ILA Flashcards
What is piriton?
- An anti-histamine which relieves the symptoms of allergies
- Can make you feel drowsy
What is hydrocortisone cream?
- A steroid medicine
- Used to treat swelling, itching and irritation
What is menorrhagia?
- Heavy periods
What is Hodgkin’s Lymphoma?
- Uncommon cancer that develops in the lymphatic system
What is the most common symptom of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma?
- Painless swelling in a lymph node - usually in neck, armpit or groin
What are other symptoms in Hodgkin’s Lymphoma?
- Night sweats
- Unintentional weight loss
- High temperature
- cough
- persistent itching
Name 2 common causes of generalised itching.
- Contact allergy
- Scabies
- Atopic eczema (inflammatory)
- pityriasis rosea
- psoriasis
Name 2 occasional causes of generalised itching.
- Urticaria - hives
- Jaundice
- Iron deficiency anaemia
- endocrine-related
- prickly heat
- renal failure
What does a liver-function test do?
- Bilirubin
- ALT
- AST
- Albumin
When is a rash/itch ‘chronic’?
- Presents for more than 6 weeks and is not relieved by scratching
What should you think about when examining an itch?
- OLDCARTS
How would you diagnose a haematological disease?
- Tissue sample
- lymph node biopsy
Which drug can give itching as a side effect?
- ACE inhibitors
- generalised
What are the 4 types of leukaemia?
- Acute lymphocytic leukaemia
- Acute myeloid leukaemia
- Chronic myeloid leukaemia
- Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia
What are some side effects of chemotherapy?
- Fatigue
- Nausea and vomiting
- Hair loss
- infections
- anaemia
- sore mouth (mucositis)
- sex/fertility issues
- insomnia
What are the side effects of radiotherapy?
- Sore skin
- Fatigue
- Hair loss
- Nausea
- diarrhoea
- stiff joints and muscles
What is cauda equina syndrome?
- Nerves at the base of the spinal cord are squeezed together
What are the symptoms of cauda equina syndrome?
- Pain in back and/or legs
- Weakness and numbness
- Problems with bladder, bowel and sexual function
What can cause cauda equina syndrome?
- Disc herniation (most common)
- L4/5 compression
- Epidural abscess
- trauma
- spinal stenosis
What is the treatment for cauda equina syndrome?
- Laminectomy
- Part of the vertebra is removed to open space and relieve pressure on nerves
What is cord compression surgery?
- Treats compressed nerves in the lower spine
What is spondylolysis?
- Separation of the small bony part - fracture
- can be congenital
How can you manage back pain pharmacologically?
- Painkillers
- Diazepam
- Amitriptyline
How can you manage back pain without medication?
- Exercise
- Physiotherapy
- CBT
- Surgery
- Complimentary therapies
What is TENS?
- Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation
- low electric pulse that can encourage your body to produce more endorphins
What are red flags in back pain?
- Recent trauma
- unexplained weight loss
- immunosuppression
- IV drug use
- osteoporosis
- sphincter disturbance
- duration >6 weeks
What is sciatica?
- When the sciatic nerve is irritated
What are symptoms of sciatica?
- Pain (stabbing, burning or shooting)
- Tingling
- Weakness
- Worsen on movement, and sneeze/cough
What is a slipped disc?
- When the disc between the bones of the spine pushes out
- Can cause lower back pain, numbess in area of body, neck pain
What is paralysis?
- Loss of ability to move some or all of the body
- Can be sudden or gradual
What is paraplegia?
- Impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower half
- T1-L5
What is quadriplegia?
- If all 4 limbs are affected by paralysis
What is atrial fibrillation?
- Heart condition that causes an irregular and abnormally fast HR
- Symptoms include dizziness, SOB and tiredness
How would you recognise atrial fibrillation?
- Measure HR, it is irregular and occasionally fast
- May have noticeable heart palpitations
What is the CHADVASC score?
- Estimates the risk of stroke in patients with HF
- See whether need treatment with anti-coag
What does CHADVASC stand for?
- Congestive HF
- Hypertension
- Age
- Diabetes
- Stroke
- Vascular disease
- Sex (female)
What are common causes of headache?
- Tension headache
- Frontal sinusitis
- Migraine
- Cervical spondylosis
- Eye strain
What is cervical spondylosis?
- Age-related condition affecting joints in your neck.
- Devleops from wear and tear of cartilage and bones
What are some causes of subarachnoid haemorrhage?
- Ruptured aneurysms
- Polycystic kidney disease
- Smoking, high BP, cocaine
When should you treat GCA?
- Immediately!
If pregnant women complain of a headache in 3rd trimester?
- Along with visual disturbance
- Impending eclampsia
What should you remember for red flags and headache?
- SNOOP
- Systemic symptoms
- Neurological
- Onset
- Onset after 40
- Prior headache history if different
What is TMJ dysfunction?
- condition that affects movement of the jaw
What are symptoms of TMJ dysfunction?
- Pain around jaw, ear and temple
- Clicking/grinding noises
- Headache around temples
What is a medication overuse headache (MOH)?
