Therapeutic Patient Education Strategy

Introduction

Health care and proper treatment of the diagnosed diseases play crucial role in order to get rid of health related issues. However, sometimes the recommended treatment plan and medication leads to other health related issues, such as side effects of the medicines. Many such incidents have been recorded in the medical history, when the patients faced great health related issues after the follow up of drug course recommended by the doctors to deal with autism spectrum disorder or drug abuse related issues. The present study also presents a case study analysis in which 33 years old Mr. Smith is facing the side effects of antipsychotic medication. The case study analysis will present a situation in which the reader will analyze how Mr. Smith has been facing great aggression, frustration, metabolic syndrome, and weight gain as a result of medicines intake, recommended by the doctors as a treatment for schizophrenia, substance use disorder, probable intellectual disability, and autism spectrum disorder. Now, the side effects of the medicine are causing rapid weight gain, increasing sexual desire, aggression towards the community members, and lack of self-control to Mr. Smith. Thus, the study presents the assessment methods, effective interventions, evaluation, and recommendations to the patients to control the metabolic syndrome and weight gain, caused by antipsychotic medication.

Diagnosis

The case study is about a 33 years old male, Mr. Smith. The patient is diagnosed with multiple issues since 25th of February 2019, including Schizophrenia, Substance use disorder, Probable intellectual disability, and Possible Autism Spectrum Disorder. For these all diagnosed diseases, the patient been following the treatment plan, as well as completing the medication course. However the side effects of some medicines brought change in Mr. Smith’s sexual behavior, and caused metabolic syndrome leading to weight gain. The forensic report also revealed that due to high impact of the medication on Smith’s sexual desire, he was incarcerated for sexual assault on two women. Also, the intake of Haloperidol, Chlorpromazine, Methadone, Olanzapine, and Clozapine increased Smith’s aggression, and contributed to the metabolic syndrome and the weight gain.

Now Smith’s goals are to return to living in the community, where he can show his positive attitude and develop better relationship with someone. In this way, he will be able to control his sexual desires. Also, he is focused on losing weight for which he needs to pay attention on metabolic syndrome. However, the current study will focus only on the issues of metabolic syndrome and weight loss, whereas sexual issues will be ignored. Now, Smith’s weight is 97kg for 5’9’’ height which needs to be reduced as per his BMI. Thus, the current study will assess and present the interventions to deal with the issue faced by Mr. Smith, while focusing on prevention of metabolic syndrome and weight gain.

Assessment

The patient is willing to control his metabolic syndrome and weight gain. However, before making any clinical suggestions, it is essential to evaluate the real cause of the above mentioned issues. Thus, the forensic analysis needs to be obtained to evaluate which medicines have been used by the patients, and how that intake is affecting the patients’ life. In case of Mr. Smith, he is taking Haloperidol, Chlorpromazine, Methadone, Olanzapine, and Clozapine, which are found to be catalyst to aggression, metabolic syndrome, and weight gain. Thus, to prevent such side effects, it is essential to check which medicine is causing these issues. The first priority is to replace the medicine with any alternative, otherwise some alternate interventions and strategies can be adopted to overcome the patients’ complaints.

The forensic report and the medical history of the patient reveals that the medicine intake is contributing to the weight gain in the patient. Mr. Smith is of 5’9’’ height and his weight is 97kg which is 20kg more than the medically recommended weight CITATION 48F19 \l 1033 (48Fitness, 2019). This means Mr. Smith needs to reduce his 20kg in order to come back to his normal weight, as well as require healthy activities to keep his brain calm and relaxed. Only in this way he may live a normal life and can develop better relationship with his community members. Also, the patient desires to have a strong relationship with someone who can understand his issues and can calm him down when he is upset. In other words, Mr. Smith wants to be in a relationship with a female to meet all his body desires. A good life partner also demands a handsome look and healthy lifestyle of a man, and for that he, again, need to overcome his obesity issue.

When analyzing Mr. Smith’s medical history and medicine intake schedule, it becomes clear that he has been taking antipsychotic medicines, such as Olanzapine. The research has shown that the antipsychotic drugs are the real contributor to the metabolic syndrome and weight gain CITATION Chr18 \l 1033 (Aquilante & Vande, 2018). This simply means that antipsychotic medication, the intake of olanzapine and clozapine, is causing metabolic syndrome and weight gain issues to Mr. Smith. Now there are two ways to resolve the issues. Firstly, replace the above mentioned medicines with others but this may leave adverse impact on the patients’ treatment. Also, any sort of antipsychotic medicine will contribute to the metabolic syndrome and weight gain, which means the alternative medicines will also not work effectively to deal with the above mentioned health issues. The other way to deal with metabolic syndrome and weight gain is to make a proper fitness schedule, including proper exercise, healthy activities, and diet plan. Though it is very difficult to follow a defined schedule but this is essential to bring a positive change in Mr. Smith’s life. Thus, the nutritionist must make a proper exercise plan for Mr. Smith, in which the activity timings, daily calorie burning, and calorie intake must be mentioned. Also, the plan must include the food intake, food timing, and prohibited food items, such as glucose. The glucose fasting is also essential to control the weight gain.

The control of metabolic syndrome and weight gain is also essential to keep the patient protecting from other diseases, such as diabetes, blood pressure, and other obesity leading diseases. Timely follow up of diet plan, and exercise schedule will help Mr. Smith to come back in shape and to fight against his health issues. Further, this will help him to live in a community as a positive man, who will be able to control his aggression, hunger, and frustration.

Intervention

As mentioned above the metabolic syndrome and weight gain are caused by intake of antipsychotic medicines, such as Olanzapine. Thus, there are only two ways to prevent the side effects of these medicines. Firstly to use alternative medicine. Secondly, to use effective interventions to deal with the side effects of the recommended medicines. In the case of Mr. Smith, he is recommended to use effective interventions to deal with side effects of the antipsychotic medicines, because the change in medicine course may leave adverse impact on the treatment of the patient.

The effective interventions to deal with metabolic syndrome and weight gain can be suggested by the respective doctor or the nutritionist. However, the already published literature reveals that the proper follow up of exercise schedule and diet plan can bring effective results to the patient. Thus the recommended interventions to the Mr. Smith are discussed in the table below;

Abnormality

Diet plan and Physical activity

Recommended Practices

Obesity (97kg with 5’9’’ height)

Reduce weight up to 77kg

Increase physical activities

Lower calorie intake

At least 30 minutes exercise daily

Metabolic Syndrome

Increase intake of low-glycemic–index foods

Increase Omega 3 fatty acid.

Reduce carbohydrate intake.