Week 9 Case study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week 9 Case study - Assignment Example A diet history will be required to determine if the problem stems from an iodine-deficient diet. Anemia is also another cause for lymphadenopathy. Anemia is characterized by low iron levels in the body, either from an iron-deficient diet or other metabolic and genetic disorders. Lack of iron in the body is commonly associated with hypothyroidism, which can manifest through enlarged thyroid glands (Ravanbod et al., 2013; Chandel, Chatterjee & Abichandani, 2015). Some studies have also shown that thyroid hormones are responsible for erythropoiesis (Iddah et al., 2013) and changes in thyroid function influence erythrocyte indices significantly (Bremner et al., 2012). Therefore, hypothyroidism may be the primary cause of anemia in the patient, which explains the weight loss. To know if the condition is due to an iron deficiency, the patient will be required to provide a detailed diet history or any past illnesses that may interfere with iron metabolism in the body. The patient will be required to undergo certain tests to confirm the cause of the weight loss and lymphadenopathy. Thyroid function tests are essential to determine if the thyroid gland is working as it should be. If the tests confirm hypothyroidism, a treatment plan will be formulated for the patient. However, if the problem is not from the thyroid gland, further tests to confirm the serum iron levels will be done. Iron deficiency is indicative of a poor diet or other metabolic disorders. Iron deficiency may also increase the chances of thyroid dysfunction, which the woman is experiencing. Depleted iron stores are also a symptom of impaired thyroid function (Chandei, Chatterjee & Abichandani, 2015). Clinical signs can also show if the patient has anemia or hypothyroidism. To detect anemia, the physician will check the fingertips and the inner sides of the eyelids to confirm if they are pale. Due to the low amount of hemoglobin in anemic