Mr. M’s health conditions
In the description of Mr. M’s health conditions, he is experiencing several medical manifestations. The fact that he forgets everything, including his room number, can lead to diagnosing him with Alzheimer’s disease. According to Mayo Clinic (2018), Alzheimer’s refers to a progressive disorder common among the aging people that affects the human brain cells leading to memory loss. One of the earliest symptoms of the disease is that the victim experiences difficulty in remembering everyday activities, people, and places. They also have a problem with organizing thoughts. As the problem persists, it affects the ability of the memory to function well. The people with the condition start repeating questions and statements over and over, have a memory loss and confusion, forget events, conversation, and appointments, names of family members as well as losing direction in familiar places (Mayo Clinic, 2018). According to his description, Mr. M is likely to be experiencing the condition because he shows most of these characters.
Mr. M also appears afraid and fearful when he is agitated. A victim of Alzheimer’s experiences changes in mood swings that how to affect how they make their decisions and judgments (Mayo Clinic, 2018). Other symptoms include delusions, irritability, social withdrawal, depression, and change in sleeping patterns and distrust in the people around them. The person continually keeps on disturbing others for no reason. His test history shows that Mr. M’s blood pressure is 123/78, meaning his blood pressure is high. According to the BP readings, 128 is the systolic pressure and a diastolic pressure of 78. Johns Hopkins Medicine (2020) argues that people with high blood pressure are very vulnerable to Alzheimer’s. They state that high blood pressure causes damage to blood vessels in the brain, damaging the tissue responsible for memory and thinking. For this reason, Mr. is displaying most of the symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s condition.
While performing nurse assessment, we expect Mr. M to show some abnormalities such as high blood pressure. The condition increases blood pressure among the victims. The victims will also forget to perform some duties they had been doing before. For example, a patient may forget cooking or playing their favorite game. The ability to make crucial judgments about their life will also decline.
In most cases, they make poor decisions about things affecting their lives. People with Alzheimer’s find it difficult to multi-task. As the disease progresses, they may find it difficult to even deal with numbers. They start avoiding social interactions and wear inappropriate clothing that exposes them to poor weather.
The condition presents a considerable risk to his family. Firstly, the situation is generic and thus can be passed to another member, say a child or sibling. At a late stage, Alzheimer’s begins to affects the victim physically. They experience problems with swallowing and controlling of both bowel and bladder. It leaves them vulnerable to other complications like pneumonia, dehydration, bedsores, and inhalation of food into the lungs. The family, therefore, incur costs while seeking medications. The financial drain affects the other budgeting because they have to prioritize on the disease. It ends up leaving some aspects of life as education changed. The family will suffer more if Mr. M is the breadwinner. Thus, they will have to forgo some basic needs.
The family suffers work-related stress because they required to balance their time between work and visiting their loved ones. Some even decide to take a break from work or resign. Caregivers have challenged in addressing the need of the patient while performing other duties. If the victims are not given the necessary healthcare, they stress and depression. The provision of home care to the people with this condition is very demanding. The family members find themselves in the dilemma of making some decisions about the next step. They end up experiencing emotional and physical stress. They lack privacy, sleep, and loneliness. Different people handle stress differently about their loved one’s having the condition. Some family members may be affected more than others, even changing their physical health.
Currently, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, but there is a behavioral intervention that can help Mr. M and the family. For instance, the people around him should keep on always reminding him of events, names of places, people, what day it is, and conversations. He should also be helped to exercise regularly, be admitted to a rehabilitation facility, and take him through cognitive training. The intervention will help restore his mental health. The family members should also avoid allowing him to make critical decisions. In his condition, he might make a decision likely to affect them later. On his part, Mr. M should stay calm and patient. He should be flexible and not take the condition personally, for that will help accept and start working on it. People around him should not argue with him but rather understand him. He should avoid discussion that may drag him to fight or anger him because he may overreact and cause damages.
In conclusion, people should take measures to prevent Alzheimer’s. Firstly, people should invest in their mental health through physical exercise, reading books, playing games, and cognitive training. They should also be alert to report to a doctor in case they notice any of the symptoms.
References
“Mayo Clinic” (2018): Alzheimer’s disease. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20350447
Johns Hopkins Medicine, (2020): Blood Pressure and Alzheimer’s Risk: What’s the Connection? Retrieved from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/alzheimers-disease/blood-pressure-and-alzheimers-risk-whats-the-connection
Sarraf, S., & Tofighi, G. (2016, December). Deep learning-based pipeline to recognize Alzheimer’s disease using fMRI data. In 2016 Future Technologies Conference (FTC) (pp. 816-820). IEEE.