Blood Disorders Paper

Blood Disorders
Teresa Webber
HCA/240
10/12/2013
Dr. Jillian Bennett Blood Disorders
There are several types of blood disorders and causes for these disorders vary from one medical problem to another. It is important to gather a patient’s symptoms and carefully examine them to make the correct diagnosis because there are too many categories that simple symptoms can fall under. This paper will explain the purpose of plasma, red blood cells, and platelets. It will also share scenarios of three individuals and their symptoms, including the diagnosis for each one. I will take and describe the cause of each disorder, compare the patients’ symptoms with that of the symptoms of the diagnosis. Finally, I will explain how each patient
can prevent the disease in the future, if at all.
Plasma, Red Blood Cells and Platelets
Plasma is the liquid portion of blood – a protein-salt solution in which red and white blood cells and platelets are suspended. Plasma, which is 92 percent water, constitutes 55 percent of blood volume. Plasma contains albumin (the chief protein constituent), fibrinogen (responsible, in part, for the clotting of blood) and globulins (including antibodies) ("American Red Cross", n.d.).
Plasma maintains a normal blood pressure.
It supplies needed proteins for clotting and immunity. It exchanges minerals such as potassium and sodium to help keep the right amount of pH (acid-base) balance within the body. This is important to make the cells function normally. Plasma gets frozen as soon as it is donated to preserve its clotting factors and can be stored for up to one year then only thawed right before use, plasma gets transfused to trauma patients, those with severe liver disease and those with multiple clotting factor deficiencies. Plasma derivatives are concentrates of specific proteins prepared from various donor packages. Derivatives are collected through a process called fractionation. They are treated with heat or a solvent detergent to kill particular viruses like HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis
C.
Erythrocytes are another name for red blood cells (RBC’s). They attribute for half of the total blood volume. Males have .5 million more erythrocytes than females. Hemoglobin is the most important component of red blood cells. This is an iron-rich oxygen carrying protein. The average lifespan of a red blood cell is 120 days. When they are old, the liver and the spleen remove them. “In the lungs, heme binds to oxygen in exchange for carbon dioxide. The oxygenated red blood cells are then transported to the body’s tissues, where the hemoglobin releases the oxygen in exchange for carbon dioxide” (Zelman, Tompary, Raymond, Holdaway, & Mulvihill 2010, p. ).
Platelets circulate in our blood and combine when there are damaged blood vessels.
For example, getting a cut allows the platelets to join at the site of the damaged vessel and causes the blood to clot. They stop us from bleeding. A platelet is the smallest of our blood cells. In their normal form, a platelet is round and flat, but when a vessel becomes damaged, a signal is sent to the platelets where they grow long tentacles and resemble an octopus. During a routine blood test called a complete blood count or CBC, “A normal platelet count ranges from 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per microliter of blood” ("Johns Hopkins Medicine", n.d.). Higher than 450,000 is a condition called thrombocytosis. Lower than 150,000 is a condition called thrombocytopenia. Too many platelets are cause for possible clotting. If you have platelets in the healthy range but they stick together, it could cause a heart attack or stroke. Whether there are too many, too little platelet count, abnormally functioning platelets, or conditions like stroke, heart attack or clotting related to platelet counts are likely to be
inherited.
In the case of the four year old girl named Lily in scenario number one, her story goes like this: Caucasian female, complaining of being tired all the time. She is pale and a picky eater. Her mother is single with a small budget to feed a large family; Lily eats only pasta, breads, and hot dogs. She drinks only artificial fruit punch. Her diagnosis is iron deficiency anemia. “The Causes of iron deficiency are: Blood loss, poor absorption of iron by the body, and too little iron in the diet. It can also be related to lead poisoning in children” ("Health Central", 2014). Diagnosis symptoms include extreme fatigue, pale skin, weakness, shortness of breath, chest pain, frequent infections, headache, dizziness or lightheadedness, cold hands and feet, inflamed or sore tongue, brittle nails, fast heart beat, strange cravings for things like dirt, ice or starch, poor appetite especially in children and RLS (Restless Legs Syndrome)-signs of a tingling or crawling in the legs. Lily presents with pale skin, craves starch in bread and pasta, has poor appetite, chronic fatigue. A way to prevent iron deficiency anemia would be to choose foods that are rich in iron. These foods can be meats, fish, dark green, leafy vegetables, beans, dried fruit, peas, iron-fortified cereals, bread and pasta. By choosing foods high in vitamin C, helps to better absorb the iron. These foods can be broccoli, grapefruit, kiwi, leafy greens, melons, oranges, apples, peppers, strawberries, tangerines and tomatoes.
In the case of the five year old boy named Davon in scenario number two, his story goes like this: African-American male who has just moved to Chicago and he is visiting his new pediatrician for a kindergarten physical. His mother tells the nurse that she carries the sickle cell trait and wants Davon screened for it. Davon’s diagnosis is that he may have the sickle cell trait. Sickle Cell is caused by a gene mutation that is telling your body to make more hemoglobin. In order for a child to be affected, both mother and father must pass on the defective gene. If only one parent passes the gene, the child will only have the trait. People with the trait will make both the sickle cell hemoglobin and normal hemoglobin. People that have the trait usually do not experience any problems, but they do carry the defective gene and can pass it to their children. This patient has no symptoms and probably will not get any since he only has the trait. However, nothing was mentioned about history of his father. He might also carry the defective gene in which case, getting the patient screened would be a good idea. There is no real prevention for sickle cell anemia. The only way to avoid this is to work with a genetic counselor to explain treatments, preventative measures and reproductive options.
Lastly, in the case of a male named Spencer, scenario number three, his story goes like this: Over the past several weeks, he has noted that he is having more bruises all over his body. After coughing in the morning, he noticed tiny red marks all around his eyes. His diagnosis is Thrombocytopenia. Leukemia, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, medication side effects, pregnancy, bacteria in the blood, E. coli infection and more, are causes of thrombocytopenia. The usual symptoms of thryombocytopenia are easy or excessive bruising, superficial bleeding into the skin that appears to look like a rash and is usually on the lower legs, prolonged bleeding, spontaneous bleeding from the nose or gums, blood in the urine or stool, unusually heavy menstrual periods and profuse bleeding during surgery or after dental work. The patients’ symptoms include bruising and bleeding into the skin to look like a rash. There is not much in prevention unless you take a medication that induces this disorder, in which elimination of the drug is possible to protect against getting the disorder in the first place.
These are only three scenarios of which have very common symptoms. Taking the time and listening to what the patient’s symptoms are, is important for when it comes time for making a diagnosis. The wrong diagnosis could lead to the wrong treatment for the problem, thus leading to bigger problems.
References
American Red Cross. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.redcrossblood.org/learn- about-blood/blood-components/plasma Zelman, M., Tompary, E., Raymond, J., Holdaway, P., & Mulvihill, M. (2010). Human Diseases. A systemic Approach (7th ed.). : Pearson Education.
Johns Hopkins Medicine. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/heart_vascular_institute/clinical_services/centers_excellence/womens_cardiovascular_health_center/patient_information/health_topics/platelets.html Health Central. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.healthcentral.com/ency/408/000584.html