Neurology Assignment

Risk factors for cerebrovascular accidents (CVA)

Hypertension: Hypertension causes degradation of blood vessels. The increased pressure brought about by hypertension affects the walls of the blood vessels by decreasing the strength and flexibility of these walls.

Diabetes: Diabetes is among the leading risk factors of CVA.  A high blood sugar concentration has the potential to damage blood vessels. The sugar makes the vessels stiff and causes the build-up of fat. The aforementioned changes cause blood clots that move to the brain leading to a stroke.

Obesity: Obesity is a key risk factor because people with obesity are at a higher risk of experiencing hypertension and/or diabetes.

High cholesterol: High cholesterol can influence the inflexibility of the walls of the cerebral blood vessel, causing the wall to be blocked. If the blockage occurs close to the cerebral area, the brain would lack blood. Lack of blood would kill the brain cells.

Smoking and Drinking: Smoking and drinking habits cause weakness of the walls of blood vessels. Weak vessel walls increase the risk of CVA.

Blood concentration: High amounts of hemoglobin increase the likelihood of experiencing CVA. A high count of red blood cells thickens the blood and increases the chances of contracting blood clots that increase the risk of stroke (Abel, Funk and Blends, 2019).

African Americans are at a greater risk of death as well as disability from stroke compared to whites. The African American population stands a higher chance of having high blood pressure that increases the risk of CVA. High rates of HBP cases among African Americans can be caused by the genetic structure of people of African descent. Evidence has been shown where African Americans react differently to HBP drugs and have a heightened sensitivity to salt that increases the chances of experiencing HBP. Further, African Americans in the US experience higher cases of being overweight and HBP. The phenomena could suggest environmental factors at play. Experts including Abel et al. (2019) attach the skewed statistic to unique social as well as economic factors faced by African Americans, the factors include prejudice and economic inequality.

When an individual's muscle tendon is briskly tapped, the person’s muscle contracts because of a two-neuron reflex that involves the spinal segment, and the brainstem segment innervating the muscle. There are two cases of abnormalities that can be detected using the 0 to 4+ scale which scores deep tendon reflexes. Hyporeflexia is a decreased reaction to tapping and indicates a disease involving one or a number of parts of the two-neuron reflex arc. Hyperreflexia implies repetitive reflexes that show a disruption of the corticospinal among other pathways that impact the reflex arc because of suprasegmental lesion. When there's no response elicited by a tap, the 0 to 4+ scale for scoring tendons will read 0. The finding is consistently abnormal. When there's a slight response to the tapping of the muscle-tendon, the score is 1+ and the individual may be normal or abnormal. A reading of 2+ shows a normal response. When there's a brisker response, the reading is 3+ and the person could be normal or abnormal (Martin et al., 2018). A repetitive reflex is an absolute anomaly and is denoted in the scale by a reading of 4+.

I expect a patient with diabetic peripheral neuropathy to have a loss of feeling any kind of sensation in the affected areas. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy implies nerve damage brought about by diabetes and very high levels of blood sugar. The condition leads to numbness due to excessive nerve damage (Dansinger, 2021). An elderly patient I took care of was diagnosed with diabetes. He had a large cut on his feet that would be cleaned occasionally by the medics. However, he did not feel the pain as I expected him to. The patient had diabetic peripheral neuropathy. His nerves were damaged and messages could not be effectively transported to the brain.

Neurology Assignment. Outline

Risk factors for cerebrovascular accidents (CVA)

Hypertension: Hypertension causes degradation of blood vessels.

Diabetes: Diabetes is among the leading risk factors of CVA. 

Obesity: Obesity is a key risk factor because people with obesity are at a higher risk of experiencing hypertension and/or diabetes.

High cholesterol: High cholesterol can influence the inflexibility of the walls of the cerebral blood vessel, causing the wall to be blocked.

Smoking and Drinking: Smoking and drinking habits cause weakness of the walls of blood vessels.

Blood concentration: High amounts of hemoglobin increase the likelihood of experiencing CVA.

Culture: African Americans are at a greater risk of death as well as disability from stroke compared to whites.

Tendon reflexes

There are two cases of abnormalities that can be detected using the 0 to 4+ scale which scores deep tendon reflexes.

Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy

I expect a patient with diabetic peripheral neuropathy to have a loss of feeling any kind of sensation in the affected areas.