- Headache occuring on at least 15dys/month
- Regularly overused with 1+ drug
What is the management for MOH?
- Withdrawal of the overused drug
A lesion in the temporal lobe will give what symptoms?
- Depersonalisation
- Epilepsy
- visual field defects
- Forgetfulness
A lesion in the frontal lobe will give what symptoms?
- Anosmia
- Change in personality
- Dysphasia
A lesion in the parietal lobe will give what symptoms?
- Hemisensory loss
- inability to recognise objects
A lesion in the midbrain will give what symptoms?
- Unequal pupils
- Inability to direct eyes up or down
- Amnesia with recent events
- Somnolence
What are the symptoms of renal colic?
- intest left-side pain
- nausea/vomiting
- blood in urine, foul-smelling
How would you diagnose renal colic?
- urine tests
- blood tests (high urea and creatinine)
- imaging - KUB
How would kidney stones present on a CT scan?
- white on CT as calcified
What is the medication for renal colic?
- Diclofenac
What size do kidney stones need to be for surgery?
-5mm+
What are staghorn stones? (3)
- Made of struvite
- commonly formed after an infection
- need to be surgically removed
What is an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA)?
- bulge in aorta which can rupture and cause life-threatening bleeding
What are the symptoms of an AAA?
- pulsing sensation in stomach
- pain that doesn’t go away in stomah and lower back
Who are most at risk from an AAA?
- men 65+
- smokers
- high BP
- relatives with an AAA
In a prostate, what would be the difference in BPH and cancer?
- BPH = smooth and enlarged
- Cancer = ragged
What are bladder stones?
- minerals formed inside the bladder when its not completely empty of urine
What are some symptoms of bladder stones?
- lower abdominal pain
- pain/difficultly urinating
- weeing more frequently
- dark/cloudy urine
- haematuria
What is the treatment for bladder stones?
- Surgery
- Cystolitholapaxy
Why is an enlarged prostate an issue?
- places pressure on the bladder and urethra
- affect how you urinate, cause difficulty etc.
What is the treatment for BPE?
- Lifestyle advice
- medication including alpha-blockers e.g. doxazosin
- surgery (TURP)
What is TB?
- bacterial infection
- spread through prolonged exposure to someone with the illness
What is the difference between latent and active TB?
- Latent = when the bacteria is in your body but you have no symptoms. Can still develop later
What are the symptoms of TB?
- cough >3 weeks
- bloody phlegn
- weight loss
- night sweats/fever
- tiredness/fatigue
What is the treatment for TB?
- Antibiotics (6 months)
- vaccination - BCG
What is cholecystectomy?
- Gall bladder removal
- either laparoscopic (most common) or open
What does the amylase blood test do?
- Determines whether disease of pancreas by measuring levels
- high levels indicate pancreatitis, gastroenteritis, preeclampsia
What are examples of common abdominal pain? (5)
- peptic ulcer
- biliary colic
- appendicitis
- gastroenteritis
- renal colic
What are examples of occasional abdominal pain? (4)
- Cholecystitis
- Diverticulitis
- Pyelonephritis
- Pancreatitis
What does GET SMASHED stand for in relation to pancreatitis?
- Gallstones, ethanol, trauma (most common)
- steroids
- mumps
- autoimmune
- scorpion sting
- hypercalcaemia
- ERCP
- drug
What is acute pancreatitis?
- Pancreas becomes inflamed but only couple days and no permanent damage
What are the symptoms of acute pancreatitis?
- Abdominal pain
- nausea
- vomiting/fever
- lying down
- Bruising (Cullen’s sign)
What is Cullen’s sign?
- Bruising around the belly button
What is Grey-Turner’s sign?
- Bilateral
- bruising of the flanks
What happens in chronic pancreatitis?
- Pancreas becomes inflamed and stays this way so doesn’t work properly
What are the symptoms in chronic pancreatitis?
- recurring
- severe pain behind ribs/back
- weight loss
- back pain
- jaundice
- foul-smelling oily stool
What is Murphy’s Sign?
- Hand on right costal margin
- patient inspires - if pain = likely to have gallstones and related gallbladder issues
- only positive if left reaction is normal
What are cholesterol stones?
- Made from precipitated cholesterol
- 75-90% gallstones
- Cannot be seen on an x-ray
What are bilirubin stones?
- Made of unconjugated bilirubin - pigmented
- Will appear on x-ray
What are some complications of gallstones?
- Go into cystic or bile duct
- inflammation
- jaundice
- pancreatitis
- infection
What are the symptoms of death?
- pale/grey
- systemic decrease
- loss ability to swallow
- restlessness
- delirium
- cheyne stoke breathes
What are commonly prescribed drugs of misuse?
- Opioids e.g. codeine and morphine
- CNS depressants e.g. benzodiazepines (Xanax, valium)
- Stimulants e.g. amphetamine
What are common illegal drugs of misuse?
- cannabis
- cocaine
- ecstasy
- meth
- depressants
