The Nursing Interventions into Obesity and Its Effects - Heart Disease, Cancer, Diabetes, the Disease of the Gall Bladder, Gout, Osterioathritis - Case Study Example

Obesity And Its Effects Name Professor Course Date Introduction The male patient who is 58 years old was admitted in UTS hospital through the preoperative for high anterior bowel resection, a diagnosed malignant tumour was treated there. The patient underwent colonoscopy when their blood in the stools was noticed. Specialised doctor who performed the colonoscopy discover the tumour and take a biopsy. The findings of the biopsy showed malignancy of the tumour and the patient was scheduled to undergo surgery. After some tests that included a CT scan the doctors found no proof of other tumour. However, the tumour that was in the stomach had already gone through its walls, hence the presence of blood stains in the patient's stool. The patient had moved from India to Australia together with his family 12 years ago. The patient was living close to the hospital with the family. He was working in a big multinational company as an IT consultant, which requires him to spend long hours working on a computer. The patient complained of his weight, which was 130 kg while he was 168 cm in height (Brown & Edwards, 2012). He complained of his weight most of the time in his adult life. The patient gives the information that he was not doing any exercise at all and he did not like it, as he can get breathless easily. He also takes a large portion of food. The patient had been diagnosed with hypercholesterolemia and hypertension,in the past that were control by medication. The patient plead with the doctor that he experienced trouble in controlling Bp and his Gp was high when it was checked recently even after taking medication. Definition of obesity and its effects What is obesity? It is a word used on overweight persons. It is a condition that leads to several other conditions, which include type two diabetes, coronary heart diseases, cancer, high blood pressure, gallbladder disease and gallstones, gout, Osteoarthritis, and breathing problems. These conditions are explained below. Heart disease The high cholesterol in the body and probably in the blood vessels makes it harder for blood to be pumped in the body due to narrow blood veins. This condition will lead to high blood pressure, which will likely to lead to extreme cases of heart attack. This is a fatal condition associated with obesity (Petrowsky et al, 2004). Cancer Obesity can be a cause for cancer that affects different parts of the body. These parts include the colon, breasts, endometrial, oesophagus, and the kidney. The other parts, which are not so pronounced, are the pancreas, the gallbladder, and the ovaries. This is the second fatal ailment brought about by being overweight. Diabetes Overweight is one of the major causes of type two diabetes. This is because a larger body size is likely to carry a large amount of sugars that cause the body to have a high blood sugar level, which is unhealthy (Gould et al, 2012). The disease of the gall bladder Gallstone is a problem of both the underweight as well as the overweight, but in addition to gallstones, overweight also causes gallbladder disease. Gout This is a disease that affects the joints of a human being. It is brought about by a number of factors one of them being obesity. It occurs owing to the large amount of uric acids in the blood and this acid forms deposits of crystals in the joints. Osterioathritis This widespread disease of the joints usually affects the hip, back or the knees. The weight of carrying extra pounds of the body places extra pressure on these parts of the body, therefore, causing tear and wear of the cartilage that usually protects these joints. Breathing condition An obese person has a tendency of snoring while asleep. This can be termed as sleep apnea. It causes when breathing problems and may sometimes cause them to lose breath briefly. The two main conditions brought about by obesity are the heart disease and cancer. Heart disease For a considerable period of time, no direct link between heart diseases and obesity has been developed but the diseases that are linked with obesity all direct to the heart and its function of distributing blood and its contents throughout the body. Conditions like hypertension, impaired glucose tolerance, and dyslipidemia are related to the body mass index such that when the BMI increases, the risk of attack from these conditions also goes high. The eventual consequence of obesity is a complete heart failure caused by congestivity (Cahill, 2010). Cancer and obesity There is a major connection of obesity with several types of cancer which include, breast, colon, pancreas, kidney, endometrial, gallbladder and the thyroid. It is reported a percentage of women and men in the united states with cancer was due to obesity. A number of methods have been set up to explain the connection between obesity and cancer. These suggestions include; high levels of oestrogen produced by the fat tissues in obese people have been identified with cancer in women including endometrial and breast cancer. Moreover, these fat cells release hormones that inhibit and sometimes stimulate cell growth. They also have effects on the control of several other tumour growths. The increased levels of insulin in people who are overweight make it possible for the tumours related to insulin to grow hence causing cancer. Most obese people have inflammation, which has long been connected to cancer risk (Crisp & Taylor, 2009). This inflammation is termed as a chronic low-level inflammation. The symptoms the patient was showing included blood in his stool, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertension. After these symptoms were noticed, a colonoscopy was done on him and a tumour was discovered. Other symptoms include lumps on the affected areas. These symptoms take time to show since the cancerous cells form gradually affecting the system. The nursing interventions that will address the problem of obesity and its effects Nurses have an excellent opportunity in the intervention of the condition of obesity and hence its effects. The role of the nurse as being teachers and educators, as well as role models in their families and the society, can help reduce obesity in the community. For a successful prevention strategy to be employed, the nurse must take onto consideration the cultural and socio-economic factors in the neighbourhood that will affect obesity (Bratzler et al, 2013). Nurses have the responsibility of prevention since if they do not do so they have the possibility of dealing with obese patients in their line of work seeking treatment because of a certain disease caused by obesity. Nurses can promote a healthy living in the society since they are trained in that line of work. They can teach the public the do's and the do not do when it comes to healthy living. The proven and the most foul-proof method of preventing these conditions are by keeping a good body shape. It is advised that one should keep their BMI at an acceptable level so that these diseases do not creep into their bodies. For those already suffering from obesity, a low calories diet should be applied so that the individual can lose some weight. The loss of weight will bring in satisfactory results in the long run since these conditions arise due to overweight. Activities like physical activities, breastfeeding, nutrition, weight counseling, and regular meals are the main fields where nurses can offer their help so that obesity can be dealt with accordingly (Amarigir & Lees, 2000). Community and school nurses are the ones with the most responsibility in the prevention of obesity. For instance, a school nurse will design a nutrition and the menu for taking meals in school while the community nurse will have the responsibility of teaching and informing the public on the right ways of dieting through public meetings organized through the local governments. Dieting plays an important role in the prevention of obesity while exercises also play a greater role especially for an obese person. These interventions will work since nurses are the most trusted people in the society and once they put in their word the whole community will listen to it. Another reason is the nurses will relay information otherwise not known by the public. Ignorance is a very dangerous virtue and many people consume foods without knowing the consequences. The moment these people have this information on the effects of various types of food, they then will have a chance to make a better decision on their dieting (Castledine, 2002). Conclusion Obesity has developed into one of the major causes of death in recent years. This statement is not taken to mean that obesity in itself kills but it brings about conditions that cause death. The rise of fast foods and lack of exercises has been the main contributing factor in obesity. The inverse of these i.e. better dieting and quality exercises are the answers to combating obesity. Nurses have been deemed the prime players in the fight against obesity and their close proximity to the public makes this possible. Reference list Amarigiri, S.V., Lees, T.A., 2000. 'Elastic compression stockings for prevention of deep vein thrombosis', Cochrane Database of systemic reviews, vol. 3. 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