Chronic and Life-Threatening Diseases Flashcards
What are acute diseases
Episodic conditions
What are chronic conditions?
Constant and can bring about psychological stress
How does perception affect one’s condition?
It can affect how well they cope with the condition
What is the basic idea of cancer?
An uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells
Normal cell division and growth is controlled at the level of the DNA,
Sometimes the genes that control growth are damaged
This allows the cell to grow uncontrollably
What is a tumour in cancer?
Enough uncontrolled cells form a mass
What is metastasized?
When tumour cells spread through other parts of the body
What are the two most common psychological problems, especially at initial diagnosis?
Fear and depression
Can become chronic
Depression tends to the proportional to the prognosis of the disease
What can depression result in from cancer?
Poor quality of life
Longer hospital stays
Lower medical adherence
Higher mortality rate
What are intrusive memories in terms of cancer?
Unwanted thoughts related to illness or death of friends, family or even someone in a movie
What is emotion-focused coping?
Focused on ways to reduce the emotional impact of the disease - if it works, it works. It may not solve the issue, but it sometimes does make you feel a bit better, which is good.
What is problem-focused coping?
-Seeking information about the disease
- Closely following treatment recommendations
-Actively addressing the stressors associated with the cancer
Seems more effective at reducing depression and anxiety
What are some common treatments for cancer?
-Surgery
-Radiation therapy
-Chemotherapy
-Hormone therapy
How are hormones able to treat breast and prostate cancer?
These forms are influenced by certain hormones (testosterone, estrogens)
What do surgerys do for cancer treatment?
Can remove tumors but cannot do anything to cells that have metastasized
How does radiation therapy work?
Shrink tumors through non-invasive procedure
Designed to deal with specific sites of cancer (e.g brachytherapy)
If cancer has metastasized then chemotherapy is used
Harm to healthy cells may occur
What are some side effects of cancer treatments?
-Fatigue
-Nausea
-Hair loss
-Oral and gastrointestinal erosion
What are social supports able to do for cancer treatments?
-Encourage people to express emotions
- Build group cohesion increasing the sense of social support
- Improve patient communication skills
-Offer relaxation techniques
What is diabetes?
Caused when the pancreas produces too little insulin
Insulin is needed for cells to get sugar from the blood
What is type 1 diabetes?
The production of little or no insulin
- requires daily insulin intake
What is type 2 diabetes?
The underproduction or ineffective utilization of insulin
-more common in people over the age of 45, especially if they are obese
What are some symptoms associated with type 1 diabetes?
-Frequent urination
-Unusual thrist
-Extreme hunger
-Weight loss
-Fatigue
What are some symptoms associated with type 2 diabetes?
Similar to type 1 but also frequent infections, cuts and bruises take a long time to heal
What are some long-term consequences to diabetes?
-Amputation
-Cardiovascular disease
-Kidney failure
-Neurological problems
-Going blind
-Stoke
What is myocardial infarction in cardiovascular disease?
Irreversible damage to heart muscle (heart attack) People survive their first but not the second
What is coronary artery bypass graft in cardiovascular disease?
Healthy arteries from other parts of the body are grafted to the coronary artery to bypass blocked arteries
What is an angioplasty in cardiovascular disease?
Involves the unblocking of blocked blood vessels. Ballons or tubes are inserted into constricted blood vessels to widen them
How does anxiety contribute to cardiovascular disease?
Anxiety about having another heart attack can lead people to a sedentary lifestyle
Usually accompanied by weight gain and reduced physical activity
Makes people prone to another heart attack
What does rehabilitation include for cardiovascular disease?
Monitoring of physical condition
Education
Diet and exercise
Relaxation and anger management skills may also be taught
What are some symptoms of HIV and AIDS?
-Fever
-Swelling of lymph nodes
-Fatique
-Diarrhea
-Sleep sweating
-Yeast infections
HIV breaks down the body’s immune system
- making you susceptible to other diseases
What are the transmission modes for HIV and AIDS
Unprotected sex, needles and mother to fetus
What does the quality of life refer to? - exam question
The extent to which symptoms and treatments affect a person’s physical, social, cognitive and emotional functioning
Treatments that may alleviate a medical cause of a disease might have negative effects on other aspects of a patients life
What are two major things that must be considered for quality of life? - exam question
- Tradeoffs between length of life and quality of life
- Patients must be integrally involved with decisions because only they know what is important to them
Explain denial - 1 stage of the 5 stages of grief - exam question
A defence mechanism used when traumatic information is received. People think that the physician is not being serious
Explain anger - 2 stage of grief - exam question
Sometimes directed at the medical system or family and friends for not being helpful enough
Explain bargaining - 3rd stage of grief - exam question
Sometimes people try to buy more time by offering themselves for research or make strong religious or spiritual commitments
Explain depression - 4 stage of grief - exam question
If people become depressed they tend to give up, this often accelerates death
Explain acceptance - 5 stage of grief - exam question
At this point, people are likely to be at peace. Death is viewed as a relief
