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."
SpecialtiesCriticalCase Study
"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!
