Health Medical Homework Help

A mother brought her 13-year-old daughter, to her family physician. The mother was concerned about what she described as “emotional disturbances” in the child (bed-wetting and generalized “laziness”). Upon questioning, the daughter revealed that she had recently developed a habit of eating between meals and drinking a great deal of water to satisfy her thirst. She had started having menstrual periods 6 months earlier.

1. Define two possible pathophysiological mechanisms that could give rise to the symptoms described in this history.
2. What disease does this patient have?

At age 16 (3 years after her first hospitalization), the patient was admitted to the emergency room in a coma. The mother reported that her daughter had attended a school dance the previous evening and had arrived home very late. She was allowed to sleep the next morning, and no attempt had been made to wake her until well after noon. At that time, she could not be adequately aroused.

3. Why has the patient become ill?

Examination revealed a comatose patient with slow but very deep respirations. Her urine was positive for glucose and ketone bodies.

Her blood chemistries from a sample drawn on admission to the ER were the following:

Blood Chemistry Value
Na+ 152 mM
K+ 7.1 mM
Cl- 88 mM
HCO3- 10.8 mM
pH 7.27
BUN (blood urea nitrogen) 35 mg/dl

4. Explain each of the patient’s signs, symptoms, and lab values while she was comatose.