik, 2021).
References
Banasik, J. L. (2021). Pathophysiology. (7th ed.). Elsevier Health Sciences. US.
