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Homework answers / question archive / Unit 7 Assignment - Case Study Discussion Instructions Locate your assigned case study and answer the questions which correspond to the FIRST letter of your LAST name
Locate your assigned case study and answer the questions which correspond to the FIRST letter of your LAST name. Then you will respond to the main postings of two other learners; at least one response should be to a peer who has answered questions different from yours.
Recall that your main posting should be submitted by Wednesday at 11:59 p.m., Eastern time. All responses to other learners’ discussion questions must be submitted no later than Sunday at 11:59 p.m., Eastern time to be considered for grading purposes.
? Questions:
If your LAST name begins with the letters O through Z please address the following:
? Questions:
Subjective: A 70-year-old woman has scheduled an initial evaluation with you. Her medical diagnoses include hypertension, hyperglycemia, mild obesity, and hyperlipidemia. Her psychiatric diagnoses include anxiety and depression. Her current medications are atorvastatin 20 mg daily for seven years, Ozempic 1 mg injection weekly for three years, lisinopril 10 mg daily for 10 years, and Abilify 5 mg daily for six years. During your interview, she explains she became depressed following the death of her husband seven years ago. She became anxious about performing everyday tasks without him present. After starting Abilify, she gained 25 pounds and required an increased dose of atorvastatin and Ozempic. She has been unable to lose the weight she gained and tries to closely monitor her dietary intake due to her persistently elevated glucose but reports still craving carbohydrates. Her depression has improved slightly but she is still anxious to go out alone, so she no longer goes for daily walks to exercise.
Objective: Labs: Fasting Blood Glucose – 115, HbgA1C – 6.9, Total Cholesterol – 200, LDL – 100, HDL – 37. Her height is 5’2” and her weight is 176 pounds. Her blood pressure was 146/83 upon arrival at the office.
What advice or modifications to his treatment regimen would you recommend for your new patient? (Discuss a minimum of two).
A few pieces of advice or modifications to this treatment regimen that I would recommend would be to take part in psychotherapy, specifically Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as it is “one of the most evidence-based psychological interventions for the treatment of several psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, somatoform disorder, and substance abuse disorder” (Tripathi et al., 2020). I would also continue to recommend the use of her psychiatric medication as studies have shown that CBT is an effective treatment strategy for depression and anxiety and is more effective when combined with pharmacotherapy (Tripathi et al., 2020). My second modification would be to discontinue the Abilify, as it has a known side effect of causing weight gain and with the patient’s agreement, switch her psychiatric medication to an SSRI such as Fluoxetine as it is associated with a reduction of body weight, total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels (Fjukstad et al., 2016). These effects could be useful as her cholesterol levels are right on the borderline of what they should be.
If you suggested additional medication, look up your state’s prescribing laws. Are PMHNP’s able to prescribe the medication you recommended?
Being that fluoxetine is not a controlled substance, PMHNP’s are able to prescribe this medication in all 50 states.
References
Fjukstad, K. K., Engum, A., Lydersen, S., Dieset, I., Steen, N. E., Andreassen, O. A., & Spigset, O. (2016, December). Metabolic Abnormalities Related to Treatment With Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors in Patients With Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 36(6), 615–620. https://doi.org/10.1097/jcp.0000000000000582
Tripathi, A., Deshmukh, D., & Gaur, M. (2020). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 62(8), 223. https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_772_19