Case studies

One of the most interesting parts of the pathophysiology/pharmacology class is case studies. The instructor tells us a client's history, and she keeps us guessing the diagnosis as she goes.

The first client history was a 26 year old woman who was short of breath, fatigued, and had gained weight in the past couple of months. When they listened to her heart, they found that the heart sounds were located in her shoulder, not chest! She had edema, swelling, and all kinds of other symptoms. They sent her home with anti-arrythmia medication and a diuretic, suspecting a heart problem. Three days later, she delivered a baby.

The second client history we did was a man who had recently had a vasectomy, and had all kinds of weird cardiac symptoms symptoms, a normal ECG, capillaries bursting in his retina and earlobes, no hypertension, and a sore kidney. He turned out to have subacute bacterial endocarditis.

In another week, we have a major paper due in that class, where we have to write up a case study ourselves. Very exciting.