Gastrointestinal Disorders and Drug Treatment

Pharmacotherapy for Gastrointestinal and Hepatobiliary Disorders

The patient HL is suffering from an unknown illness, the symptoms of which resemble GI and hepatobiliary disorders; however, upon obtaining information about the patient’s personal medical history, it becomes clear that the underlying cause of the symptoms might be more complex than first realized: the patient is a drug abuser—or at least has a history of drug abuse (and it is unclear at this time whether the patient is abusing drugs again or not). The patient is also possibly suffering from Hepatitis C. As there is no clear indication of the cause of the patient’s nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, the first step is to try to stabilize the patient by ensuring the body’s fluids are at a sufficient level. The next step would be to conduct an investigation that goes more in depth to determine the nature of the patient’s problems. That will require asking the patient questions about drug use and personal history.

Hepatitis C, if present in the patient, could be determined as a cause through an inspection of the blood for the viral agent that causes this infection. However, the patient is also taking a number of prescription drugs, such as Synthroid, Nifedipine, and Prednisone, all of which could be having side effects on the patient’s health—so it is important to gather information about how long the patient has been taking these medications and whether or not the patient has felt any of the current symptoms before when taking them. If both of these areas come up as non-factors in the patient’s illness, then they can be dismissed and the diagnoses of GI or hepatobiliary disorder can be considered.

Looking more closely at the medications the patient is on, however, could tell a different story. Nifedipine has known side effects, including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea—all of which the patient is currently suffering from (Kiriyama, Honbo, Nishimura, Shibata & Iga, 2016). There could be a troubling combination of factors that has triggered the adverse reaction in the patient—the introduction of a new variable in the patient’s life that is now causing this medication to have these side effects on the patient—but more testing would be needed and a better understanding of the patient’s history would also be required to rule out differential diagnoses.

The patient’s GI tract also needs to be inspected before treatment provided, and a CAT scan could be used to monitor the situation and obtain new information about what is happening with the patient’s health. Considering the drugs that the patient is currently taking, a diagnosis of GI disorder could mean that a pharmacotherapy treatment using drugs that target certain receptors. A proper drug treatment would require knowing what potential conflicts could occur among the various drugs that the patient is currently receiving.