Reference no: EM133268734
CASE STUDY - Scenario: Marcus, a 25-year old bank teller, has had episodes of stomach pain, rather often for the last 4 months, especially at night. He hesitates to eat, because he often feels nauseated and has even vomited a couple of times. He has noticed that he has lost about 8 pounds and feels tired much of the time. Recently, his stools have been dark and tarry.
Since the pain is bothering him, Marcus has been taking Advil regularly. Also, since he is feeling tired, he has increased his coffee consumption to help him get through the day. Unfortunately, however, those seem to just be "band-aids," as his symptoms are getting worse.
Finally, Marcus's roommate persuades him to go to see a doctor. His doctor runs several tests, including a complete blood count (CBC), an endoscopy, and a stool sample evaluation. The CBC shows that he is anemic; the stool sample shows blood, but no parasites; and the endoscopy shows abnormal results in one spot in his stomach lining. After all the results are in, his doctor prescribes the antibiotics, amoxicillin and metronidazole.
Marcus's doctor reassures him that he will recover fully in a few weeks and will not need to modify his diet after recovery.
Questions -
1. What is the most likely diagnosis for Marcus?
2. What are some of the possible causes for people in general (not just Marcus) developing this disorder?
3. While doing the endoscopy, Marcus's doctor performed a biopsy and sent it away to be cultured for microbial growth. Explain why the doctor did this. Since antibiotics were prescribed, what was the likely cause of Marcus's disorder? (Be specific.)
4. One of Marcus's friends tells him that the doctor was wrong, and that his disorder was most likely caused by stress from taking 18 credit hours of coursework and working 20 hours/week. Is he likely to be correct? Explain.
5. The doctor tells Marcus to avoid Advil and to cut way down on his coffee consumption. Why?
6. If Marcus had continued to self medicate with Advil, and even had added Nexium or some other antacid to reduce his nausea, what danger was he putting himself in?