Chronic

ailment and complaint of those seeking treatment in the United States and perhaps around the world. Pain can be acute (such as pain from a specific injury or surgery) or chronic. Chronic pain is considered persistent over time and is divided into two groups: cancer-related or non-cancer related. Evaluating how nurses treat chronic pain in hospital settings is an ever-increasing importance as it not only affects patient outcomes and satisfaction surveys, it can now adversely affect the funding…

Jones’ is at an increased risk for impaired wound healing because of his age and his underlying condition of diabetes. With a chronic illness, such as diabetes, wounds heal slower and have the possibility to progress from acute inflammation to chronic inflammation. Mr. Jones’ diabetes causes increased serum glucose levels, vascular changes that lead to microcirculation and glycosylated hemoglobin, causing tissue ischemia (peripheral vascular…

Chronic cardiac failure can be defined as ‘a clinical syndrome that develops in response to a cardiac injury or insult that causes decline in the pumping capacity (contractile function) of the heart’ (Lymperopolous et al. 2013). Betty has been experiencing chest pain, a decreased appetite and shortness of breath indicated by her oxygen saturation levels and increased respiratory rate. Additionally, she has bilateral peripheral pitting oedema and has had a cough. These are all signs and symptoms…

Hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and respiratory infections are just some of the chronic conditions that are seen in prisoners. Inmates are thirty percent more likely to have asthma, fifty percent more likely to have diabetes, and 90 percent more likely to have a heart attack. (Cecere, 2009) Eighty-nine percent of the deaths in prison are due to illnesses. Some of the major contributors are heart disease, liver disease, respiratory disease and cancer. (Noonan, 2015) Outside of jail,…

Introduction Chronic constipation is one of the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders (Liu, 2011). It’s a chronic health problem all over the world (Thomsen et al., 2010) affecting patients of all ages, different cultures, both sexes and ethnicities. But it is commonly prevalent in women, elderly patients and patients with concurrent psychiatric illness (Liu, 2011) which leads to self-medication and/or medical consultation (Dennison et al., 2005). Constipation has an impact on…

From the age of four till my late teens I have suffered from chronic asthma. I was hospitalized four times due to my asthma, during my stays in hospitals I was comforted by the respiratory therapist who were frequently there. When My grandmother had major surgery, she was drifting in and out of consciousness and stopped breathing. A Respiratory therapist picked up on this and called a code for her, saving her life. My goals are to obtain my degree in Respiratory Therapy, obtain my degree in…

For almost three years I have lived with daily chronic pain and headaches, or Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome (AMPS). Hugs hurt when they really shouldn’t. The lightest touch on my back would cause a painful burning sensation, which meant that no one, including my mom and sister, could hug me. For those of us who live with AMPS our pain signals are mixed-up and over time we develop --allodynia--the experience of pain from a non-painful stimulation, such as a light touch. But there are…

providing evidence that NPY stimulates cause growth of abdominal fat cells when the subject experiences chronic stress (Harvard Mental Health Letter, 2007). Not only does stress increase one’s appetite, it increases the chances of reaching an unhealthy weight. This in turn can increase blood pressure and the chances of being diagnosed with diabetes. In additional studies, severe pain links back to chronic stress. As mentioned previously, when the body is under stress it produces a hormone called…

for managing chronic pain. Long-term affects of opioids on the metabolism and endocrine system include high amounts of prolactin and growth hormone, decreased oxytocin, estradiol, testosterone and LH Stress is a physiological, mental, or emotional factor that causes tension to the body or mind. Stresses can also initiate the "fight or…

beginning to understand the negative effects of chronic sleep deprivation, and how it impacts our ability to function as well as our physical and mental health. However, we still need to better understand the functions of sleep to develop new treatments for the countless disorders that affect one’s ability to maintain sleep homeostasis. The answer to this is to conduct further scientific research. Millions of people go through life with undiagnosed chronic sleep disorders. The word somnology…