Case Study(CSI): Stomach flu? Anxiety? What's Going on Here?

A new case study in which the patient, A.W. a 65-year-old African American woman presents to her primary care clinic with unspecified complaints. She told the scheduler, "Something’s just not right. I want to come in and talk about it."

Updated:  

This article was reviewed and fact-checked by our Editorial Team.
Case Study(CSI): Stomach flu? Anxiety? What's Going on Here?

Chief Complaint

"My son died a month ago. He was stationed in Afghanistan. I think I'm still in shock. For the last few weeks I haven't slept well. I keep waking up in the middle of the night, my heart pounding, out of breath, and now on top of that I've been feeling nauseated. I even threw up yesterday. I wonder if I have the stomach flu. I'm just praying I don't have another migraine coming on.”

History of Present Illness

A.W. began to experience shortness of breath and racing heart approximately two weeks ago, primarily at night. Nausea began two days ago with two episodes of emesis yesterday. Admits to burning pain in her throat that she attributes to heartburn. Ms. W. has been depressed and anxious since learning of her youngest son's death. Ms. W. states she has been feeling more tired than usual, but attributes it to lack of sleep and stress over her son's death. Most recent migraine was over a month ago.

General Appearance

Looks anxious. Eyes wide, blinks a lot, shoulders tense, diaphoretic, occasionally rubs stomach just under sternum. Pt appears female, skin is brown in color, appears stated age, looks slightly overweight with weight carried around the middle.

Okay super sleuths, what's going on here? What information do you need? What would you do first? What labs do you want? What other diagnostic tests should we run? Ask me some questions!

DISCLAIMER: These case studies are presented for learning purposes only and with full understanding that it is outside the scope of practice for a nurse to make a medical diagnosis. When participating, assume that a licensed healthcare provider is making the actual diagnosis, ordering all the tests and interpreting the results. You are looking at the case retrospectively to learn from the data presented – the idea is to increase your knowledge so you can sharpen your assessment and teaching skills.

3
Up Vote Up Vote ×
SafetyNurse1968

About SafetyNurse1968, BSN, MSN, PhD

Patient Safety Columnist / Educator

Dr. Kristi Miller, aka Safety Nurse is an Assistant Professor of nursing at USC-Upstate and a Certified Professional in Patient Safety. She is obsessed with patient safety. Please read her blog, Safety Rules! on allnurses.com.

60 Articles   529 Posts

Share this post

Share on other sites

I’d like to start with a current set of vitals along with an EKG and CBC, BMP, and cardiac enzymes please.

12
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Public Health, TB.

What is her past medical history? Is she taking any medications or supplements?

Has she taken any steps to reduce anxiety? Does she drink alcohol, and if so, has her intake changed?

6
Up Vote Up Vote ×

Has she been febrile? What did the vomit look like? Has she had a cough? Any findings on her abdominal exam? Where else is she having pain?

Can we make the BMP a CMP? Let's do a UA and a Utox too.

Would someone be able to educate me on why an LDH would or would not be useful here?

5
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Community health.

Thyroid panel

6
Up Vote Up Vote ×

?

One 12-lead EKG please.

Lots of other info I would like to know (and another diagnosis in mind), but...

6
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Education, Informatics, Patient Safety.
On 11/19/2019 at 8:24 PM, RNDarling said:

I’d like to start with a current set of vitals along with an EKG and CBC, BMP, and cardiac enzymes please.

Thank you for reading and commenting! Here are the pertinent labs and vital signs:

Vital signs:

BP 160/98 RA sitting

HR 105

RR 18

T 98.2oF

HT 5’6”

WT 170 lbs

BMI 27.4

Laboratory Test Results:

Na 133 meg/L

K 4.3 meq/L

Cl 101

HCO3

BUN 14 mg/dL

Cr 0.9 mg/dL

Glucose, fasting 264 mg/dL

Mg 1.9

PO4 2.3

Cholesterol 213

Triglycerides 174

LDL 143

HDL 34

CPK 99 IU/L

CK-MB 6.3 IU/L

Troponin I 0.3 ng/mL

Hb 12.2 g/dL

Hct 40%

WBC 4,900/mm3

Plt 267,000/mm3

HbA1c 8.7%

Arterial Blood Gas

pH 7.42

PaO2 90 mm

PaCO2 34 mm

SaO2 96.5%

On 11/20/2019 at 8:32 AM, JKL33 said:

?

One 12-lead EKG please.

Lots of other info I would like to know (and another diagnosis in mind), but...

You got it (and thanks for reading and asking!)

Electrocardiogram: 4 mm ST segment elevation in leads V2-V6

5
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Education, Informatics, Patient Safety.
On 11/19/2019 at 10:10 PM, nursej22 said:

What is her past medical history? Is she taking any medications or supplements?

Has she taken any steps to reduce anxiety? Does she drink alcohol, and if so, has her intake changed?

Ya'll ask good questions!

Past Medical History:

Type 2 DM X 5 years

Migraine with aura X 25 years

Hypertriglyceridemia

HTN X 12 years (poorly controlled, poor patient compliance)

Medications:

Amlodipine 5 mg po QPM

Glyburide 10 mg po QAM, 5 mg po QPM

EC ASA 325 mg po QD

Gemfibrozil 600 mg po BID

Terazosin 1 mg ph HS

Metoclopramide 10 mg PRN nausea related to migraine

Imitrex 25 mg PRN migraine pain

On 11/20/2019 at 6:57 AM, CommunityRNBSN said:

Thyroid panel

All normal, but good question.

4
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Education, Informatics, Patient Safety.
11 hours ago, Lulu Belle said:

Has she been febrile? What did the vomit look like? Has she had a cough? Any findings on her abdominal exam? Where else is she having pain?

Can we make the BMP a CMP? Let's do a UA and a Utox too.

Would someone be able to educate me on why an LDH would or would not be useful here?

I posted the lab results - look at those and see if that gives you a clue about the LDH. No fever, vomit looked like partially digested breakfast, no cough.

Negative findings on abdominal exam. No other pain.

UA and Utox normal.

I forgot one:

she drinks "one glass of wine" per day (she didn't mention the SIZE of the glass) ?

4
Up Vote Up Vote ×

When is the last time she took her meds? and how many pills did she take?

4
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Check cardiac echo & angio if indicated. Have posted a suggested dx in the Admin section.

5
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Education, Informatics, Patient Safety.
1 hour ago, FNPDreams said:

Check cardiac echo & angio if indicated. Have posted a suggested dx in the Admin section.

FNPdreams - I'll post those results soon. We're experimenting with the format to try to make this the most fun for everyone. Stay tuned!

3 hours ago, Meul_20 said:

When is the last time she took her meds? and how many pills did she take?

Oh that's a great question and gives me an idea for a future CSI. She's taking her medications as ordered, on schedule. No PRN meds since her last migraine was a month ago.

4
Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment