Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures - Essay Example

"Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures" is a great example of a paper on symptoms. Mr. M is 70 years old, and previously he had been diagnosed with high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure where he under medication to control the disease. He has undergone an appendicectomy and had a fracture in the tibia where it was corrected successfully. He has been experiencing a variety of health issues which include difficulty in remembering things, the trouble of recalling names of his family members, getting agitated and aggressive quickly when he gets aggressive he is carried away by fear.

He cannot perform ADLs on his own. The vital signs appear to be normal except for the respiratory rate of 22. With the laboratory findings, on urinalysis, there are positive moderate leucocytes and cloudy.The primary and secondary medical diagnosis of Mr. MAlzheimer's disease is a primary diagnosis for Mr. It is a condition that occurs in later stages of confusion and loss of memory. When a person develops Alzheimer's, he tends to forget everything that he ever happened to know. From Mr. M's case, he has difficulty remembering the names of his family members, the problem of remembering his room, feeling agitated, and reciting what he had just said.

He has been found severally wandering at night, getting lost, thus asking for help to get back to his sleep. This condition can frustrate individuals associated with difficulty in remembering events, the problem of processing information conveyed, and hardship in making rational decisions (Alzheimer's Association,2016). The secondary diagnosis for Mr. .M is a urinary tract infection. It occurs when their growth of microbes or bacteria in the urinary tract, particularly causing pain and disease.

Based on laboratory findings, it shows that he has a Urinary tract infection. On urinalysis the test was positive for a moderate number of leucocytes and urine were cloudy, proteinuria in the urine of 7.1 g/dl, Alanine – aminotransferase (AST): 32 U/L, and Aspartate – aminotransferase (ALT): 29 U/L. the liver helps in fighting systemic infections as it removes the circulation of bacteria from circulation as such, there is a moderate elevation of AST and ALT levels. At the same time, the presence of leucocytes esterase in urine and cloudy urine suggests that there is inflammation of the urinary tract.

Proteinuria is also associated with inflammation.Nursing assessment and abnormalities that should find and whyFirst, on general appearance, the patient should be sick looking because he is ailing from a number of chronic conditions and old for that matter. I expect the patient to report pain on a scale of 7/10, and this is because the patient is from post appendectomy, and post-surgical tibial fracture repair and UTI is also accompanied by pain. Second, the patient should have an underlying respiratory infection.

On vital signs examination, the respiratory rate was 22 beats per minute. As such, the patient is having difficulty in breathing which has not been detected. Third, on mental examination, attention, I expect the patient to have attention deficient when given a task to do such as counting as digit forward., memory, the memory of the person who has Alzheimer's has a memory loss where he has a problem in remembering things (Chapman et al.,2016). Lastly, appearance, the patient should be confused and aggressive.

The mood and affect, from the patient, the mood is sad while the affect is constricted. Physical, psychological, and emotional effects and impacts it has on him and his familyPhysical, psychological, and emotional effects are always challenging to deal with both by the patient and the family. First, physical effects include the inability to do the tasks by himself, experiencing pain, and interrupted sleep patterns. This lowers his self-esteem because he is only dependent on people. Psychological effects include agitation and aggressiveness.

The patient is depressed because he is very agitated and aggressive. Emotional effects include hopelessness, sadness, and anger. He is overwhelmed with emotions that he even denies pain. This affects the family directly, as they are required to take care of him. This can lead to conflicts among the caregivers on who should take care of him because taking care of the geriatric patient with a number of chronic conditions is cumbersome.Interventions put in place in support of Mr. M and his family.

Medication cannot only help to support Mr. .M and his family but rather through various interventions. However, the nurse should ensure he takes the correct doses, and appropriate frequency is also a necessity. Secondly, checking the progress of the patient and the care they are administering. As such, the nurse will know whether the patient is improving or deteriorating. The third point is offering to counsel the family members on how to manage their patients. Therefore, this will prepare them to come to terms with any outcome.

Lastly, the nurses should encourage his family to visit the patient regularly through shared responsibility. By doing so, Mr. M will feel loved and not neglected hence improves his prognosis.Discus actual or potential problem he facesFirst, the inability to do his daily activities, the nurses should help the patient to ambulate, bathing, and feeding them. Secondly, the patient is in pain because of a post-surgical operation. As such, the nurse should manage the pain by administering the prescribed pain medication such as Iv paracetamol 100mls.

The patient can get injured easily and even lost. Third, confusion, the patient waked up in the night and started wandering with no idea of his room number. Therefore, the nurse should ensure that the patient has an identification band. Lastly, the patient is suffering from depression, and it is evidenced by the patient feeling agitated and aggressive. Thus, the nurse should counsel the patient.