The medical records of seven female
and four male patients with Huntington's disease and compared them with the
medical records of 13 control patients (five male) matched for sex, age. height
duration of hospital stay, and psychiatric medications given. All patients were in the
hospital (Riverview Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) continuously
from their initial admission until the time their records were evaluated. Body weight
records were analyzed over the period spent in the hospital. The average length of
stay for Huntington patients was 9.4 years +.1.7, compared to 9.5 years + 1.6 for
controls. The diets evaluated were as ordered by the physician in the medical record.
The assumption was that the diets were all received and eaten as ordered. For the
purpose o f analysis, diets were grouped into three categories: general; reducing; and
double portions. The general diet contained approximately 2200 kcals daily. Food
was presented in regular, pureed, minced, high roughage, low residue, high protein or
soft forms. The reducing diets were presented in similar forms, but consisted of
between 1200 and 1800 kcals. The double portion diet provided approximately 4400
kcals. At the time of admission there were essentially no differences in the type of
diet fed to either group of patients. All the Huntington's disease and 11 o f the control
patients were on general diets. The other two control patients were fed reducing
diets. When the last one-third of the period in the hospital was analyzed it was found
that approximately one-half of the patients in both groups were on general diets. The
remaining patients of the control group were on reducing diets and those of the
Huntington's disease were on double portion diets. During this period only one
Huntington's disease patient was on a reducing diet (1800 kcals). There were
essentially no differences in the form of diet for each group. In the last half of the
period in the hospital, almost every patient in both groups was given pureed. minced
or soft forms of their diet. It was found that approximately one-half of the patients in
each group increased body weight after their admission to the hospital. This probably
reflected poor dietary intakes prior to admission. While the amount of weight gained
did not differ between groups, it appeared that the Huntington’s disease patients
reached their maximum body weight much sooner than controls. Even though some
of the Huntington's disease patients rapidly increased body weight after admission,
Nutrition could have been better with this family. They had some sugary cereals for breakfast and donuts often. During the day the kids fixed their own meals. They ate a lot of pizza and ramen noodles. They ate a lot of processed foods during the day. Evening meal was more balanced. I think their nutrition level would be better for the kids when they were in school.
Huntington’s disease (HD) is a progressive autosomal dominant neurodegenerative genetic disorder. HD was originally named Huntington’s chorea after Dr.George Huntington, an American physician who first gave a detailed note on the symptoms and course of the disease in 1872.Recently the name has been changed to Huntington’s disease to emphasize the fact that chorea is not the only important manifestation of the disease but several non-motor symptoms are also associated with this disease.[1]
About 30,000 people in the United States have Huntington's Disease, affecting men and women equally among all ethnic and racial backgrounds (helpguide.org). While its more common in adults, juvenile Huntington's occurs in one-sixth of all cases (helpguide.org). Huntington's Disease (HD) is a devastating, hereditary disease that slowly decreases the affected person's capability to walk, talk and reason. Sooner or later, the person with HD becomes completely dependent upon others for his or her care. Huntington's Disease affects the lives of entire families immensely: emotionally, socially and economically. In this research paper, the pathophysiology, manifestation, and medical management of this disease will be examined.
Huntington's disease is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder. It is passed on to children from one or both parents (though two parents with Huntington's is extraordinarily rare) in an autosomal dominant manner. This is different from autosomal recessive disorder, which requires two altered genes (one from each parent) to inherit the disorder.
For this disorder no known cure that is known to man. There are still ways to control symptoms. For example like the use of medications can help control moving problems and treat depression and other problems such as emotional or mental (Your Genes Your Health, 2012). Most people with Huntington’s disease have health care specialists who work with them. Other members can include a professional in the mind, nerve and muscle problems, a psychiatrist and a genetic counselor.
MUST is a five-step screening tool designed for healthcare professionals to identify adult patients who at risk of, or are malnourished. It includes guidelines on how to develop an effective treatment plan. The Malnutrition Advisory Group (MAG) in 2000 adapted and extended their community screening tool to include care homes and hospitals, in response to national concerns. (Department of Health, 2001). In 2003 MUST was designed by MAG and the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN). It was piloted across many care settings, to target patients who may be at risk of malnutrition.
Huntington’s disease – Is a fatally rare condition that causes the gradual deterioration of the nerve cells in the victim’s brain, typically affecting persons fro...
and loss of appetite caused by the disease itself and by treatment with AZT and
Dietitian meeting the needs if the patients’ needs as ordered from a nutritional point of view.
At the present time, advocates of this diet would basically have to adhere to the exact same principle.
The patient may no longer be able to orally take in food, and the artificial means of feeding may worsen the patient’s quality of life. The concept of food cessation is often difficult for the patient’s friends and family to understand and accept, especially because food is essential to life, and eating is a sociocultural experience. Family must be reminded that to feed the patient may do more harm than good. However, until the time that oral intake stops, nurses must be providing other ways to increase the patient’s nutrient intake. The performance of symptom assessments and the development of plans of care should begin at the time of diagnosis and continue throughout the remainder of the patient’s life. These assessments and plans of care are both critical to preventing the onset of early malnutrition and to maintaining the patient’s quality of
Greene, G. W., Rossi, S. R., Rossi, J. S., Velicer, W. F., Flava, J. L. and Prochaska, J.O. (1999). Dietary applications of the stages of change model. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 99, 673–678.
Nutrition assessments include clinical and dietary assessment, anthropometrics, as well as biochemical, laboratory immunologic and functional indices of nutritional status (Gibney, 2005). In epidemiological studies, different dietary investigation tools were designed to assess the nutritional status in individuals and populations, nutrition monitoring and surveillance and diet-disease research (Friedenreich, et al., 1992, Taren, 2002).
Rationale: These laboratory test results have been shown to be fair indicators of malnutrition. Ackley and Ladwig p. 576
In this assignment the writer is going to discuss the role of the nurse with the multidisciplinary team in providing holistic nursing care to meet the nutritional needs of a patient in the hospital setting. The writer aims to greater the reader’s understanding about what nutrition, the nurse’s role in assessing and caring for the patient, the signs and symptoms of malnutrition, the roles of other multidisciplinary members in providing care for the patient, issues around nutrition in the hospital,