Hey medical people, i need ideas and guidances...?

Question

i have sorta a discussion and research to do....

we r given a few triggers to try and figure out the possible disease and disorders....

here is the first trigger:

Chief Complaint.

Mr MM a 75 years old man who lives alone was brought to the clinic by his neighbour with complaint of lethargy after not coming out of his house for the last 5 days.

Student's Tasks

You should discuss on the following:

1. Identify the chief complaint;

2. List the information about Mr MM;

3. The term which you may not understand;

4. The possible causes of his chief complaint;

5. Further questions that you need to ask.

my questions are:

1. how do i start my research?

2. can u help me list a few possibilities for the question given...

thanks a heap!!!

Answer 1

1. Go to webmd or a similar website and look up diseases that include Lethargy as a symptom.

2. Symptoms like Lethargy are so widespread that you are going to need to ask a lot of question to get closer to a diagnosis. Ask about any weight loss or weight gain, ask what medications he is using, ask if his family has any history of a heart attack. Most importantly find out if he has a fever. If not we can rule out most infections.

If he doesn't have a fever it could be aspirin poisoning from his medication, it could also be Lupus.

If he does have a fever it could be about 100 different infections as they all include lethargy and general malaise as symptoms.

Answer 2

The clues: the patient is a male (Mr. MM), possibly senile (age 75), possibly undernourished (lives alone). Start your research on male geriatric cases.

One possibility I can think of is that the patient has low blood sugar to account for the lethargy.

Answer 3

75 doesn't mean anything Dr's will give orientation test check it out.do you know who you are (a name) place ,why you are here.Chief complaint Alzheimer.find out background,if a diagnosis he forgets OK if you had to say Dementia with? you have to do research and why